Ar.ibone, Bictionarn of Authors, i, 863; Hocfor, Nouv. Bicxj. Generule, xxiv, 935.
Holder, Wilhelji (also known as Frater Wilhel- mus de Stutgardia OrdiuisMinoru)n),a.W'\\Tiviu\nru; phi- losopher and theologian, was born at IMarbadi in 1512, and educated at Tiibingen. He distingnislicd himself especially l)y his great opposition to scliolastic; jjiiloso- phy and theology, against which he wrote J\Ius exen- teratus contra Joannem Pistorium (Tlib. 1593, 4 to) :— a very rare and curious work on the Mass mik! li.ipiism, of which extracts have been given in the A . Cn//;,,;/. I Fist. Mag. vol. ii, pt. iv, \\ 716 sq. :— also Petitin-iuin e'.rhort<i- torium jjro resoluiorio sii/„ r r/rossis quibusdum dubietu- tibus et qu(vstimJ/iii.<. c <■. ( liil.iiig. 1594, 4to). He died Jidy 24, 1609.— Add u.ig's J,,rhcr, Gelehi. Lex. ii, 1672; Krug, Enc>jllop.-2)hilos. Lex. ii, 450.
Holdheim, Samuel, a distinguished Jewish divine of the Liberalistic or so-called reform school, was bom at Kempen, province of Posen, Prussia, in 1806. His early education was, like that of every other Jewish Rabbi of his time, confined to a thorough study of the Scriptures and the Talmud. In the latter liis profi- ciency was very great, and was pretty generally known throughout his native province, even while he v.as yet a young man. With great perseverance, he paved his way for a broader culture than the study of the Talmud and the instructions of the Rabbins could afford him, and he went to the universities of Prague and Berlin. His limited preparation made it, however, impossible for him to graduate at those high-schools. In 1836 he was called as Rabbi to the city of Frankfort on the Oder. Here he distinguished himself greatly by his endeavors to advance the interests of his Jewish brethren in Prus- sia, and to obtain liberal concessions from the govern- ment. He there published, besides a number of sermons deUvered in behalf of the cause just alluded to, Gottes- dienstUche Vortrdge (Frnkf. 1839, 8vo), in which he treats of the Jewish holy days, usages, etc. These s( rmons were the subject of consideration by the leading Jewish periodicals for successive months. Thus the distin- guished Jewish scholar J. A. Frankel aimed to establish on these sermons the laws of Jewish Homiletics (comp. Literaturblatt des Orients, 1840, No. 35, 39, 47, 49, 50). His scholarly attainments were such at this time (1840) that the University of Leipzig honored him with the degree of " doctor of philosophy." In the same year Holdheim accepted a call as chief Rabbi of Blecklen- burg-Schwerin, and was installed Sept. 19 (1840). The prominence which this position gave him greatly in- creased his influence both at home and abroad, and his movements for reform in the Jewish Ritual (q. v.) con- tributed perhaps more than the efforts of any other per- son to the reform movements at Berlin with which he was afterwards so intimately associated. In 1843 he published Ueber d. A idonomie d. Rabbimn ti. d. Princip. derjiid. Ehe (Schwerin and Berlin, 1843, 8vo). In this work he labored for a submission of the Jews in matri- monial questions to the law of the land in which they now sojourned, instead of adhering to their Talmudic laws, so conflicting with the duties of their citizenship, and so antagonistic to the principles of this liberal age. He held, first, that the autonomy of the Rabbins must cease ; secondly, that the reUgious obligations should be distinct from the political and civil, and should yield to the latter as of higher authority ; and, thirdly, that mar- riage is, according to the Jewish law, a civil act. and consequently an act independent of Jewish autliorities. (On the controversy of this question, sec Jicws. Re- formed.) In 1844 "he published Ueber d. Beschmidung zundchst. in religios-dogmat. Beziehung (Schwerin and BorUn, 1844, 8vo), in which he treats of the question whether circumcision is essential to Jewish membership, and in which his position is even more Hberal than in the treatment of the questions previously alluded to. Holdheim was also a ]ironiinent member of the Jewish councUs held from 1843 to 1846. In 1847 he was called
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to Berlin by the Jewish Eeform Society of that city, con- sisting of members who, on account of their liberal views, had separated from the orthodox portion ; and he entered upon the duties of this position on September 5. Here he labored with great distinction, and from this, the real centre of Germany, he scattered the seeds of his extreme- ly liberal views among his Jewish bretliren throughout the entire length and breadth not only of his own coim- try, but of the world. He died Aug. 22, 18G0. Perhaps we can give no better evidence of Holdheim's influence in his later years than by citing the words of Eabbi Ein- horn, now of New York city (in Sinai: Orf)anfur Er- Jcenntniss n. Veredlunrj d. Jiuknth. Baltimore, ISGO, p. 288, the November number of which gives a pretty full bi- ography of Holdheim) : " The great master in Israel, the high-priest of Jewish theological science, the lion in the contest for light and truth, no longer dwells among us." Besides a number of short treatises in pamphlet form, to which the controversy between the Reformed and Orthodox Jews gave rise, he published Gesch. der jiid. Jieformffemeinde (Berlin, 1857, 8vo) : — Relir)ions-it. Sittenk'hren d. Misclinah z. Gebrauch h.Religionsunteri: i. jiid. Relir/ions-schulen (Berlin, 1854, 12mo), and a larger work on the same subject under the title ns^l^iXil n^"^ni, Jud. Glauhens-u. Sittenlehre (ib. 1857, sVo) :— Gebete iind Gesiinge filr das Neujahrs-ii. Vei-ndhmmgrfest (Berlin, 1859, 8vo) ; and Predir/fen (vol. i, 1852 ; vol. ii, 1853 ; vol. iii, 1855), besides a number of sermons sepa- rately published since his death. A complete list of his works up to 1846 is given by Furst {Bihlioth. Judenth. p. 404, 405). See RiUer (Dr. J. H.), Gesch. der jiid. Re- formntion, vol. iii (Samuel Holdheim, Berl. 1865) ; Jost, N. Gesch. d. Israel, i, 99 sq. ; iii (Cid/urf/esch.), 205 sq. ; Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Selten, p. 374 sq. (J. H. AV.)