STERN, SIGISMUND

STERN, SIGISMUND (1812–1867), German teacher and leader of the Berlin Reform movement. After studying philology in Berlin, in 1835 Stern succeeded I.M. *Jost as headmaster of the Berlin Jewish boys' school. In 1845 he gave a series of lectures on the tasks of Judaism which aroused wide interest and controversy. He wished to bring about a revival of religious life, waking it from its then current lethargy, which he felt was caused by the contradictions and frustrations faced by Jews in the modern world. Following his proposal calling for the erection of a "German-Jewish church," leading classes of Berlin Jewry responded by forming an "Association for Reform in Judaism," in which Stern played a central role. Contending that Judaism must free itself from its national heritage, he initiated radical reforms and the separate organization of the reformers in Berlin. In 1848, after standing unsuccessfully as candidate for that year's National Assembly, Stern accepted the directorship of the Frankfurt on the Main Philanthropin Jewish school. He enlarged the institution, raised its academic standards, and introduced pedagogic (but not religious) innovations, which made him an acknowledged leader of the German methods.

bibliography:

A. Galliner, Sigismund Stern (1930); idem, in: ylbi, 3 (1958), 177–81; W.G. Plaut, Rise of Reform Judaism (1963), 288. add. bibliography: M.A. Meyer, Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism (1988), 125–29.