Rabbeinu Shamshon Rephoel Hirsch was born in the city of Hamburg in the year 1808. Rav Hirsch became a student of Chacham Isaac Bernays, who was the Rav of the Ashkenazi Kehilla in Hamburg. Later, he traveled to Altona and studied under Rav Yaakov Ettlinger (author of Aruch L’ner) from whom he received semicha. Rav Hirsch held multiple rabbinical posts, starting in Oldenburg in 1830, and continuing on to positions in Emden and Nikolsburg. While serving as the rabbinical leader, his pen was always busy writing numerous articles, books, and seforim, including some of his most famous works such as The Nineteen Letters and Chorev, in which he espoused his Torah Im Derech Eretz philosophy. In 1851, Rav Hirsch was called to serve as Rav for the small separate Orthodox minyan in Frankfurt. Once there, Rav Hirsch turned his efforts towards building a Torah-true community with an emphasis on education and Torah learning.  While his focus was on building the Orthodox community, his pen did not rest either; his commentary on Chumash, Tehillim, and Siddur were all written while he was in Frankfurt. In addition, Rav Hirsch founded a monthly publication called Jeschurun which was filled with brilliant articles covering the gamut of Jewish life and thought, published posthumously as The Collected Writings of Rav S. R. Hirsch. Rav Shamshon Rephoel Hirsch passed away in the year 1888.