Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT
Judith Frishman, Co-Editor, Samuel Hirsch; Professor Emeritus, Jewish Studies, Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion
Thorsten Fuchshuber, Ph.D., Co-Editor, Samuel Hirsch; Research Associate, Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Étude des Religions et de la Laïcité (CIERL), Université libre de Bruxelles; Journalist
Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., Chancellor Emeritus; I.H. and Anna Grancell Professor Emeritus of Jewish Religious Thought, HUC-JIR
Rabbi Samuel Hirsch’s story is key to understanding the transnational history of Reform Judaism and the struggle of Jews to secure a place in history and society. En route from Thalfang via Dessau and Luxembourg to Philadelphia, Hirsch strove to strengthen Judaism to meet the demands of modernity and enable its survival in the modern era, leaving his mark on societal, religious, and philosophical debates in increasingly radical stances. As a Hegelian and a Jew he claimed that the actualization of freedom – so central to Hegel’s philosophy – was enabled by Judaism more than any other religion.
