(HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL)
Raphael Hirsch (with postscript by Rabbi Mendel Frankfurter). Autograph Letter ...

(HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL)
Raphael Hirsch (with postscript by Rabbi Mendel Frankfurter). Autograph Letter Signed, written to his sons Samson Raphael Hirsch and Harry Raphael Hirsch, in Hebrew and Judeo-German.


Raphael Hirsch here composes a letter containing loving, fatherly advice. Advising his sons that although play is healthy, they must use their time wisely, observing occasional limits such as rising early in the morning to praise God for His goodness. Raphael Hirsch cites Proverbs 1:7 (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”): “Uppermost in your mind should be the fear of God. This will support and enhance even your play.” Quoting Psalm 133:1 (“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”), he instructs Samson to guide his younger brother by reminding Harry of the contents of this letter. A postscript from Raphael’s father, Rabbi Mendel Frankfurter, is included: Citing Proverbs 1:8 (“Listen, my son, to the instruction of thy father”) he advises his grandsons they re-read this letter many times, for its instructions derive from their kind-hearted father, and by internalizing its message they will appropriately fulfill their father’s will.
One page with address panel on verso. Frayed and torn with loss of a few letters, remnant of red wax seal. 4to. (Full transcription along with complete translation into English accompanies the lot).
(Altona): n.d (but approx. late-1810’s from internal evidence)
Provenance: By direct family descent from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, to the consignor. This letter was written to the two young Hirsch boys in Hamburg while their father was visiting their grandfather in Altona. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the founder of German neo-Orthodoxy, grew up in a particular modern, yet rigorously Orthodox home. His father, Raphael Aryeh Hirsch (1777-1857) imbued his family with values that combined Torah with pursuits such as a European cultural education. Raphael was a businessman, whose deep piety left a great impression on his son Samson. The Bible, wrote Hirsch, was his father’s zweite Seele, or second nature. See Noah H. Rosenbloom, Tradition In An Age of Reform: The Religious Philosophy of Samson Raphael Hirsch (1976) pp. 48-50. Raphael Hirsch himself grew up in a home that was also oriented toward a modern religious direction. His father, Rabbi Mendel Frankfurter (1742-1823), although a Dayan in Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbeck, communicated with Mendelssohn, and in his later years developed a Talmud Torah in Hamburg that was organized along lines somewhat similar to Wessely’s educational ideas.
Provenance: By direct family descent from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, to the consignor. This letter was written to the two young Hirsch boys in Hamburg while their father was visiting their grandfather in Altona. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the founder of German neo-Orthodoxy, grew up in a particular modern, yet rigorously Orthodox home. His father, Raphael Aryeh Hirsch (1777-1857) imbued his family with values that combined Torah with pursuits such as a European cultural education. Raphael was a businessman, whose deep piety left a great impression on his son Samson. The Bible, wrote Hirsch, was his father’s zweite Seele, or second nature. See Noah H. Rosenbloom, Tradition In An Age of Reform: The Religious Philosophy of Samson Raphael Hirsch (1976) pp. 48-50. Raphael Hirsch himself grew up in a home that was also oriented toward a modern religious direction. His father, Rabbi Mendel Frankfurter (1742-1823), although a Dayan in Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbeck, communicated with Mendelssohn, and in his later years developed a Talmud Torah in Hamburg that was organized along lines somewhat similar to Wessely’s educational ideas.