2025-11-25 01:53:PM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #people #ReligiousJudaism ![[image-184.png|333x524]] # Rabbi Emil Gustav Hirsch (1851-1923) - Emil G. Hirsch was an influential American Jewish Reform rabbi in the late 1800s and early 1900s. - Hirsch was born in Luxembourg, immigrating to the United States in 1866 with his father Samuel Hirsch, also a prominent rabbi. - Hirsch was married to Mathilda Einhorn, the daughter of prominent Jewish-American-immigrant-abolitionist-Reform rabbi David Einhorn. - In his youth and early adulthood, Hirsch spent time in Pennsylvania, Berlin, Leipzig, Baltimore, and Louisville, Kentucky, before he was invited to become the rabbi of Chicago's Sinai synagogue in 1880. - Hirsch led the Sinai synagogue for 42 years. - Hirsch infused his sermons with contemporary progressive social and political lectures. - Pro-immigrant, pro-black, pro-welfare, pro-unionization, and pro-women politics were a constant theme of Hirsch's sermons and writings. - Hirsch's strain of Reform Judaism promoted Jewish assimilation into America, liberalism, and a break from the usually strongly ritualistic Jewish religion in favor of "ethical monotheism." - Hirsch was the rabbi of many leading Jewish figures of the day including: - [[Julius Rosenwald]] - [[Julian Mack]] - Hannah Solomon - Founder of the [[National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)]] - In 1908, Hirsch was a founder of the [[NAACP]] - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. - The NAACP had significant Jewish involvement in its founding and early years including: - Rabbi Hirsch - [[Stephen S. Wise]] - [[Jacob Schiff]] - [[Louis Marshall]] - [[Julian Mack]] - Jacob Billikopf - Joel Spingarn - Hirsch was an early member of the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]]. - He is noted as a member of the executive committee from 1906-1908.[^1] - Many of Hirsch's descendants have been influential Jurists and Lawyers. - Hirsch's grandson was Edward Hirsch Levi. - Levi was the United States Attorney General under President Gerald Ford from 1975-1977. - Levi was a member of the [[ADL]] and founder of the Chicago chapter of the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]]. #### References - Emil G. Hirsch, “Emil G. Hirsch,” _Wikipedia_, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_G_Hirsch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_G._Hirsch). - Cyrus Adler and Frank H. Vizetelly, “Hirsch, Emil Gustav,” _The Jewish Encyclopedia_, [https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7728-hirsch-emil-gustav](https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7728-hirsch-emil-gustav). - Bernard Martin, “Hirsch’s Sermons - The Life of a Pulpit Rabbi,” _American Jewish Archives Journal_ 6, no. 2 (1954): 151, [https://sites.americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1954_06_02_00_martin.pdf](https://sites.americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1954_06_02_00_martin.pdf). - Lawrence Bush, “May 22: A Reform Jewish Giant,” _Jewish Currents_, May 21 2016, [https://jewishcurrents.org/may-22-a-reform-jewish-giant](https://jewishcurrents.org/may-22-a-reform-jewish-giant). - “Extraordinary Story Of Cooperation To Build Schools For Black Children in the Segregated South,” _American Council for Judaism_, October 15 2021, [https://acjna.org/articles/extraordinary-story-of-cooperation-to-build-schools-for-black-children-in-the-segregated-south-2/#:~:text=of%20Judaism%20was-,ethical%20monotheism,-](https://acjna.org/articles/extraordinary-story-of-cooperation-to-build-schools-for-black-children-in-the-segregated-south-2/#:~:text=of%20Judaism%20was-,ethical%20monotheism,-). - “Levi, Edward H.,” _Encyclopedia Judaica_, Encyclopedia.com, [https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/levi-edward-h](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/levi-edward-h). [^1]: “Jewish National Organizations in the United States,” _The American Jewish Year Book 5665 (1904)_, ed. Cyrus Adler and Henrietta Szold (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1904), https://archive.org/stream/americanjewishy04unkngoog/americanjewishy04unkngoog_djvu.txt#:~:text=Providence%2C%20R.%20I.-,EMIL%20G.%20HIRSCH,-%2C%20Chicago%20%0A%0AE.%20W