Josef Hirsch Dunner
Rabbi Josef Hirsch Dunner (4 January 1913 – 1 April 2007), aka "Harav Yosef Tzvi Halevi Dunner", was a distinguished
Early years
Josef Hirsch Dunner was born in Cologne, Germany[1] on 4 January 1913, and named after his grandfather's oldest brother, Joseph Hirsch Dünner, a former Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam. His father was Boruch Chaim Dunner. He completed his rabbinical studies at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary (Rabbiner Seminar für das Orthodoxe Judenthum) in Berlin under Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, author of Seridei Eish, in 1936.
Königsberg
In 1936 Josef Dunner was appointed Chief Rabbi of East Prussia, serving in its capital, Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). While serving the needs of the large Hareidi community of East Prussia, he fought a relentless battle against Reform. In 1937 he married Ida Freyhan, daughter of Zev Freyhan, a founding member of Agudath Yisroel. In November 1938 he was arrested as part of the Kristallnacht pogrom. The Nazi authorities were, however, prevented from moving him to the Dachau concentration camp as that entailed a land journey through Poland, which refused to allow access to its territory for the transport of political prisoners. His wife then contacted Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld in London, who obtained a precious rabbi's visa for Josef Dunner, his wife and year-old son, Avrohom (1937–2011; known as Aba).
In the UK
On arrival in England Josef Dunner became the rabbi of the
London 1947–2007
In 1947 Dunner was brought by Schonfeld to Stamford Hill in north London, and here was to spend the rest of his life. In London, with the help of Rabbi Schonfeld, Dunner set up the London Beis Yaakov Seminary for girls of post-school age, one of the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. Previously, it had been possible for the daughters of Orthodox Jewish families in London to be sent to the Continent to complete their studies, but this was no longer an option after the Holocaust. He continued to head the Beis Yaakov Seminary until the mid-1990s, when he handed leadership of the institution to his nephew, Rabbi Binyomin Dunner.
Leadership of Orthodox Jewry in the UK
Dunner succeeded Schonfeld in 1960 as head of the
Dunner further imbued the JSSM with the philosophy of "Torah im Derech Eretz", pioneered by the great Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch—the 19th-century father of German "neo-Orthodoxy". The concept of "Torah im Derech Eretz" means ensuring that one is thoroughly educated in both Jewish and secular subjects. Its adherents strictly observe orthodox Judaism whilst at the same time are actively engaged in wider society as loyal citizens of the country of their residence.
Dunner oversaw the split of the Ezra Youth Movement in the UK into a gender-segregated one. Whilst his rabbi, the Sheridei Aish, argued that mixed youth movements were permissible under Jewish law, Dunner contended that this was only in the case of Berlin in the 19th century, which was in such spiritual dire straits, that it was permissible. Leeds and London, which he believed to have a stronger religious base, were not in such a position to his reckoning.[2]
Dunner also subsequently served as European President of
Kashrus
Josef Dunner took a leading role in promoting
Controversy
Dunner was thrust into the public eye in 2002 when he placed an advert in the
Rabbi Sacks appeared to contend that Judaism did not necessarily possess a monopoly on spiritual truth; this would have been an unremarkable sentiment coming from a Liberal or a Reform rabbi, but coming from the best-known public face of the largest Orthodox organisation in the UK, it seemed at best ripe for misinterpretation, and at worst heresy.
"We urge Rabbi Sacks upon reflection to repudiate the thesis of the book and to withdraw the book from circulation," wrote Dunner and Rakow. Sacks conceded that he had been "misunderstood" and decided to restate his position in "less problematic terms" in the next edition of the book. The passages were duly revised, to the intense irritation of non-Orthodox elements.
Publications
No writings of Dunner were published during his lifetime. In 2007 his grandson Ze'ev Dunner published a collection of
References
- ^ Alderman, Geoffrey (2 July 2007). "Rabbi Josef Dunner". The Guardian.
- ^ Baron, Rav (2023). In The Hebrew Library of Yeshivat HaKotel (in Yiddish) (1st ed.). Jerusalem: Yeshivat HaKotel. pp. 3–5.
- ^ דינר זצ״ל, רבינו מהרי״צ הלוי (2007). דינר, זאב הלוי (ed.). מקדש הלוי. Bnei Berak, Israel: מכון להוצאת ספרי מסורת אשכנז.
- ^ דינר, זאב הלוי (2016). מנהגי מהרי״צ הלוי. Bnei Berak, Israel: מכון להוצאת ספרי מסורת אשכנז.
- ^ דינר, זאב הלוי (2022). מנהגי מהרי״צ הלוי שבת. Bnei Berak, Israel: מכון להוצאת ספרי מסורת אשכנז.
External links
- Daily Telegraph obituary
- Hamodia weekly, 12 April 2007 (British edition)