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Dr. I. Hildesheimer was a German rabbi, and leader of Orthodox Judaism; born at Halberstadt May 20, 1820; died at Berlin July 12, 1899. He attended the "Hasharat-Ẓewi" school in Halberstadt, and, after reaching the age of seventeen, the Talmudic school of Rabbi Ettlinger in Altona. The ḥakam Isaac Bernays was one of his teachers and his model as a preacher. While studying rabbinics R.Hildesheimer was also devoting much attention to classical languages. In 1840 he returned to Halberstadt, took his diploma at the Dom gymnasium, and entered the University of Berlin. There he studied Oriental languages and mathematics, continued his Talmudic studies, and became a disciple of the dominant Hegelian school. In 1842 he went to Halle and continued his studies under Gesenius and Roediger. R. Hildesheimer then returned to Halberstadt, and married Henrietta Hirsch, sister of Joseph Hirsch, head of the firm of Aron Hirsch & Sohn of Halberstadt.
In 1851 he was called to the rabbinate of Eisenstadt (=Kis-Marton), Hungary. His first notable act there was to found a parochial school, in which correct German was used, and in which German principles of pedagogy were adopted, in teaching Jewish as well as secular subjects. R .Hildesheimer next established a rabbinical school, which within a few years attracted a large number of pupils. The introduction into the school of German methods of instruction and of secular branches of learning was resented by the Orthodox party in Eisenstadt, a resentment which R. Hildesheimer's liberal tendencies and sympathy with modern culture soon changed to positive antipathy. This feeling became so strong that the rabbinical school was denounced before the representatives of the government at Oedenburg, the result being that the government ordered the school closed within twenty-four hours and the pupils removed from the city. Soon afterward, however (1858), R. Hildesheimer succeeded in obtaining state recognition for his rabbinical school.
In addition to the philanthropic activities connected with his own congregation, R. Hildesheimer took special interest in the welfare of the Jews of Palestine. In 1860, when the missionary society of Palestine provided seventy free dwellings for homeless Jews,R. Hildesheimer himself built houses in Jerusalem for the free use of pilgrims and of the poor. These houses are still in the possession of the Hildesheimer family (1906).
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