Background
Formstecher was born in Offenbach am Main on July 28, 1808.
Formstecher was born in Offenbach am Main on July 28, 1808.
After graduating (Doctor of Philosophy 1831) from the Giessen University, he settled in his native city as preacher, succeeding Rabbi Metz in 1842. He filled this office until his death on April 24, 1889.
During his long ministry he strove to harmonize the religious and social life of the Jews with the requirements of modern civilization. His aims were expressed at the Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick, Frankfurt, Breslau, and Kassel in the conferences of the German rabbis. Consequently any theogony, any emanation, any dualism must be rejected.
Formstecher"s other works are: Zwölf Predigten, Würzburg, 1833 Israelitisches Andachtsbüchlein zur Erweiterung und Ausbildung der Ersten Religiösen Gefühle und Begriffe, Offenbach, 1836 Mosaische Religionslehre, Giessen, 1860 Buchenstein und Cohnberg, a novel, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1863 Israel"s Klage und Israel"s Trost, Offenbach, 1835 Ueber das Wesen und über den Fortgang der Israelitischen Gottesverehrung Formstecher contributed to many periodicals, and edited in 1859, in collaboration with L. Stein, the periodical Der Freitagabend, and in 1861, with K. Klein, the Israelitische Wochenschrift.