Rabbi Mordechai Amrom/Marcus A Hirsch

Chief rabbi in Prague and Hamburg.

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“The reawakening of the Hungarian nation after 1860 injected new vigor into the community, which began to recover from the saddened circumstancesof the previous decades. The first promising sign was the reappointment to the vacant rabbinate, of the young Marcus Hirsch, of Tisza-Bö, who in addition to profound Talmudic scholarship possessed wide secular knowledge, acquired at the university of Prague. Soon thereafter the management of the business affairs of the community was entrusted to the hands of Michael Stern and Samuel Ehrlich: two men of noble character and enthusiastic love for Judaism. They restored matters to something like order, and to their experienced administration it was owing that the sums which had been diverted from the legacy-fund were soon replaced. At this time 1863-65), too, the first Hungarian Jews were raised to the ranks of the nobility (S. W. Schossberger as "De Tornya" and Samuel F. Goldberger as "De Buda"); these were descended from Alt-Ofen families. In 1880, Dr. Hirsch was elected chief rabbi of Prague, and left Alt-Ofen, which remained without a rabbi another seven years till Dr. Julius Klein, of Szigetvár, became his successor. After his death in 1896, Dr. Elias Adler became rabbi” jewishencyclopedia.com

Up until the end of the 19th century, while the majority of Jewish girls attended the Israelitische Töchterschule at No. 35 Carolinenstraße, prosperous Jewish families sent their daughters to non-Jewish private secondary schools. This was the reason why the then Chief Rabbi Marcus A. Hirsch founded the orthodox Jewish girls' private secondary school Israelitishe Höhere Töchterschule (Israelite Girls' Secondary School) in October 1893. The school was accommodated at No. 4 Bieberstraße. It taught the curriculum of the state girls' secondary schools and in 1912 was recognized as a Lyzeum (grammar school) and became called Israelitische Höhere Mädchenschule (Lyzeum). As with No. 2 Bieberstraße the owner of No. 4 Bieberstraße was N.A. Pfennig. In 1921 the school owned its own premises. The girls came from families in which the fathers were businessmen in the import and export trade, doctors and lawyers. This gave the school its special character. In addition, the teachers regarded this school as their vocation. The staff formed a closely-knit society in which each supported the other and looked upon themselves as a large family. Due to the school intake and commitment of the women teachers, the Education Authority, in its regular inspections, noted with approval the standard of education achieved. see Jewish Chronicle Feb 21, 1903 p.24

http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//bieberstrasse.html

By : Isidore Singer Alexander Kisch

Chief rabbi of Hamburg; born at Tisza-Beö, Hungary, Feb. 17, 1833. In 1853 he went to Prague, where he became the pupil of I. L. Rapoport, attending at the same time lectures at the university. In 1856 he became rabbi at Karczag, whence he was called to Beö as district rabbi; and in 1861 he became rabbi of Alt-Ofen, where he was also appointed director of a great Talmudical school. At that time Hungarian Judaism was in a state of unrest, and Hirsch was urged by the government to make peace between the conflicting parties. His "Dibre Shalom we-Emet" was written to that end. In the congress of Hungarian Jews (1869-1870) Hirsch was the leader of the Status Quo party. He was a member of the committee entrusted with the elaboration of the statutes for the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary. In 1880, after refusing calls to Raab and Papa, Hirsch went to Prague as chief rabbi in succession to his former teacher Rapoport. Beingtoo conservative, and being unable to realize his ideals there, he accepted in 1889 the chief rabbinate of the Orthodox community of Hamburg, where he is still (1903) active. He founded the Jüdische Höhere Tochterschule, and has done much for the Talmud Torah school, whose spiritual head he is.

Bibliography: Jewish Chronicle, Feb. 21, 1903, p. 24.S. A.

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