Zacharias Frankel (1801-1875), who is generally regarded as the ideological founder of the Conservative movement in Judaism, was one of the chief figures in
Jewish historical-legal research in 19th century Germany. He served as rabbi in Dresden and later in Berlin and then for twenty-two years was head of the newly
founded Rabbinical Seminary in Breslau. There he instructed a generation of rabbis in his own view of Judaism, which combined an emphasis upon tradition with a recognition that Judaism was facing a series of problems in his time. He looked for succor to diligent research into Jewish sources and to a recognition of the historical-growth character of Judaism. While he participated in the Frankfort Rabbinical Conference of 1845 which was summoned by the growing Reform movement, he was a vigorous opponent of Reform and contested some of its extravagances at this conference.
