Hirsch, Emil Gustav

Related Category: Judaism: Biographies

(hûrsh), 1851–1923, American rabbi, b. Luxembourg. He was rabbi in Baltimore, Md., and Louisville, Ky., but is best known for his work as rabbi of the Sinai congregation of Chicago. In 1892 he became professor of rabbinical literature and philosophy at the Univ. of Chicago, and he was president (1885–97) of the Chicago Public Library board. He was an influential exponent of advanced thought and Reform Judaism. He edited the Milwaukee Der Zeitgeist (1880–82) and the Reform Advocate (1891–1923).

See My Religion, a compilation of Hirsch's addresses and sermons, by G. B. Levi (1925); biography by D. C. Hirsch (1968).