27 Tevet · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) was an eminent rabbi, a commentator on the Torah, and one of the spiritual leaders of European Jewry.
Yahrzeit – 27 Tevet
Resting place – Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Rav Hirsch was born in Hamburg, which at the time was part of France. His father, though a merchant, devoted most of his time to the study of Torah, and his grandfather, Mendel Frankfurter, was the founder of the Talmud Torah in Hamburg and served as assistant rabbi of the neighboring community of Altona.
Rav Hirsch was a student of Chacham Isaac Bernays, and the education he received, combined with his teacher's influence, led him to decide against becoming a merchant, as his parents had wished. He studied Talmud from 1828 to 1829 in Mannheim under Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger. He then enrolled at the University of Bonn, where he studied alongside his future opponent, Abraham Geiger.
In 1830, Rav Hirsch was elected chief rabbi of the principality of Oldenburg. During this period he wrote his book "The Nineteen Letters on Judaism," which was published under the pseudonym "Ben Uziel" in Altona in 1836. This work made a profound impression on Jewish circles, because it was something new — a brilliant, intellectual presentation of Orthodox Judaism in classical German, along with a fearless, uncompromising defense of all its institutions and precepts.
In 1843, Rav Hirsch applied for the position of Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. Out of 13 candidates, mostly from Germany, he made the short list of four: Nathan Marcus Adler (a student of the Chatam Sofer), Hirsch Hirschfeld, Benjamin Hirsch Auerbach, and Rav Hirsch. Adler received the position on December 1, 1844.
Of the 135 congregations, each having one vote, Adler received 121 votes, Hirschfeld received 12, and Hirsch received 2.
In 1846, Hirsch was called to the rabbinate of Nikolsburg in Moravia, and in 1847 he became chief rabbi of Moravia and Austrian Silesia. He spent five years in Austria, reorganizing Jewish communities and teaching numerous students; he also served in his official capacity as chief rabbi as a member of the Moravian Landtag, where he advocated for expanding the civil rights of Jews in Moravia.
In 1851, he took the lead of an Orthodox separatist group within the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, at a time when the rest of the community had adopted Reform Judaism. Rav Hirsch established a Realschule and a Bürgerschule, which provided a thorough Jewish education alongside those aspects of secular education deemed legitimate according to the Torah (Torah im Derech Eretz).
He also founded and edited a monthly journal called "Jeschurun." In the later years of his life, Rav Hirsch worked to establish the "Freie Vereinigung für die Interessen des orthodoxen Judentums," an association of independent Jewish communities. Within 30 years of his death, this organization would serve as a model for the formation of the international Orthodox movement Agudas Yisroel. Rav Hirsch had a deep love for the Land of Israel, as can be seen in his writings, but he opposed the pro-Zionist activities of Zvi Hirsch Kalischer. According to reports from members of his family, it is likely that Hirsch contracted malaria while in Emden, which continued to afflict him with fevers for the rest of his life.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Bnei Yisrael!
Limud
"And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father." (Bereishit 9:23) "He took — not they took," comments Rashi on this verse. That is, Shem took it, and Japheth joined him... Furthermore, in covering their father's nakedness with the garment, the sons were guided by different considerations: Shem did so in order to conceal the inner shame contained in his father's unseemly physical state, while Japheth was concerned with the aesthetic aspect of the matter: he simply felt that a drunken, naked man looked unseemly. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explains that these verses of the Torah describe the prototypes of three fundamentally different cultural approaches that we observe among nations and individuals. Shem represents spirituality. Ham represents the dominance of coarse materialism. Japheth represents the union of the spiritual and the material. Rav Hirsch further explains that there are nations whose goal is to conquer and destroy, to eat and drink, and to engage in violence and coarseness. There are also other nations that pour their vital force and energy into creating artistic and aesthetic values. They cover coarse matter with a beautiful drapery and touch the spiritual through their love of poetry and music. These nations are followers of Japheth's moral approach. However, this approach is not the highest point of spirituality. The true essence of spirituality, Rav Hirsch explains, is that only by recognizing truth and absolute goodness can a person fully realize his potential. It is this idea that lies at the foundation of the culture built by the descendants of Shem."
(https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/610-Rabbi-Shimshon-Raphael-Hirsch)
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Samson Raphael Hirsch