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The Frankfurt Judengasse in Rav Hirsch’s day S by Yitzchok Frankfurter far-flung place where life seemed a lot purer than number-crunching and noisy New z”l , had a knack of lifting one up in the middle bookkeeping session to some yet-piercing chassidic eyes. This revered tax-return preparer, Rabbi Motel Twerski, sweet Milwaukee accent, which was somehow buttressed by the storyteller’s soft- with fantastic ponderings and heartening tales. These narrat anxiety-inducing queries regarding my past expenditures were constantly interspersed along virtually the entire stream of prescient vision still surges strong, with ripples that have spread of his own small rabbinical post and limited lifespan. Indeed, elsewhere. Rav Hirsch’s influence extended far beyond the confines enriching that his flock would never feel compelled to seek pasture to ensure that the Orthodox lifestyle would be so fulfilling and while simultaneously investing his considerable talents and passion creating firmly defined boundaries to shut out unwanted elements, Reform. He led his community with a finely calibrated approach, minds of a nation in peril losing its heritage to the tidal wave of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch succeeded in capturing the hearts and vision still shapes the world we live in today. From his earliest years, Two hundred years ago, Germany saw the birth of a child whose RAPHAEL HIRSCH, ZTZ”L, IN COMMEMORATION my accountant, in addition to his professional skills, was a consummate narrator, ensued over the calling and teachings of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch, ome years ago, during a mundane tax-return preparation, an unexpected exchange OF THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY HIS BIRTH REVISITING THE LEGACY OF RAV SAMSON ives were relayed in a ztz”l . Since 23 York, particularly when he spoke about contained in Hirsch’s works, the religious concepts that he propagated. According to FATHER OF SECESSION: his mother’s eminent younger brother, pathos that burst forth from every word of Rav Hirsch, Torah and culture are not two Rav Hirsch's Role in the Secession of Hungary's Orthodox Community the late Bobover , Rav Shlomo his writings is enough to stimulate one to coexisting ideas, as they appear to be in Halberstam, ztz”l. heed his call: To forget all prior studies; to the modern concept of Torah u’Mada. Rav Hirsch's relentless drive to secede from the Reform in Frankfurt, a We were sitting together reviewing read the Torah as though you have never Rather, culture must be subservient to the movement which he vigorously argued has no relationship to the Jewish re- some perplexing check stubs, when Reb read it before. And when Rav Hirsch leads Torah, and formed and transformed by ligion, is well known. What is less known is the role Rav Hirsch played years before that, between 1868 and1869, in the Hungarian secession of the Or- Motel stared up at a framed picture of Rav you by the hand into the enchanting world Torah’s flames. thodox from the general Jewish community for the same halachic and prac- Samson Raphael Hirsch, ztz”l, that was of nature, to the endless expanse of skies If you take a look at some of the con- tical reasons. He was one of the ideologues and architects of that secession, hanging on my wall, and asked whether I and stars, to the rolling hills of blooms and temporary research on Rav Hirsch, what and when the Orthodox delegation petitioned the Hungarian Crown to per- had received a postgraduate degree. For a blossoms, and gently prods you to exam- you’ll most likely gather is that Rav mit them to secede, they did so by presenting Hirsch's reasoning. moment I failed to comprehend the im- ine yourself in comparison with a blade of Hirsch was the father of Modern Ortho- Professor Yaakov Katz, who wrote an authoritative book on the Hungar- plied connection. To me, that well-known grass or a rumbling peal of thunder, he doxy. This statement, though widely dis- ian and Frankfurt secessions, fully documents Hirsch's active involvement in portrait of Rav Hirsch, where he seems to once again uplifts you as no one ever be- seminated, is only partially accurate and both, and writes as follows: "One of the big surprises that I stumbled on be eyeballing the distant future, simply fore did. So much so, that when Rav extremely misleading. Hirsch’s philoso- while tracing the unfolding of events in Hungary was the involvement of depicts one of Jewry’s greatest leaders, Hirsch demands of you to understand Ju- phy is at odds with the Modern Orthodox Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch of Frankfurt in the drive towards secession, in who “dedicated his entire life to the dis- daism organically “aus sich selbst her- worldview of a synthesis and fusion be- the articulation of the ideology that required the Orthodox to secede from semination of Torah and through his aus,” in accordance with the inner spirit tween two competing ideas and distinctive the general communities and in the assistance he contributed to the actual- strength and efforts succeeded in restoring permeating its original literary sources, it lifestyles. For him, if there is a fusion here, ization of this request. The argument to secede that evolved in Hungary, the Jewish religion to its original beauty suddenly all seems so very easy. it is only, as Professor Mordechai Breuer which Hirsch had a hand in drafting and promoting, went further than and turning the hearts of thousands upon Reb Motel then relayed how his moth- points out, a synthesis in the Hegelian Hirsch's original goal in his city of Frankfurt. The matter thousands of to our Father in Heav- er too was drawn to the high religious and sense: two powers that contrast each other was no longer limited to the prevention of the Or- en,” as Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, literary value of Rav Hirsch’s writings, and negate one another subsequently thodox in assisting the establishment of sacrile- ztz”l, proclaimed. and would study Rav Hirsch’s commen- merge transformed on a higher plane. gious organizations, through the payment of “Ah, you must be alluding to Rav tary on Tehillim in the original German. Rav Shimon Schwab, ztz”l, the late taxes to the general community — the original Hirsch’s philosophy of Torah im Derech Notwithstanding our meeting of minds, Rav of the Hirsch kehillah in New York, objective of secession in Frankfurt — but the Eretz, whereby one should pursue a secu- Torah im Derech Eretz was for Rav Hirsch once had this to say: “What is happening drive in Hungary was towards complete com- lar education alongside Torah study, so by no means a temporary dispensation of today makes me weep, literally. Of late, munal independence." that he may develop into a mentsch the rigid demands of the halachah, nor is it Hirsch has become the property of the left- Frankfurt's great crusader for Torah, who was called on countless times by Rav Yitzchak Yisrael,” I understood Reb Motel to be a peripheral aspect of this great thinker’s of-center ‘Modern Orthodox’ movement. Elchanan Spektor, ztz"l, and other Lithuanian asking. “Well,” I mused, “I doubt Rav worldview. Yet, it nevertheless remains They have changed the image of Hirsch gedolim, to lend them a hand in their battles Hirsch had the few grades of secular edu- one of the most misunderstood of all the from that of a vigorous fighter for Toras with the heretics and reformers, was also of as- cation in a local chassidic in mind sistance to the Ksav Sofer of Pressburg, the Yetev Frankfurt, Judengasse, 1868 when he promulgated his views regarding Lev of Satmar, and the Maharam Schick, ztz"l, one’s ideal educational bildung.” among others in their heroic struggles for the What draws countless individuals, Illustration of Hirsch from 1868. preservation of Hungarian Jewish Orthodoxy. such as myself, to Rav Hirsch and his writ- The Jewish The caption is incorrect; Hirsch ings, I proceeded to expound, is not the ed- was never a doctor ucational method that Rav Hirsch advo- community in cated, but simply the greatness and keen Hamburg, one of Emes, into that of a docile, dove-like apol- son Hirsch was born. The Jewish commu- mind of that eminent educator. Way before ogist for a watered-down version of con- nity in Hamburg, one of the newest in Ger- one ventures to even understand the deep the newest in venient Judaism.” many, had become one of its largest and rabbinical and philosophical allusions Nevertheless, it is fair to say that virtu- most affluent at the time of his birth. How- Germany, had ally every trend and movement in contem- ever, it was most abruptly undergoing a porary can trace their radical change in values. The French Rev- Frankfurt am Main’s old Jewish cemetery become one of its roots to the teachings of Rav Samson olution at the end of the eighteenth centu- Raphael Hirsch. From Modern Ortho- ry, which suddenly perforated the walls of largest and most doxy, which embraces Western and secu- the Jewish ghettos both inside and outside lar culture, on the far left of the spectrum, of France, brought about a frenetic and ir- affluent at the time all the way over to the Eidah HaChareidis rational call for reform, which had disas- of his birth and Satmar, which decry every contact trous consequences for Judaism and Jews with the heretical world, on the right. All throughout Europe. Driven to prove them- have their origins in the thought and deeds selves worthy of emancipation, Jews be- of that venerable thinker and leader. And it gan very rapidly to abandon the obser- goes without saying that the Agudath Is- vance of Torah and mitzvos in order to rael and Bais Yaakov movements are but appeal to the values and aesthetic sensibil- Breuer Yeshivah in Frankfurt direct outgrowths of his outlook and ac- ities of their Christian compatriots. Due to tions. And if this comes somewhat as a a convergence of factors, Hamburg, a for- surprise to some, perhaps it no longer will mer stronghold for the followers of false be, once we take a closer look at some of messiah Shabbetai Tzvi, became one of the facts of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s the primary centers of reform and heresy. spellbinding life and times. Rav Hirsch’s father, Raphael, a highly learned and G-d-fearing person, endeav- The Young VisionaryIt all began 200 ored together with other upstanding mem- Germany, Oct. 18, 1931: years ago, on 25 Sivan, 5568 (June 20, bers of the community to halt this intense Rows of ships are docked in Hamburg’s 1808), in the teeming and contentious port sacrilegious onslaught. While Reb Rav Hirsch built schools for both boys and Harbor due to high unemployment. city of Hamburg, Germany, where Sam- Raphael was a merchant, young Samson’s girls to ensure the future of Am Yisrael

24 15 Sivan 5768 6.18.08 25 Oldenburg authorities recommending Hirsch for the post, while lavishly prais- ing “the character, demeanor, scholastic ability, proficiency in German, and skill in homiletics” of the merely twenty- two-year-old Hirsch. His rabbinic mis- sion thus began. Though Hirsch complained about his loneliness in Oldenburg, the decade of iso- lation that he spent there was one of the most fruitful and creative periods in his life. During this period Hirsch wrote his Horeb, a textbook on Jewish laws and ob- servance, with particular emphasis on their underlying ideas. In many ways it has proven to be Hirsch’s most decisive work, representing a milestone in the re- turn to halachah (Jewish law) as the pivot of Jewish life. Hirsch also wrote there the Neunzehn Briefe uber Judenthum (Nine- teen Letters on Judaism) which used a fic- tional correspondence between Naftali, a young rabbi and philosopher, and Ben- jamin, a youthful, perplexed Jewish intel- lectual, to present Judaism in a new light. The reaction to the Nineteen Letters, which was published first, was simply Talmudical education he received from sensational. It proved to be a prelude for “I learned to recognize and Bernays, combined with his Rebbe’s in- his future influence. admire Hirsch’s outstanding fluence, led Hirsch to determine not to be- Some of the intelligentsia, who had come a merchant, as his parents had de- abandoned the study of , now re- speaking abilities, his sharp sired, but to choose instead a rabbinical turned to it with new vigor. Young men of vocation, a vocation that would alter the scholarly attainment, such as the future mind, and his clear and face of the modern era. historian Heinrich Graetz, were “electri- But first Hirsch had to continue his fied” by the Briefe as they found in it “a quick comprehension.… I studies of Talmud under the distinguished view of Judaism … never before heard or and famed gaon Rav Yaakov Ettlinger, suspected.” Graetz described in his diary valued his remarkable moral ztz”l, the author of the Aruch L’Ner, who his reaction to the Briefe as follows: “I most likely ordained him. Additionally, avidly devoured every word. Disloyal character, his strict ethical the future leader of Orthodoxy, who was to though I had been to the Talmud, this book behavior, and I loved the stand up to the Reform with such pro- reconciled me with it. I … determined found scholastic brilliance, also to use my utmost efforts to pierce goodness of his heart” needed to acquire a secular ed- its depths.… I set about my ucation. During this period, task at once, beginning with Hirsch met his future adver- the first folio, Berachos, and grandfather, Rav Mendel Frankfurter, was sary, Geiger, who the first book of Moshe. I a renowned talmid chacham. Rav Mendel was later to become the dwelt upon every point with was the founder of the Hamburg Talmud leader of the Reform move- pleasure, treating them not as Torah and an unsalaried Dayan of the ment, and they left Manheim remnants of antiquity but as neighboring congregation of Altona. (Reb together for Bonn to attend the books containing Divine help Raphael had changed the family name university there. Geiger de- for mankind.” He subsequently from its original “Frankfurter” to scribes Hirsch in his diary in the Rav Yaakov studied Torah under Hirsch for “Hirsch.” His son, though, would later most glowing of terms: “I learned Ettlinger three years. The first blow to their sign most documents with the double sur- to recognize and admire Hirsch’s relationship occurred, however, name, “Samson the son of Raphael outstanding speaking abilities, his sharp when Graetz introduced his young wife to Hirsch-Frankfurter.”) mind, and his clear and quick comprehen- Hirsch with uncovered hair and received a The year Hirsch became bar mitzvah, sion.… I valued his remarkable moral stern reproach from the master. Rav Yitzchak Bernays, ztz”l, was appoint- character, his strict ethical behavior, and I Hirsch remained in Oldenburg until ed Rav of the Orthodox kehillah of Ham- loved the goodness of his heart.” 1841, when he was elected of burg. Chacham Bernays, as he preferred to Hirsch abruptly left the university, the Hanoverian districts of East Friesland be called so as to be distinguished from his after just a year and a half of study, nev- and the northern part of Westphalia, in- Reform counterpart, was one of the first er acquiring any academic degree, to be- cluding Osnabruck, with his residence be- truly pious of Germany with an ex- come the chief rabbi (Landesrabbiner) ing in Emden. Here he employed for the tensive academic background, and he of the principality of Oldenburg. The first time his motto of Torah im Derech exerted an enormous influence upon the departing rabbi of Oldenburg, Rav Eretz. In 1846, Hirsch was called to the young and brilliant Hirsch. The Torah and Adler, ztz”l, had written a letter to the rabbinate of Nikolsburg in Moravia, and

26 15 Sivan 5768 6.18.08 7 have gone astray. And what can I do, as through his gifted oratorical skills and out- and to continue contributing towards its Hirsch was in the right: secession from the Paving the WayWhat should chrono- this holy principle is what I have deter- standing organizational faculties, Hirsch maintenance. Hirsch believed that this ar- heretical Reformers was obligatory. logically come at this juncture of our nar- mined to dedicate my life to spread and started to attract many new members, in- rangement was not only grossly unfair, but Only after the passing of Rav Hirsch, ration is undoubtedly the passing of Rav disseminate.” At the age of forty-three, cluding some of the Rothschild family, also halachically prohibited, since the reli- during the rabbinic tenure of his son-in- Hirsch in 1888, at the age of eighty, in with a wife, five sons, and four daughters, who donated money towards the erection gious community was in effect supporting law and successor Rav Shlomo Breuer, Frankfurt am Main, and his burial there. Hirsch left Nikolsburg to head a group of of a large new shul. the aberrant acts of the Reform. ztz”l, did Hirsch’s community fully se- But that is not where our recounting is religious dissenters known as the Israeli- Of his many major achievements, per- Hirsch’s opportunity for action came cede from the Gemeinde. The preceding headed. Simply because the story of his tische Religionsgesellschaft (Israelite Re- haps the most important was the founding with the ascension of Bismarck as chan- schism, however, caused a terrible rift in life does not end with his death. The lega- ligious Society). shortly after his arrival of elementary cellor of Germany. Wishing to break the the Orthodox Jewish community, which cy of Rav Hirsch, who stood up to the Rav Hirsch’s spectacular shul in Frankfurt schools in Frankfurt. Hirsch viewed the power of the Catholic Church, Bismarck, lasted until the ultimate destruction of the threats that the ravages of time unfurled education of girls to be virtually of equal along with others, promulgated the Law of Frankfurt Jewish community by the against the Torah, announcing that the importance as that of boys, and therefore Secession, which permitted one to leave Nazis. If Rav Hirsch was not as successful Torah is not deferential to time but that established both boys’ and girls’ schools his church and form an independent one. as he would have liked on his home turf time is subservient to the Torah, lives on with the dual curriculum of limudei This law, however, did not apply to the and within his own community — which in every Jewish home where the light of kodesh and chol, under the principle of Jewish people. Edward Lasker, a Jewish in his open letter to Rav Bamberger he Torah and its mitzvos shine. It was Rav Torah im Derech Eretz. Having succeeded parliamentarian in the Prussian Landtag, stated “made his heart gush blood” — we Hirsch who paved the way for future gen- in establishing his elementary schools, objected to the discriminatory nature of can only react with Rav Hirsch’s own erations confronting the same challenges Hirsch proceeded to establish secondary this law. Hirsch took up Lasker’s cause in words regarding Moshe Rabbeinu: as did his generation. The triumphant schools based on the same principle and the name of freedom of religious con- “Moshe had the bitter feeling that his life- with a similar program. science, and prevailed upon him to exert work for the Jewish people had been in In order to carry his message of revi- pressure to make the Law of Secession ap- vain, since they still stood against him as talization even beyond the confines of ply to the Jews as well. Soon enough their stiff-necked anarchists whose ears are To comprehend the Frankfurt, he embarked on a new project, efforts saw fruit; in July 1876 the German shut from listening and rebuff all attempts catastrophic decline of the a monthly Orthodox publication which he parliament ruled that the Austrittsgesetz at persuasion … However, like an angel The city of Oldenburg: Site of Rav named Jeschurun, authoring most of the applied also to the Jews, thereby enabling who sanctifies G-d’s name, G-d’s unyield- Frankfurt Jewish community, Hirsch ‘s first rabbinical post To comprehend the catastrophic de- pages himself. During the years Hirsch’s Religionsgesellschaft to secede ing messenger covers his eyes and feet, cline of the Frankfurt Jewish community, 1867–1878, Hirsch published his mag- from the Frankfurter Gemeinde. and through the strength of the purpose of whose documented history whose documented history goes back to num opus, his German translation and Hirsch hailed the passing of the law — his mission he does G-d’s work, ignoring the twelfth century, and which was one of commentary on the and, four despite the severe opposition of the Re- all of his own personal disappointments” goes back to the twelfth the oldest and most important Jewish years later, his translation and commen- formers — as a most spectacular event, (Commentary on Bamidbar 20:12). century, and which was one communities of Germany, is to understand tary on Tehillim. His literary and scholarly marking the liberation of Torah-true Jews Indeed, despite this setback with the the tragic state of affairs that existed then endeavors were but additional means to from the yoke of the heretics. However, to majority of his community, which failed of the oldest and most throughout Europe. In the past, some of save Judaism from the clutches of the Re- his utter disbelief and great disappoint- to abide his ruling regarding secession, the most famous Talmudic scholars served form and to restore it to its original glory. ment, the predominant majority of his Rav Hirsch’s communal work continued important Jewish the Frankfurt Jewish community as rab- In addition to his ardent campaign heretofore loyal community — at least unabated. During the final years of his communities of Germany, is Kehillah shul in Frankfurt am Main bis. In the beginning of the nineteenth against the Reformers, Hirsch also ex- seventy-five percent — refused to secede. life, Hirsch put his efforts in the found- century, it was still a city filled with pressed strong opposition to the emerging Thus Rav Hirsch suffered a serious set- ing of the “Freie Vereinigung fur die In- to understand the tragic state Torah and emunah; it was still the city of Jewish nationalist movement headed by back at the hands of his very own flock. teressen des Orthodoxen Judentums” in 1847 he became chief rabbi of Moravia the Haflaah, Rav Nosson Adler, and the Rav Zvi Hersh Kalischer, ztz”l, voicing As Hirsch tried relentlessly to per- (Free Union for the Interests of Ortho- of affairs that existed then and Austrian Silesia, where he remained Chasam Sofer. Yet, over the course of a identical arguments as today’s anti-Zion- suade his congregants into agreeing to dox Judaism), an association of inde- for five years. However, Hirsch’s two few short years, this centuries-old, Torah- istic Satmar. In his commentary on the sid- secede, which required that every member pendent Jewish communities. throughout Europe decades in the highly prestigious positions true community dissipated, leaving but dur, which was published posthumously, who chose to secede take an oath to that as the Landesrabbiner were but the fore- one or two individuals who still put on he writes: “During the reign of Hadrian effect in a German courthouse, his com- taste for things that were about to come. every day, while almost everyone when the uprising led by Bar Kochba munity divided into Austritter (secession- else had joined the Reform movement. proved a disastrous error, it became essen- ists) and Kompromissler (compromisers, Frankfurt am MainA small Orthodox As the Reformers pressed vigorously tial that the Jewish people be reminded for or anti-secessionists). A respected scholar separatist group in Frankfurt am Main, ahead with their devastating assaults on all all times of an important, essential fact, in the community, Rav Moshe Mintz, is- which recently had split from the general things sacred, tensions in the community namely that [the people of] must sued an opinion that since the Gemeinde, community, asked Rav Hirsch whether he mounted. In 1849, a group of eleven G-d- never again attempt to restore its national which was trying to prevent the secession, would be willing to leave his post of Lan- fearing people decided to act and peti- independence by its own power; it was to was now willing to make concessions to- desrabbiner to become their rabbi. He re- tioned the German Senate to permit them entrust its future as a nation solely to wards their community, allowing them be sponded with an enthusiastic yes. Rav the establishment of a special communal Divine Providence.” These words best ar- fully in charge of their own religious af- Hirsch explained his fervent acceptance of organization, since by law all the Jews of ticulate his strong anti-Zionistic stand, de- fairs, secession was no longer necessary. this relatively minor rabbinical post in his each city belonged to but one Jewish asso- spite the great love for the Land of Israel Rav Mintz obtained the backing of Rav letter of resignation to the minister of reli- ciation and community. The Senate, while that is palpable in his writings. Seligman Baer Bamberger, the Wurtzburg gious affairs of Austria, as follows: “I’ve disallowing the formation of a separate Rav, who dismissed Rav Hirsch’s ruling, been called from Frankfurt to help out community, granted them the right to or- Secession Hirsch’s success in building openly declaring that the members of the what is indeed but a small group, but a ganize a religious association, which be- and developing the Israelitische Religions- Frankfurt Religionsgesellschaft were not group which its very founding is in my came known as the Israelitische Religion- gesellschaft into a self-sufficient organiza- obligated to abide by it as it purportedly eyes, pursuant to my life ambitions, the sgesellschaft. tion, whose influence spread throughout lacked all halachic validity. A heated happiest occurrence for the Jewish people Hirsch’s first years in Frankfurt were every city in Germany and beyond, polemic now ensued between these two that took place in the last few decades. For marked by his outstanding effort to trans- brought to the forefront the injustice in leaders. Rav Hildesheimer of Berlin sided this very first time a Jewish community form the Israelitische Religionsge- faithful Orthodox Jews being legally com- with Rav Hirsch, but declined to openly has been overtly founded around a holy sellschaft from a humble local association pelled to belong to the general sacrilegious take his side. Then the Maharam Schick principle, on the territory that they have into one of national importance. Within a Gemeinde, which served by law as an um- wrote a responsa criticizing Rav Bam- successfully captured from those who relatively short time after his arrival, brella organization for all Frankfurt Jewry, berger’s ruling, and stating that Rav

28 15 Sivan 5768 6.18.08 29 had instituted. Feeling a need to carry layim was founded through Rav Hirsch’s the teachings of Rav Hirsch and his words and ideas. When the Jewish popula- message even further, when tion in Eretz Yisrael united under the Schenirer opened her school in 1917 in Knesses Yisrael organization, many ele- Cracow, she taught her pupils Chumash ments of the under the leader- with Rav Hirsch’s commentary and ship of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, gave courses on the Nineteen Letters. So ztz”l, sought to secede and establish their that the students would understand own independent community. They thus Hirsch’s writings without translation, naturally turned to Rav Yitzchak Breuer, she required that the girls learn the Ger- z”l, the grandson of Rav Hirsch, the “fa- Rav Shlomo Breuer, ztz”l, man language. The one school she ini- ther of secession,” to assist them in their son-in-law of Rav Hirsch tially opened mushroomed into the struggle. In response, Breuer authored an worldwide Bais Yaakov network, with entire book explaining the reasons behind hundreds of thousands of students and the Ashkenazic community’s request for alumni, all byproducts of Rav Hirsch independence from the Mandate govern- and his philosophy. ment, echoing many of his grandfather’s In a recent article in , com- ideas and arguments. Breuer also visited memorating the 60th yahrtzeit of the Imrei Eretz Yisrael in the days of the chareidi Emes, ztz”l, journalist Aharon Granevich- struggle for independence and worked Granot quotes the Imrei Emes as saying: side by side with its leader, Rav Sonnen- “When I arrive in the Heavenly beis din feld, successfully establishing the Eidah and they ask me, ‘What did you achieve in HaChareidis. your lifetime in this world?’ I will answer, And of course, when an Orthodox sci- ‘Agudas Yisrael, the Yesodei Hatorah Tal- entist or doctor today reflects on his role mud Torah, and the Bais Yaakov model and teacher, he most likely thinks schools!’ ” Ironically, two out of the three of Hirsch. The many disciples of Rav items that this chassidic giant cited as the Hirsch may be different from one another, Rav Dr. Joseph Breuer, ztz”l, grandson of Rav Hirsch biggest accomplishments of his lifework but they all have one thing in common: the are directly linked to Rav Hirsch: Agudath insubordination and absolute ascendancy battles that he waged against modernity Israel and Bais Yaakov. of the Torah over all of the tribulations and still pulsate everywhere. It is noteworthy that Rav Shimon temptations of modern times. Today’s international Orthodox Agu- Schwab related that the Imrei Emes once We may conclude with Rav Hirsch’s dath Israel is but the evolution of his orga- told him that “the Tzaddik of Frankfurt own words: “Even when the descendants nization, the Freie Vereinigung that Rav [Rav Hirsch] was a leibidege mussar sefer of the one Jew, Yisrael, have grown to Hirsch founded in 1886 to unite the [a living morality text].” The Gerrer 600,000 men they were still all members chareidi communities of Germany. When Rebbe’s assessment and awe of Rav of one house, sons of one man, stamped in the noted scholar and historian, Rav Hirsch should now come as no wonder. spirit and heart with the same stamp, bear- Yitzchak Halevy, ztz”l, left And that is not the extent of his influ- ing one mission, one destiny as their her- Volozhin, Lithuania, for Germany and ence. The Eidah HaChareidis of Yerusha- itage through the ages. And in the midst of joined the Freie Vereinigung, thus expand- this fundamental sameness and unity and ing its influence worldwide, he asked its under its influence, the greatest diversity chairman, Rav Yaakov Rosenheim, z”l, to Breuer also visited Eretz of tribal and family specialties of traits and change its name to Agudath Israel, which dispositions was diligently and carefully Rav Yaakov did. Hirsch’s Freie Vereini- Yisrael in the days of the nurtured, so that the great one task of hu- gung is still in existence, relevant and vi- manity as shown by the Torah is to be brant today, just under a different name chareidi struggle for demonstrated as a model for the whole hu- and banner, that of Agudath Israel. man race, as being in no way dependent on And when that young Jewish seam- independence and worked any specialty, but applies to every diversi- stress from Poland, Sarah Schenirer, re- side by side with its leader, ty of character, tendency, profession, or solved to revolutionize the education of position in life.”  Jewish girls, and founded what is today the Rav Sonnenfeld, successfully worldwide movement of Bais Yaakov, The Judengasse what was the source of her inspiration and establishing the Eidah Museum in Frankfurt whom did she seek to emulate? The an- swer, once again, is Rav Hirsch and his HaChareidis writings. On Shabbos Chanukah 1915, Sarah Schenirer heard a lecture from Rav Hirsch’s grandson, in which he quoted his venerated grandfather. Rav Hirsch’s words so impressed her that she began reading Hirsch’s writings, delving diligently into Horeb and Nineteen Letters. The outcome of this study was her idea to establish a school for girls on the model of Rav Hirsch’s school in Frank- furt, using the same curriculum that he

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