Salomon Formstecher, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetSalomon Formstecher
German rabbi
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Germany
About Salomon Formstecher
- Salomon Formstecher, in English also Solomon, (1808 - 1889) was a German rabbi and student of Jewish theology. Formstecher was born in Offenbach am Main on July 28, 1808.
- After graduating (Ph.D.
- 1831) from the Giessen University, he settled in his native city as preacher, succeeding Rabbi Metz in 1842; he filled this office until his death on April 24, 1889.
- During his long ministry he strove to harmonize the religious and social life of the Jews with the requirements of modern civilization.
- His aims were expressed at the Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick, Frankfurt, Breslau, and Kassel in the conferences of the German rabbis.
- The most important of his works is Religion des Geistes ("Religion of the Spirit," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1841).
- It contains a systematic analysis of the principles of Judaism.
- The author endeavors to demonstrate that Judaism was a necessary manifestation, and that its evolution tends in the direction of a universal religion for civilized mankind.
- Judaism, in contrast with paganism, considers the Divinity to be a Being separate from nature, and allows no doubt of God's existence.
- Consequently, any theogony, any emanation, any dualism must be rejected.
- Formstecher concludes his work with a history of Judaism which is a valuable contribution to Jewish religious philosophy. Formstecher's other works are: Zwölf Predigten, Würzburg, 1833 Israelitisches Andachtsbüchlein zur Erweiterung und Ausbildung der Ersten Religiösen Gefühle und Begriffe, Offenbach, 1836 Mosaische Religionslehre, Giessen, 1860 Buchenstein und Cohnberg, a novel, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1863 Israel's Klage und Israel's Trost, Offenbach, 1835 Ueber das Wesen und über den Fortgang der Israelitischen GottesverehrungFormstecher contributed to many periodicals, and edited in 1859, in collaboration with L.
- Stein, the periodical Der Freitagabend, and in 1861, with K.
- Klein, the Israelitische Wochenschrift.
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