Isaac Breuer
Encyclopedia
Isaac Breuer was a rabbi
in the German Neo-Orthodoxy
movement of his maternal grandfather Samson Raphael Hirsch
, and was the first president of Agudat Israel Workers
.
, Hungary
to Salomon Breuer, and lived most of his years in Frankfurt
. He attended Hirsch's Realschule school, and received rabbinical ordination at age 20 from his own father's yeshivah. He studied law, jurisprudence, and philosophy at Marburg University, and until 1936 practiced law in Frankfurt
.
In 1936 Breuer moved to Jerusalem, organized and became first president of Po'alei Agudat Israel, and represented the Agudah before the Peel and Anglo American Commissions. He believed that Agudism could help prepare Jews to live in their ancestral home. (See below on his Zionism as a form of Agudah.) His five adult children were: Jacob (Bub) Baror, a lawyer who played a role in the Eichmann trial (1915–2008), Mordechai
(1917–2007), Ursula
(1919–2006, married Hermann Merkin
), Tzipora (Tzip) Breuer (born 1926) and Simeon Breuer (1922–1943).
Michal Lupolianski , the wife of former mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski
, is One of his grandchildren. Breuer died in Jerusalem, Israel in 1946.
neo-Orthodoxy movement had defined itself from the start largely as an opposition to the German Reform movement
, Isaac Breuer already regarded the Reform movement of his day as essentially the impotent and dying remnant of the Haskalah
. Breuer saw the real enemy of Orthodoxy in both political Zionism
and Religious Zionism
, which he considered especially dangerous because it possessed an authentic Jewish instinct and impulse. The goals of the Zionists paralleled the goals of his own Agudah organization in many areas ("reunification of land and nation"), but without the stress which Agudah laid on adherence to halachah and tradition . Indeed, Breuer envisioned a Messianic Torah state in the land of Israel, and could not abide the idea of "reunification of land and nation" coming to pass through the agency of secular Zionist forces in the form of a secular state.
and this was illustrated in all of his writing.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
in the German Neo-Orthodoxy
Torah im Derech Eretz
Torah im Derech Eretz is a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism articulated by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch , which formalizes a relationship between traditionally observant Judaism and the modern world...
movement of his maternal grandfather Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
, and was the first president of Agudat Israel Workers
Agudat Israel Workers
Poalei Agudat Yisrael was a political party in Poland, and is a minor political party and settlement movement in Israel. It is also known as PAI or PAGI, its Hebrew acronym .-History:...
.
Biography
Breuer was born in PápaPápa
Pápa is a historical city in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 33,000 inhabitants, it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the region....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to Salomon Breuer, and lived most of his years in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. He attended Hirsch's Realschule school, and received rabbinical ordination at age 20 from his own father's yeshivah. He studied law, jurisprudence, and philosophy at Marburg University, and until 1936 practiced law in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
.
In 1936 Breuer moved to Jerusalem, organized and became first president of Po'alei Agudat Israel, and represented the Agudah before the Peel and Anglo American Commissions. He believed that Agudism could help prepare Jews to live in their ancestral home. (See below on his Zionism as a form of Agudah.) His five adult children were: Jacob (Bub) Baror, a lawyer who played a role in the Eichmann trial (1915–2008), Mordechai
Mordechai Breuer (historian)
Mordechai Breuer was a German-Jewish Historian and writer.-Background and Family:Breuer was born to Isaac Breuer and his wife Jenny Breuer in 1917. He had four siblings: Yaakov; Ulla, Tzipora, and Simeon. The family originated in Frankfurt but left for Israel in 1936.-References:*German-Jewish...
(1917–2007), Ursula
Ursula Merkin
Ursula Merkin was a German-born, American-Jewish philanthropist.-Biography:She was born in Frankfurt, Germany to Isaac Breuer, a noted German Rabbi, as Ursula Breuer...
(1919–2006, married Hermann Merkin
Hermann Merkin
Hermann Merkin was a Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist.-Biography:...
), Tzipora (Tzip) Breuer (born 1926) and Simeon Breuer (1922–1943).
Michal Lupolianski , the wife of former mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski
Uri Lupolianski
Uri Lupolianski was mayor of Jerusalem from 2003 to 2008 and founder of Yad Sarah.-Biography:Born in Haifa, Israel in 1951, Lupolianski studied at the Yavne School in Haifa and then attended Yeshivat Hanegev. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as a paramedic and worked as a teacher at a...
, is One of his grandchildren. Breuer died in Jerusalem, Israel in 1946.
Zionism
Although Hirsch'sSamson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
neo-Orthodoxy movement had defined itself from the start largely as an opposition to the German Reform movement
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, Isaac Breuer already regarded the Reform movement of his day as essentially the impotent and dying remnant of the Haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
. Breuer saw the real enemy of Orthodoxy in both political Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
, which he considered especially dangerous because it possessed an authentic Jewish instinct and impulse. The goals of the Zionists paralleled the goals of his own Agudah organization in many areas ("reunification of land and nation"), but without the stress which Agudah laid on adherence to halachah and tradition . Indeed, Breuer envisioned a Messianic Torah state in the land of Israel, and could not abide the idea of "reunification of land and nation" coming to pass through the agency of secular Zionist forces in the form of a secular state.
Philosophy
Isaac Breuer was a great admirer of Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
and this was illustrated in all of his writing.
Works
- Judenproblem (1918), a polemic against the perceived opponents of Orthodoxy, Zionists and Reform Jews.
- Messiasspuren (1918)
- Concepts of Judaism Levinger, Jacob S. (ed.)
- Der Neue Kusari
- Moriah
- Jerusalem: eine historische Erzählung, a metaphor in novella form of what negative consequences might follow from the agenda of Zionists
- Mein Weg (1927)