Hirsch Bernstein
Pioneer of the Yiddish and Hebrew press in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zvi Hirsch Bernstein (Yiddish: צבי הירש בערענשטין; March 25, 1846 – August 6, 1907) was a Russian-American editor and publisher. He was the founder of the first Yiddish and the first Hebrew periodicals in the United States.
March 25, 1846
Hirsch Bernstein | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Zvi Hirsch Bernstein March 25, 1846 |
| Died | August 6, 1907 (aged 61)[1] |
| Language | Hebrew, Yiddish |
| Relatives | Herman Bernstein (nephew)[1] |
Biography
Hirsch Bernstein was born in Vladislavov (Neustadt-Schirwindt), then part of the Russian Empire. He received a traditional Jewish education and became fluent in written Hebrew. He emigrated to the United States in 1870, settling in New York City.[2]
That same year, he launched Di Post, the first Yiddish-language periodical in the United States,[3] using Yiddish type imported from Vilna and Vienna.[4] The publication lasted only six months.[4] Also in 1870, Bernstein founded Ha-Tzofeh be-Eretz ha-Ḥadashah ('The Observer in the New Land'), the first Hebrew-language publication in the United States, which was published weekly for five years.
Bernstein was a frequent contributor to prominent European Hebrew periodicals such as Ha-Maggid, Ha-Lebanon, and Ha-Karmel. Alongside Ch. G. Vidaver, he was among the earliest regular American correspondents to these publications.[5][2]
Bernstein later became a successful businessman in New York and a patron of the Yiddish theatre.[3] He died in 1907 at the Fairmount Hotel in Tannersville, New York, in the Catskill Mountains.[6]
