Hildesheimer was born in
Halberstadt,
Province of Saxony,
Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Rabbi Löb Glee Hildesheimer, a native of
Hildesheim,
Electorate of Hanover, a city near Hanover. He attended the
Hasharat Zvi school in Halberstadt, and, from age seventeen, the
yeshiva of Rabbi
Jacob Ettlinger in
Altona;
chacham Isaac Bernays was one of his teachers and his model as a
preacher. While studying in yeshiva Hildesheimer also studied
classical languages. In 1840 he returned to Halberstadt, took his
diploma at the public Königliches
Dom-
Gymnasium, and entered the
University of Berlin; he became a disciple of the dominant
Hegelian school. He studied
Semitic languages and
mathematics, and continued his study in
Talmud. In 1842 he went to
Halle upon Saale where he earned his doctorate from the
University of Halle-Wittenberg in 1844 under
Wilhelm Gesenius and
Emil Rödiger (''
, English: On the Right Kind of Bible Interpretation''). He then returned to Halberstadt, where he married Henrietta Hirsch, whose dowry made them financially independent. In 1851 he became
Rabbi of
Eisenstadt (Kis Marton),
Hungary (now located in Austria); the principal city of the
Siebengemeinden or
Sheva kehillot. His first notable act there was to found a
parochial school, where correct German was used, and modern principles of
pedagogy were adopted in teaching
secular, as well as Jewish, subjects. Hildesheimer initially introduced limited secular studies in the elementary school; the older students received a secular education as well, but with a focus on
mathematics and other subjects that would enhance their understanding of
gemara. Next, Hildesheimer established a
yeshiva. The yeshiva was unusual in that it was the only Orthodox institution where students were required to have a significant secular education before they were admitted. Also, the curriculum devoted time to studying
Tanach and the
Hebrew language. Despite this approach, within a few years the Yeshiva attracted a large number of pupils. After beginning with six students in 1851, the seminary had 128 students in 1868, including one from the United States. His son, , was a professor there. In 1869 the
Orthodox minority in Berlin was granted government permission to found a separate Orthodox synagogal congregation, the (extant from 1869 to 1939, and again since 1989), then comprising about 200 families. They were dissatisfied with Rabbi
Joseph Aub, appointed in 1867 by the
Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin (till 1869 the only Jewish congregation in Berlin). Adass Jisroel chose Hildesheimer to represent them as an "Orthodox rabbi of standing". Here, he similarly established a religious school and a yeshiva (
Rabbinerseminar für das orthodoxe Judenthum in Berlin 1873–1880, then the name was shortened to
Rabbiner-Seminar zu Berlin, known as the
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary), which immediately attracted thirty former pupils. Hildesheimer was thus the real intellectual founder and leader of the
Adass Jisroel congregation. Aided by
Meyer Lehmann, the editor of
Israelit in
Mainz (Mayence), Hildesheimer "exerted his whole energy" in the fight against
Reform Judaism. In 1861 he took his stand against
Abraham Geiger by criticising Geiger, ''Die Geiger'sche Broschüre Notwendigkeit und Maass einer Reform des jüdischen Gottesdienstes'' (under the name variant Israel Hildesheimer, Mayence: Verlag der Le Roux'schen Hofbuchhandlung, 1861). (In fact, as early as 1847—as the representative of the communities in the
Magdeburg district—he had energetically opposed the Reform attempts of
Ludwig Philippson.) Hildesheimer was "simple in his habits and fearless"; he had an unusual capacity for work; and his great Talmudic learning "was joined to practical administrative ability". He was financially independent, and never accepted remuneration for his rabbinical activity. He was frequently engaged in philanthropic activities connected with his own congregation, but additionally, "no labor was too great and no journey too long for him" in the service of the Jews of Germany, Austria, Russia, and even
Abyssinia and
Persia, so that he came to be known as the "international
schnorrer". Hildesheimer also took a special interest in the welfare of the
Jews of Palestine. In 1860, when the
missionary society of Palestine provided seventy free dwellings for homeless Jews, Hildesheimer himself built houses in Jerusalem for the free use of Jewish pilgrims and for the poor. Hildesheimer died in Berlin on 12 July 1899. His grave is preserved in the
Cemetery of the Synagogal Congregation of Adass Jisroel on Wittlicher Straße, Berlin-Weißensee. In Israel, the
moshav (settlement)
Azri'el is named after him, as well as streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Writings Hildesheimer contributed articles to various journals and newspapers: the
Jüdische Presse,
Ha-Lebanon,
He-Chalutz and
Archives Israélites. During his lifetime he wrote his name in his books usually as Israel Hildesheimer. His son Hirsch was editor of the
Jüdische Presse. Other writings include: • "Materialien zur Beurtheilung der Septuaginta", in:
Literaturblatt des Orients, 1848, Nos. 30 et seq.; •
Die Epitaphien der Grabsteine auf dem Hiesigen [of Halberstadt] Jüdischen Friedhofe, 1846; •
Verwaltung der Jüdischen Gemeinde Halberstadt, Halberstadt: Dölle, 1849. •
Offener Brief an den Redacteur der Monatsschrift "Ben-Chananja", Leopold Löv, Vienna, 1858; •
ספר מנחה טהורה: כולל דינים מהלכות מליחה נדה חלה והדלקה / Minchah Tehorah, Solomon ben Moses Bonhard, Hildesheimer (ed.) Pressburg: 1860; •
Halachoth gedoloth: nach dem Texte der Handschrift der Vaticana /הלכות גדולות : על פי כתב יד רומי, with Simeon Ḳayara, Berlin: Itzkowski, 1888. •
Hukkat HaPesach On the celebration of his seventieth birthday, in 1890, his friends and pupils published a literary
Jubelschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag des Dr. Israel Hildesheimer, Rabbiner und Rector des Rabbiner-Seminars zu Berlin: Gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern / (Berlin: H. Engel, 1890). ==Modernisation within Orthodoxy==