A PRESENTATION VOLUME TO RABBI SAMSON RAPHAEL HIRSCH ON HIS TWENTY-FIFTH JUBILEE YEAR, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, SEPTEMBER 17, 1876, WITH A NINETEENTH-CENTURY SILVER CROWN BEARING PRESENTATION INSCRIPTIONS TO RABBI HIRSCH FROM THE LIWJATH CHEN SOCIETY OF FRANKFURT

A historic document accompanied by a silver crown passed down in the family of Rabbi Hirsch.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888), foremost exponent of German Orthodoxy in the nineteenth century, was born and raised in Hamburg, where he studied under the tutelage of his grandfather and Hakham Isaac Bernays and later attended the yeshiva of Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger in Mannheim (1828-1829) and the University of Bonn (1829). After serving as Landrabbiner (district rabbi) of Oldenburg during the period 1830-1841, Hirsch took positions first in Emden (1841) and then in Nikolsburg (1846) before finally answering the call of a newly-established Orthodox congregation (eventually known as Adath Jeschurun) in Frankfurt am Main (1851).

Frankfurt would quickly become Hirsch’s most important rabbinate, for it was there that he succeeded in implementing the unique conception of Judaism that he had been developing since his youth. As a champion of Torah im derekh erets (Avot 2:2), which he interpreted to refer to staunch obedience and faithfulness to tradition coupled with engagement with higher secular culture and civilization, Hirsch founded three schools in Frankfurt espousing a philosophy that cherished the past even as it spoke in a contemporary, enlightened idiom. Hirsch also played a central role in defending Orthodoxy against the critiques leveled by liberal and Reform Jewish thinkers, who claimed that traditional Judaism was outmoded and incompatible with modern sensibilities.

Although initially in favor of remaining within the larger Jewish communal framework that was, by that point, largely dominated by Reform-minded leaders, Hirsch’s stance on Jewish unity changed once he recognized the radical direction in which the German Reform movement was heading. Seeing a model for emulation in Hungarian Orthodox Jewry, which had, in 1871, won the right to dissociate from local Reform congregations, Hirsch pushed for the introduction of similar legislation in Prussia. In July 1876, the so-called Austrittsgesetz, or Law of Secession, was passed, providing the legal basis for the creation of an organizational framework for Hirschian Neo-Orthodoxy.

In recognition of Hirsch’s unstinting devotion to his community and of his formulation and advancement of a modern Orthodox philosophy, the Adath Jeschurun congregation celebrated their rabbi’s silver anniversary in 1876. Contemporary newspapers report that the festivities began Saturday night, September 16, and continued into the evening of Sunday, September 17. In the September 27th issue of Der Israelit, we read that representatives of the congregation, many Frankfurt Jewish societies, and foreign communities assembled in Hirsch’s home at 10am on Sunday morning. First to speak was Mr. Karl Guggenheim, who expressed thanks and congratulations on behalf of Adath Jeschurun. Next came the representatives of the Jubilee Committee, Messrs. Hackenbrock, Friesländer, and Schames, who presented Hirsch with an address signed by almost all the members of the community, housed in a luxurious album. The September 29th report in Die jüdische Presse informs us that this address, a calligraphic masterpiece which articulated the community’s gratitude to Hirsch both eloquently and intimately, was read publicly before being handed to him.

The present lot would appear to be the referred-to address. In calligraphic German blackletter mixed with square Hebrew script, headed by a monumental initial decorated with filigree penwork and interspersed with many capitals highlighted in blue ink, the text of this parchment manuscript celebrates the storied career of Hirsch in both local and national terms. On the national front, Hirsch is feted for his influential theological tracts: Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum

A (1836), Versuche über Jissroéls Pflichten in der Zerstreuung (1837), and Erste Mittheilungen aus Naphtali’s Briefwechsel (1838); while on the local front, he is praised for the founding and/or growth of the community’s religious institutions, particularly the synagogue and schools. The document ends with the Talmudic blessing that Hirsch’s descendants follow in his path (Ta‘anit 5b-6a) and the biblical wish that “your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Ps. 103:5), so that he might continue to serve as “the light of Israel” for many, many years to come. Following the address are three paper leaves signed first by the congregation’s Vorstand (Executive), Ausschuss (Committee), and Schulrath (School Board) and then by many other members of the Frankfurt community.

The presentation volume is accompanied by a silver crown, small enough to fit a miniature Torah scroll, bearing plaques with inscriptions to Hirsch from Liwjath Chen, a confraternity in Frankfurt whose members would study Torah with those mourning lost relatives. The text reads:

“In honor of the Omnipresent, in honor of the Torah, and in honor of our master, our most esteemed teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Samson, son of our teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Raphael, may his light shine, on the occasion of his having served twenty-five years as halakhic authority in the Holy Community Adath Jeschurun; from the Liwjath Chen Society of Frankfurt am Main, on 25 Elul of the weekly Torah portion [containing the words] ‘That they may hear and that they may learn’ [Deut. 31:12], in the year [5]636 [1876].”

The article in Der Israelit notes that several local organizations congratulated Hirsch during the ceremony held in his honor and that Dr. Abraham Sulzbach represented the Liwjath Chen Society in doing so. It also reports that “many of the aforementioned men presented addresses and expensive gifts” to the honoree. Similarly, Die jüdische Presse speaks of “sensible and tasteful honorary gifts” being given to Hirsch. According to a pamphlet printed by the Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer Foundation Inc., the present crown became the property of Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer (1882-1980), a grandson of Hirsch’s who settled in Washington Heights, New York, and there reestablished Adath Jeschurun on American soil. Following his death, the crown was donated by his children to the foundation “for the purpose of making the proceeds of its sale available for the publication of hitherto unpublished volumes of Rabbi Hirsch’s writings, and other major works of the Hirschean School of Thought and Jewish Philosophy.”

Literature

Anon., “Die Jubiläums-Feier des Herrn Rabbiner Hirsch n”y zu Frankfurt a. M.,” Der Israelit 17,39-40 (1876): 905-907.

Anon., “Das Jubiläum des Herrn Rabbiners Samson Raphael Hirsch in Frankfurt a. M.,” Die jüdische Presse 7,39-40 (1876): 335-337.

Shlomo Gamaliel (ed.), Kehillat frankfurt be-sasonah u-bi-yegonah: kovets le-zekher kehillat frankfurt di-nehar main (Tel Aviv, 1966), 19.

Saemy Japhet, “The Secession from the Frankfurt Jewish Community under Samson Raphael Hirsch,” Historia Judaica 10,2 (October 1948): 99-122.

Abraham Sulzbach, Die vier Münzen: Rede zum Gedächtnis an Rabbiner Samson Raphael Hirsch, gehalten im Vereine Liwjath Chen zu Frankfurt a.M., Sonntag 18. Schewat 5649 (20. Januar 1889) (Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1889).