Isaac Bernays

" Chacham " Isaac Bernays ( born September 29, 1792 in Weisenau, now part of Mainz; † May 1, 1849 in Hamburg), also Isaac Ben Jacob Bernays, son of Jaques Beer from Mainz, since 1808, Bernays was a German rabbi and applies with Jacob Ettlinger as one of the pioneers of modern Jewish orthodoxy. He served from 1821 until his death the post of rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Hamburg. Bernays was one of the first rabbis who had next to a Jewish studies also attended a university.

Life

His training Bernays was first in his then French dominated hometown Mainz ( Mayence ), where he visited in addition to the traditional Jewish training courses at Lyceum. At the University of Würzburg in 1815, he studied philosophy, received a doctorate in phil. and was also a pupil of Rabbi Abraham Bing. Following a stint in Munich as a private tutor and a stay in Mainz, he was appointed in 1821 as Chief Rabbi of the German - Jewish community in Hamburg. Bernays led in Hamburg the title " Chacham " ( Weiser ), according to the tradition of the Sephardic Jews in order to distinguish themselves from the Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbis. A year after taking office he married on August 28, 1822 Sara Lea ( Henriette ) Berend ( 1803-1853 ), daughter of the Hanoverian bankers, teacher and inspector of the Jewish school Michael Behrend († 1832) and his third wife Hannele Ries from Berlin. With her he had seven children.

In Hamburg he led German language sermons in the synagogue. He was renowned for his extensive knowledge, his preaching met but because of their complexity on reservations.

In the Talmud Torah school of the community, he reformed the curriculum. While only read and write in Hebrew and arithmetic were taught before, were now added also German and other secular subjects of a general elementary school. Two years after the death Bernays school to junior high school has been charged, the only of Orthodox Judaism in Germany.

Despite its modernity Bernays was orthodox and rejected the Reform Judaism of the Hamburg Temple. As this 1841 introduced a revised prayer book, Bernays took a position against it. Isaac Bernays died of a stroke and was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Grindelwald. His grave stone was treated at its dissolution on the Jewish cemetery Ohlsdorf.

From Bernays no writings are published. The publication " The Biblical Orient " probably does not come from him.

The classical philologist Jacob Bernays and the literary historian Michael Bernays were his sons. Another son, Berman Bernays (1826-1879), was the father of Martha Freud (born Bernays ), the wife of Sigmund Freud. Samson Raphael Hirsch was his pupil.