Solomon Breuer

Solomon (Shlomo Zalman) Breuer (27 June 1850 – 17 July 1926) was a Hungarian-born German rabbi, initially in Pápa, Hungary, and from the early 1890s in Frankfurt as a successor of his father-in-law Samson Raphael Hirsch.^[1]

Solomon Breuer was born in Pilisvörösvár, Hungary,^[1]:6 into a family of German-speaking merchants. He studied with his maternal grandfather rabbi Simon Wiener. At the age of twelve he entered the yeshiva of Nitra, but returned to study with his grandfather until he could enroll in the Pressburg Yeshiva, then headed by Rabbi Samuel Benjamin Sofer (the Ksav Sofer). He then proceeded to university studies and eventual doctorate in Mainz, where he became acquainted with rabbi Marcus Lehmann, one of the leaders of German Orthodoxy.^[1]

Breuer married Sophie, youngest daughter of rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch of Frankfurt, in 1876, and soon after accepted the rabbinate of Pápa in Hungary. His father-in-law died in December 1888, and Breuer succeeded him as the rabbi of the Frankfurt Austrittsgemeinde (secessioned community) in 1890.^[1]

In Frankfurt he participated in the Freie Vereinigung, a national organisation of Orthodox communities, and created its rabbinical representative body, the Verband der orthodoxen Rabbiner Deutschlands (Union of Orthodox rabbis in Germany). He would later also be one of the founding members of Agudas Yisroel, and strongly opposed political Zionism; he viewed participation in the Zionist movement as an implicit approval of the idea that a Jewish state can replace Jewish religious identity.^[1]

As part of his efforts to foster Jewish education in Frankfurt, Breuer opened a yeshiva, the Torah Lehranstalt, in 1893, which he modeled after the yeshivot he had attended in Hungary.^[1]

Poco de la obra de Breuer se conserva por escrito. Su nieto Jacob Breuer publicó sermones recopilados en inglés bajo el título Chochmo u'Mussar en tres volúmenes entre 1972 y 1977, ^{[ 2 ]} y algunas de sus responsa aparecieron en el volumen hebreo Divrei Yosef , que contenía principalmente la obra de su hijo Joseph. ^{[ 1 ]}

Breuer tuvo ocho hijos. Simon murió en la infancia. Raphael Breuer fue rabino en Aschaffenburg, Joseph Breuer enseñó en el Torah Lehranstalt y recreó la comunidad de Frankfurt en el Nueva York de la década de 1940, Isaac Breuer fue ideólogo de Agudat Yisrael, Moses Breuer fue lingüista, Samson Breuer matemático y actuario, y Joshua Breuer pediatra. Su hija Hannah Breuer se casó con Edmund Meyer, un abogado de Colonia. ^{[ 1 ]} Breuer murió en Frankfurt .

• Documentos de Salomon Breuer (digitalizados), pertenecientes a la colección RG 31 Alemania (Archivos de Vilna), en el Instituto YIVO para la Investigación Judía.