Samuel Hirsch

Vocation

German-Jewish Reform religious philosopher and rabbi. He served as rabbi at Dessau, 1838-1841, and in 1843 was appointed chief rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by King William II of the Netherlands, publishing his "Die Humanität als Religion" that year. In 1844 he published his "Reform im Judenthum." Moving to the USA in 1866, Hirsch became officiating rabbi of the Philadelphia congregation and remained there for 22 years, resigning in 1888, after having spent 50 years of his life in the ministry. Hirsch is best known as the author of the "Religionsphilosophie," a work written from the Hegelian point of view, but for the purpose of vindicating the claim of Judaism to the rank denied it by Hegel, the rank of an "absolute religion." He was the first to propose holding Jewish services on Sunday instead of the traditional Jewish Sabbath Shabbat. Hirsch died in Chicago, Illinois, on May 14, 1889. Link to Wikipedia biography