This is a copy of a letter written in German in 1888 from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch to German rabbis, asking them to unite against the obligation of Jewish students to take matriculation exams on Shabbat. The letter is a response to the German government’s 1884 decision that Jewish students will be required to take the written matriculation exams on Shabbat. In the letter, Rabbi Hirsch suggests a way to fight the law, by asking the rabbis to sign an affidavit stating that any type of writing is prohibited on Saturday according to Jewish law and that forcing Jewish students is a violation of their Jewish beliefs. Rabbi Hirsch is asking each of the rabbis to forward their signed affidavit to him so that he can pass it on to the authorities and show them that the Jewish ruling on the matter is accepted by all rabbis. The letter illustrates the complexities of maintaining Jewish tradition in the era of emancipation. It also reflects the nature of many members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Germany at the time who observed Jewish law but also aspired to integrate into German society by studying in secular schools and taking national academic examinations.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was a rabbinic leader in Germany, who served as rabbi of a congregation in Frankfurt from 1851. He became known for his efforts in the area of education and his disapproval of the Reform movement. One of the principles of his teachings was the integration of Torah with derech eretz, meaning the integration of religious and general studies, as expressed in this letter which shows his desire to allow Jewish students to acquire a general education while adhering to a religious lifestyle.
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Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch – Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) was the founder of neo-Orthodoxy, which combined traditional Jewish practice with openness to the wider world with its accompanying secular knowledge and culture. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Rabbi Hirsch received a secular education in public schools and a Jewish education at home. He trained to be a rabbi and then studied classical languages, history, and philosophy at the University of Bonn. Rabbi Hirsch’s combination of tradition and modernity was evident when, as a rabbi in Frankfurt, he adopted practices from the wider German world such as wearing clerical robes and delivering sermons in German while, at the same time, demanding the highest level of Jewish observance. Rabbi Hirsch wrote the essay The Nineteen Letters in which he defended Orthodox practice from the challenge of Reform Judaism which was gaining popularity in Germany at the time. Rabbi Hirsch’s approach is also known as “Torah im Derech Eretz” from the verse in Pirkei Avot stating that a person should study Torah alongside making a living. Rabbi Hirsch expands the meaning of derech eretz to include the importance of being fully engaged with the modern world while retaining one’s Judaism.
The Jewish Community of Frankfurt –The Jewish community of Frankfurt is the oldest in Germany and has existed for nearly 900 years. The first Jews arrived in the city in the first century CE, but little is known about the community until the riot of 1241 that resulted in the massacre of three-quarters of the community. A few years later Jews returned to Frankfurt, and by the end of the thirteenth century Frankfurt had become a central Jewish community with a synagogue, cemetery, mikvah (ritual baths), hospital, and educational and social institutions. As in other European cities, the situation for the Jews depended on the authorities, and they underwent both easy times and periods of violence and persecution. In the fourteenth century Jews were required to pay high taxes, to wear a distinctive badge, and to apply for residency permits annually. In 1462 the Jews were forced to live in the Judengasse, a specially built street between high walls and gates. The community went on growing, resulting in overcrowding and unhealthy living conditions. Nonetheless, the Jewish community of Frankfurt prospered in the religious, social, and economic aspects of life, and Frankfurt became a centre of Jewish learning with many important rabbis. Some Jewish families were particularly successful, including the well-known Rothschild family who were named for the “red shield” hanging outside their home. Frankfurt was one of the last cities in Europe to grant the Jews emancipation, but the Jews slowly received more rights, and in 1811 the ghetto was finally abolished. In the nineteenth century the community was divided between the reform community led by Rabbi Abraham Geiger and the orthodox community led by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. The Jews also founded daily newspapers, hospitals, schools, yeshivot, and various cultural institutions. In the years before the rise of the Nazi party more than 30,000 Jews lived in Frankfurt. Under Nazi rule, the boycotting of Jewish businesses began, followed by violence, segregation, and finally deportation to the ghettos and camps in the East. After the Holocaust the Jewish community of Frankfurt slowly rebuilt itself, first with German Jews and later with immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today more than 10,000 Jews live in the city, and the community has social and educational institutions that cater for both orthodox and reform communities.
German Jews in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries – After many centuries of oppression, segregation from the general population, and poverty, the German Jewish community went through major changes. Germany, together with other European countries, began to adopt liberal ideas about religious equality and civil emancipation. This was also the time of Enlightenment, and many German Jews received a secular education and began to integrate into general German society. The late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries mark the transition of the Jews to modernity and the integration of many into Germany’s cultural, scientific, and financial elite. Moses Mendelssohn is an example of an Enlightenment thinker who aspired to bringing secular culture into Jewish life. These social changes also brought about a transformation in the identity and practices of the German Jews, as exemplified in a famous saying of the time: “Be a man abroad and a Jew in your tent.” Due to these changes, this period saw both the foundation of Orthodox Judaism and the birth of the Reform Movement in Germany, a movement that aimed to adapt traditional Judaism to modern times. This period did not, however, see an end to the discrimination or riots against the Jews, as can be seen by the 1819 Hep Hep riots, tax legislation against Jews, severe limitations on marriages, dismissals from public office, anti-Semitic literature and preaching, more. This discrimination led to many Jews emigrating, in particular to the United States.
