Joseph Breuer - Views and Philosophy

Views and Philosophy

Breuer was very well known for his involvement in setting up an Orthodox Jewish infrastructure in post-World War II America. He wrote several books, including translations of and commentaries on the Biblical books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel; English translations of these appeared after his death.

Breuer can be considered the main post-war representative of the Torah im Derech Eretz movement in the United States. Apart from the abovementioned books, he limited his written work to contributions to the community organ (Mitteilungen); some appeared in book form after his death. His influence was mainly due to his public speeches and his indefatigable work on the community's services. A number of important ideas can be distinguished:

• Independent Orthodoxy: Rabbi Breuer drew on his grandfather's work of Austritt - the principle that Jewish communities can only truly claim to be Jewish if they are ideologically and otherwise independent from any other organisations. In America, where the community organisation was not enforced by local law, this became in Breuer's mind an even stronger issue than in Europe. This stance also led to his involvement with Agudath Israel of America.
• Torah im Derech Eretz: Rabbi Breuer saw the risk of misinterpretation of his grandfather's ideas on how Judaism could be harmonised with the general culture of the outside world. He repeatedly stated that compromising on Jewishness and halakha (Jewish law) was at variance with Torah im Derech Eretz. With the rise of the yeshiva movement, he also remarked that Torah im Derech Eretz was by no means a temporary measure - as was often claimed by protagonists of the "Torah only" view.
• Kosher we-Yosher: Although one of the phenomena of post-World War II Orthodoxy has become the (re)introduction of stringencies in halakha, Rabbi Breuer held that these should not be limited to the ceremonial sphere but also to the many financial and social laws of Judaism. He would, for example, refuse a hechsher (certification of kosher products) to companies with bad financial records.