Twenty Festival Sermons Book

The Festpredigten - festival sermons -were originally published in German in Frankfurt am Main in 1903. A window into the past, they offer a fascinating glimpse of German Jewry at the turn of the century. The author, Isaac Rosenberg, received his semichah at the Rabbiner-Seminar (Hildesheimer) in Berlin in 1888, and graced the synagogue pulpit in the eastern German city of Thorn for twenty-five years. He belonged to a new class of rabbis known as "Rabbiner Doktor" - with Ph.D's as well as rabbinic ordination. A leader in his community, Dr. Rosenberg delivered passionate sermons in impeccable High German - sermons that uplifted and inspired rather than rebuked. Yet they contain messages that are as fresh today as they were a century ago. This English volume includes an intriguing introduction by Dr. Fred Gottlieb on the history of German-Jewish homiletics and associated controversies.