During the German "Kulturkampf" in the 1870s, the Frankfurt rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch enjoined all Jews of his community to exercise a right given by Prussian law: to withdraw from the united community which was dominated by Reform forces in order to belong only to a separate Orthodox community, founded according to Jewish law (Halakha). This work investigates the significance of these events for Orthodox Judaism in the 20th century. Focussing on the philosophy of Isaac Breuer, the grandson of Hirsch, Frankfurt attorney, novelist and co-founder of the Orthodox world movement Agudat Israel,...

The founders of the Wissenschaft des Judentums had a keen interest in Jewish erudition during the Renaissance, especially in Italy. Leopold Zunz, for example, regarded the work of Azaria de' Rossi as the point of departure for the historical-critical method upon which he based his "Science of Judaism." In the past two centuries, Jewish writings from the Renaissance have been edited and reinterpreted. In the areas of historiography, philosophy and Kabbala, we have important new findings from research conducted in recent years. For a short time now, scholars active in the field of Judaic...

The study focuses on the initial establishment and subsequent development of Jewish life in Belgium in the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition reasons for German Jewish families to migrate and to settle permanently and for the first time in Belgium, thereby creating a nucleus of jewish life, are illustrated. It is explained why pioneers like Oppenheim, Benda, Schuster, Hauman, Morel, Bischofsheim and Deby left their homes (in Germany) and moved to unknown Belgian terretories. The engagement of these pioneers within the Jewish communities as well as their economic, political and social...

The study of the Hebrew language in Protestant Europe initiated the development of modern philology. Christian theology and Jewish tradition fostered Christian Hebraism, which functioned as a catalyst for many subjects in the humanities.
This volume presents the results of a conference held in Wittenberg in October 2002. It evaluates the history of Christian Hebraism, from Jewish grammatical works up to the Hebrew training of Protestant missionaries. Prominent figures like Ludwig Geiger and Hermann L. Strack as well as different centres of Hebrew learning from Basel to Groningenare...