(1820-1899). Rabbinic scholar and leader of German Neo-Orthodoxy. Having first received a traditional rabbinic education, he gained his doctorate at the University of Halle and then turned to Jewish communal work in his native Halberstadt. Following his appointment as rabbi of Eisenstadt in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1851), Hildesheimer devoted himself to combating the Reform movement. On the one hand, he believed in harmonizing traditional Judaism and modern culture; on the other, he demanded "unconditional steadfastness in the faith and traditions of Judaism." A modernized rabbinical training program (which included secular studies) proved vastly successful at Hildesheimer's new rabbinical academy, but exposed him to attacks from both religious extremes, ultra-Orthodox zealots even placing him under a ban of Excommunication. The onslaught by extremists made it impossible for him to remain in Eisenstadt and in 1869 he accepted a post as rabbi of the newly established Adass Yisroel congregation in Berlin, where he spent the remainder of his life.
A champion of the Neo-Orthodox cause, he devised a plan for the training of rabbis as well as pious laymen, implemented in the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary, established in 1873 (see Rabbinical Seminaries). As its founder and first principal, Hildesheimer gave it leadership and prestige, recruited its teachers, and determined its high standard of Jewish scholarship. An edition of the Halakhot Gedolot (1888-90), based on a Vatican manuscript, was Hildesheimer's own major achievement in the field of Jewish scholarship. He was an exceptionally powerful advocate of "practical" Zionism and Jewish settlement in Erets Israel.
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
