Gottlieb, Michah
Senior Fellow: July–August 2019
Research Project: Neo-Orthodoxy and Religious Liberty: Decoding the Puzzle of Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–88) is often considered the founder of German Jewish Neo-Orthodoxy. From his earliest writings, Hirsch sought to combat the religious scepticism he saw taking root among German Jews. However, Hirsch’s conflicting commitments have perplexed many. Jacob Katz called Hirsch a man both “to the left and to the right.” On the left, Hirsch embraced the best of Western thought, opposed religious coercion, critiqued religious superstition, and rejected blind submission to rabbinic authority. But he also espoused right-wing commitments, including rejecting the academic study of Judaism, criticising Jewish reformers as heretical, and advocating Orthodox Jewish separatism from the larger Jewish community. I will argue that the unifying thread of Hirsch’s thought is his commitment to liberty. These commitments are not only evident in his “left-wing” positions, but also in his “right-wing” ones. For Hirsch, the problem with the academic study of Judaism is that it unjustly asserts that it is the sole legitimate means of interpreting sacred Jewish texts. Intellectual liberty demands a pluralistic approach to knowledge wherein Orthodox approaches to sacred texts are deemed equally legitimate. Hirsch’s advocacy of Orthodox Jewish separatism similarly reflects his view that forcing Orthodox Jews to financially support Jewish communal institutions that they deem heretical constitutes coercion of religious conscience.
Michah Gottlieb is an associate professor of Jewish thought and philosophy in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU.