Samson Raphael Hirsch

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Title	Rabbi
Personal
Born	June 20, 1808 (25 Sivan 5568) Hamburg, French Empire
Died	December 31, 1888 (27 Tevet 5649) (aged 80) Frankfurt am Main, German Empire
Religion	Judaism
Nationality	German
Spouse	Hannah Jüdel
Parents	Raphael Arye Hirsch (father) Gella Hirsch (mother)
Denomination	Orthodox Judaism
Jewish leader
Successor	Solomon Breuer
Position	Rabbi
Synagogue	Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG), Khal Adath Jeshurun
Buried	Frankfurt am Main
Semikhah	Jacob Ettlinger[1]

Samson Raphael Hirsch (Hebrew: שמשון רפאל הירש; June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed neo-Orthodoxy, his philosophy, together with that of Azriel Hildesheimer, has had a considerable influence on the development of Orthodox Judaism.^[2]

Hirsch was rabbi in Oldenburg, Emden, and was subsequently appointed chief rabbi of Moravia. From 1851 until his death, Hirsch led the secessionist Orthodox community in Frankfurt am Main. He wrote a number of influential books, and for a number of years published the monthly journal Jeschurun, in which he outlined his philosophy of Judaism. He was a vocal opponent of Reform Judaism, Zionism, and similarly opposed early forms of Conservative Judaism.^[2][3]