Hildesheimer, Ezriel, 1820-1899

Born in Halberstadt in 1820, Esriel Hildesheimer studied at the yeshiva in Altona and at the universities of Berlin and Halle, receiving his doctorate in 1844. Along with Samson Raphael Hirsch, he was one of the founders and leaders of neo-Orthodoxy. He became rabbi in Eisenstadt, Austria-Hungary, in 1851, where he also founded a yeshiva, and at Congregation Adass Jisroel, Berlin, in 1869, founding the Rabbiner Seminar fuer das orthodoxe Judentum in 1873. His attempts to give secular learning a firm place in rabbinical studies brought him into conflict with more traditionally minded Orthodox Jews. He died in Berlin in 1899.

From the guide to the Esriel Hildesheimer Collection, 1821-1920, (Leo Baeck Institute Archives)