The Religious Philosophy of the Jews

Samuel Hirsch

1842

Note: The word “religion” is not biblical. It is taken over from paganism, where it does not include the factor of freedom. People disagree as to whether it is derived from religere or relegere; about whether its basic meaning is to be bound under the will of the gods, or amounts to making present the essence of the gods. It would be a wonder for…

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Creator Bio

Samuel Hirsch

1815–1889

Samuel Hirsch, born in Thalfang, Germany, was a major figure in Reform Judaism. In 1838, he served as a rabbi in Dessau, Germany, but was forced to resign in 1841 because of his radical stances. In 1843, he was appointed as Luxembourg’s chief rabbi, a position he resigned in 1866 to become rabbi of Congregation Keneseth Israel in Philadelphia; there he advocated observing the Jewish day of rest on Sundays. He served as president of the first Conference of American Reform Rabbis; in that capacity he influenced the movement’s famous Pittsburgh Platform of 1885.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. 

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