Though closely associated with Rabbi Shimshon Rafoel Hirsch, Rabbi Hildesheimer's view of "Torah im derech eretz" differed slightly. He saw secular studies as necessary, but unlike Rabbi Hirsch, did not believe they were in any way spiritually uplifting. Yet at the same time, he was much less of a separatist than Rabbi Hirsch and worked alongside the Reform when the German government required it. Because of this, he met with opposition on both sides of the Jewish spectrum, yet his solutions to the challenge of modernity are echoed in the current solutions implemented in the Jewish world today.