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Overview
A Picture of Chicago at the Turn of the 19th Century Through the Sermons of a Leading Reform Rabbi
'The Jewish Preacher' is a collection of sermons from the years before and after the turn of the nineteenth century, a very troubled time, just like ours. The book paints a picture of those times through the voice of a man, who was given all kinds of superlatives by his contemporaries. One hears about social upheavals, strikes, misery in the mines about sweat shops, floods of immigrants escaping from Russia and other East European countries and finally about the anxiety of war. Through all this the great Jewish Reform Rabbi Emil Hirsch leads his affluent congregation in Chicago, at a time when the Reform movement is barely fifty years old and being challenged from all sides. Yet this strong man, standing foursquare into the wind, exhorts the members of his congregation to be the Jews that he envisions them to be and to give full measure to their mission in life, namely to increase righteousness and justice in the world. Repeatedly we hear him challenge them to bring social justice to the people near them, in their factories and offices and to encourage it also in the world around them. All through his sermons, which are not arranged in any chronological order, his strong voice rings out for the betterment of humanity and for the need to strive for a higher ethic and more knowledge. He debunks the myth of the ideal of equality, saying that it is no great achievement when it puts everyone on the lowest denominator. There is nothing wrong with wanting to know more, to achieve more or to earn more. If you know more, you can teach others; if you earn more you can give to those, who need; if you are a better organizer, you can improve society etc. For a non-Jewish reader as myself the sermons are inspiring also in that they reveal a religion of tolerance, which encourages cooperation. Rabbi Hirsch stresses that all religions are true because they all originate and grow out of man himself. At the same time he points out that they are not equal in that they have evolved to various degrees. He discusses evolution and strives to make the members of his congregation understand how evolution and all of science are well compatible with religion. At the same time he encourages them to remember their history and to pass it on to their children, to make them understand that they are Jews because of their history. Again he points out inequality - each nation has its own history and people are what they are because of their history - yet being different they can still live and cooperate with each other. Altogether this thought-provoking and powerful book lets the uncommented sermons slowly build up in the reader's mind the picture of an important man and his time and then augments this portrait with a short biography written by his son and followed by a moving eulogy, delivered at the time of Emil Hirsch's death by one of his many influential friends and followers.
Thousands flocked to Chicago Sinai Temple to hear World Famous Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch Preach on Sunday Morning. A collection of his sermons and biography edited by his grandson Myron A. Hirsch.
Dr. Emil G. Hirsch was Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation for forty-three years.
In 1880 when he became their rabbi,their membership was 35 families. At his death, the congregation consisted of 6,000 worshipers. World-renown Rabbi, University of Chicago Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Philosophy, Bible Editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia, Emil G. Hirsch was the master preacher of the Synagogue of the twentieth century. His tongue could lash mercilessly whenever a deed of unrighteousness, or disloyalty to man or God was committed. His lips were unsparing when the word of denunciation had to be phrased. Yet how caressing his tongue could be, how consoling his lips could be for the poor, the afflicted, the bruised, the crushed, what hope he could give those to whom the ways of life had become dark. From page 288. … The main purpose and the main province of a public library is to become the people’s college and the people’s university. And under no form of government is the establishment of a people’s university, free to all regardless of condition, sex, color, erudition or, the want thereof, so essential as it is in a land which founds its system of government on the suffrage of its free citizens. For in this country every question of public interest, whatever its nature, whether political, financial, economic or social, is submitted to the arbitrament of the ballot; and it is indeed essential that those who deposit their vote to shape the future of their land shall have within easy reach the sources of information whereby to confirm or to confound the statements made to them on the hustings, and even in the Public prints. …
'The Jewish Preacher' is a collection of sermons from the years before and after the turn of the nineteenth century, a very troubled time, just like ours. The book paints a picture of those times through the voice of a man, who was given all kinds of superlatives by his contemporaries. One hears about social upheavals, strikes, misery in the mines about sweat shops, floods of immigrants escaping from Russia and other East European countries and finally about the anxiety of war. Through all this the great Jewish Reform Rabbi Emil Hirsch leads his affluent congregation in Chicago, at a time when the Reform movement is barely fifty years old and being challenged from all sides. Yet this strong man, standing foursquare into the wind, exhorts the members of his congregation to be the Jews that he envisions them to be and to give full measure to their mission in life, namely to increase righteousness and justice in the world. Repeatedly we hear him challenge them to bring social justice to the people near them, in their factories and offices and to encourage it also in the world around them. All through his sermons, which are not arranged in any chronological order, his strong voice rings out for the betterment of humanity and for the need to strive for a higher ethic and more knowledge. He debunks the myth of the ideal of equality, saying that it is no great achievement when it puts everyone on the lowest denominator. There is nothing wrong with wanting to know more, to achieve more or to earn more. If you know more, you can teach others; if you earn more you can give to those, who need; if you are a better organizer, you can improve society etc. For a non-Jewish reader as myself the sermons are inspiring also in that they reveal a religion of tolerance, which encourages cooperation. Rabbi Hirsch stresses that all religions are true because they all originate and grow out of man himself. At the same time he points out that they are not equal in that they have evolved to various degrees. He discusses evolution and strives to make the members of his congregation understand how evolution and all of science are well compatible with religion. At the same time he encourages them to remember their history and to pass it on to their children, to make them understand that they are Jews because of their history. Again he points out inequality - each nation has its own history and people are what they are because of their history - yet being different they can still live and cooperate with each other. Altogether this thought-provoking and powerful book lets the uncommented sermons slowly build up in the reader's mind the picture of an important man and his time and then augments this portrait with a short biography written by his son and followed by a moving eulogy, delivered at the time of Emil Hirsch's death by one of his many influential friends and followers.
Thousands flocked to Chicago Sinai Temple to hear World Famous Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch Preach on Sunday Morning. A collection of his sermons and biography edited by his grandson Myron A. Hirsch.
Dr. Emil G. Hirsch was Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation for forty-three years.
In 1880 when he became their rabbi,their membership was 35 families. At his death, the congregation consisted of 6,000 worshipers. World-renown Rabbi, University of Chicago Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Philosophy, Bible Editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia, Emil G. Hirsch was the master preacher of the Synagogue of the twentieth century. His tongue could lash mercilessly whenever a deed of unrighteousness, or disloyalty to man or God was committed. His lips were unsparing when the word of denunciation had to be phrased. Yet how caressing his tongue could be, how consoling his lips could be for the poor, the afflicted, the bruised, the crushed, what hope he could give those to whom the ways of life had become dark. From page 288. … The main purpose and the main province of a public library is to become the people’s college and the people’s university. And under no form of government is the establishment of a people’s university, free to all regardless of condition, sex, color, erudition or, the want thereof, so essential as it is in a land which founds its system of government on the suffrage of its free citizens. For in this country every question of public interest, whatever its nature, whether political, financial, economic or social, is submitted to the arbitrament of the ballot; and it is indeed essential that those who deposit their vote to shape the future of their land shall have within easy reach the sources of information whereby to confirm or to confound the statements made to them on the hustings, and even in the Public prints. …
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940014455350 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Collage Books Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/16/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 544 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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