Q&A: Did Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Invent a Novel Idea?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Did Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Invent a Novel Idea?
Question
Does the saying, “The new is forbidden by the Torah,”
paradoxically contain a novelty of its own?
Or is it simply plain conservatism and fidelity to the existing tradition?
Answer
It depends how one interprets it and the tradition. There’s no point in dealing with this.
Discussion on Answer
Dear Aharon,
Do you have a source for that?
A simple Google search. See note 2 here:
<a href="https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9_%D7%90%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A8_%D7%9E%D7%9F_%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94" rel="nofollow">https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9_%D7%90%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A8_%D7%9E%D7%9F_%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94</a>
That’s a slogan coined by the Hatam Sofer, not Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.