300th post: Anthology of Hirsch's Writings

R' Hirsch published 1000s of pages of writings. If you don't have time to read them all but would like to spend some time on samples of the various types you might want to try the book Timeless Torah. This is an anthology that Jacob Breuer, Rav Joseph Breuer's son, put together in the 1950s. It contains choice excerpts in English of R' Hirsch's commentary on Chumash, Nach, and Tehillim and several essays from the Collected Writings, ie essays that originally appeared in the journal Jeshurun.

The hardcover edition is out of print, but you can buy some old copies on Amazon. However, paperback reprints (that I believe are new) are also available. I'm not sure who has been publishing these reprints - you'll find them also on the German Collected Writings and Pentateuch, but we are most happy to have them.

As a side note, I'd like to mention that this post is the blog's 300th. Now, I know that many of the posts here (mine in particular) are not nearly as substantive as those of many other blogs (On the Main Line, for example) but my goal is to collect all sorts of information about TIDE, Hirsch, and Germany Orthodoxy and to enjoy it and share it. In other words, R' Hirsch and other great German Jewish rabbanim already did all the hard work and great writing and I'm just putting it out there. I thank HaKodesh Baruch Hu for this opportunity.

let us consider how we shall read it

"Therefore, to the Torah! But, before we open it, let us consider how we shall read it. Not for the purpose of making philological or antiquarian investigations, nor to find support and corroboration for antediluvian or geological hypotheses, nor either in the expectation of unveiling supramundane mysteries, but we must read it as Jews - that is to say, looking upon it as a book given to us by God that we may learn from it to know ourselves - what we are, and what we should be in this earthly existence."

R' Samson Raphael Hirsch 19 Letters.

Video of Rav Schwab

Excerpt from "A Very Special Yeshiva," produced by Molly Resnick for the 1988 YRSRH dinner

Photo Outside Frankfurt Yeshiva in 1936 - from US Holocaust Museum

from US Holocaust Museum



"Two rabbis hold a conversation outside the Breuer Yeshiva in Frankfurt.

Dr. Posen, a dayan or religious judge and a teacher at the yeshiva is on the left. Dr. Moses Breuer, brother of the head of the yeshiva, is on the right."

R Miller on Secular Education

"IS IT OK TO HAVE ENCYCLOPEDIAS IN YOUR HOME?


It’s a question of limudei chol (secular education).

In Frankurt-am-Main they taught limudei chol in the school of the frum Jews. A man who went there told me once that he learned more Yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven) from his science teacher there than he learned from his rebbe, because...the science teacher utilized all the lessons to talk about Yiras Shamayim. It’s possible for a teacher to inject now and then certain thoughts in the minds of students that will give them more benefit than what they heard in the mesivta where the rebbe was teaching Gemara and Halacha (Jewish law).

If you’re learned already—you know Mussar, you learn Halacha —and you want an encyclopedia in order to use it to help other people become frum using the information that you might pick up, go ahead and do it. Otherwise forget about it, because you’re not capable of dealing with the Apikorsus (heresy) in these books.

I personally think limudei chol are a good thing if they’re done in a kosher way, because limudei chol leads you to Yiras Hashem if it’s done right. If you’re capable of distinguishing, then it’s alright, but most people shouldn’t bother bringing any other books in their houses, because they’re not capable. Children will read them and they’ll make a wrong impression.

A man once brought me some books. I put them in my bathroom and I keep them there. I get benefit out of them, but he wouldn’t get any benefit from them. (#E-083, Learning to Live Successfully)"

http://www.rabbimillersanswers.com/answers/is-it-ok-to-have-encyclopedias-in-your-home1