Saturday, March 7, 2015

Hirsch and Modern Orthodoxy

From the Wikipedia entry on R Hildesheimer


"Comparison with Samson Raphael Hirsch

"There are those who would claim both Hirsch and Hildesheimer as indirect philosophical founders of Modern Orthodox Judaism; in fact, of the two, Hildesheimer is more likely classifiable as such.
"It is true that Hirsch's Torah im Derech Eretz - a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism which formalises a relationship between traditionally observant Judaism and the modern world -bears a superficial resemblance to today's Modern Orthodox Judaism. However, a deeper investigation shows Hirsch's philosophy (Judaism as the sole source of truth by which to judge modernity), at odds with the Modern Orthodox philosophy (two co-existing ideas - Judaism and modernity). Hirsch also separated himself and his community from the Conservative andReform Jewish community and was, at best, unsympathetic to Zionist efforts. By contrast, Hildesheimer set the pattern for Modern Orthodox activism and institutions, and was noted for not being a sectarian, as was Hirsch.
"Although Hildesheimer was noted as having these similarities to Modern Orthodox Judaism, it is noteworthy that his philosophy concerning education was even less similar than was Hirsch's. Hildesheimer advocated secular studies only as an aside to, but clearly not synthesized with, Torah, and to some extent as a concession to the needs of the day."

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