Emil G Hirsch

Vocation

Luxembourgian emigrant to the United States who was a major Reform movement rabbi in his adopted country. He was rabbi at Har Sinai Congregation in Baltimore (1877–1878), and in Louisville, Kentucky, (1878–1880), but he did his greatest work in Chicago. For forty-two years (1880–1923), Hirsch served as the rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation, one of the oldest synagogues in the midwest. At this post, he became well known for an emphasis on social justice. Appointed professor of rabbinical literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1892, Hirsch also served on the Chicago Public Library board from 1885 to 1897. He took some part in politics as a member of the Republican Party. He was an influential exponent of advanced thought and Reform Judaism. He edited Der Zeitgeist (Milwaukee) (1880–1882) and the Reform Advocate (1891–1923). He also edited the Department of the Bible of the Jewish Encyclopedia and contributed feminist articles to The American Jewess. He died on 7 January 1923, aged 71. Link to Wikipedia biography