HIRSCH, MENDEL

HIRSCH, MENDEL (1833–1900), educator and writer. The eldest son of samson raphael hirsch , from 1855 he taught Jewish and general subjects at the high schools founded by his father in Frankfurt. From 1877 he was their principal and for 17 years was also headmaster of the Jewish elementary school. He contributed a series of articles on pedagogical subjects to the monthly Jeschurun, published by his father. Among his other works are Das reine Menschentum im Lichte des Judentums (1893; Humanism and Judaism, 1928); a German translation of and commentary on the haftarot, Die Haftorot uebersetzt und erlaeutert (1896, 19132; also Eng., 1966); on the minor prophets (Die zwoelf Propheten, uebersetzt und erlaeutert, 1900); and on Lamentations (Die Klagelieder, 1903). In a published lecture (Der Zionismus, 1898) Hirsch adopted a stand against political Zionism, while recognizing it as an admission that assimilation had failed. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Weyl, Direktor Dr. Mendel Hirsch (1901); H. Schwab, Chachme Ashkenaz (Eng., 1964), 75. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Breuer, Modernity within Tradition (1992), passim.