Hirsch Bernstein

{{Short description|Pioneer of the Yiddish and Hebrew press in the United States}}

{{Infobox writer

| name=Hirsch Bernstein

| image=צבי הירש ברנשטיין.png

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| birth_name=Zvi Hirsch Bernstein

| birth_date={{birth date|1846|03|25}}

| birth_place=Vladislavov, Augustów Governorate, Congress Poland

| death_date={{death date and age|1907|08|06|1846|03|25}}{{r|nyt_obit}}

| death_place=Tannersville, New York

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| language=Hebrew, Yiddish

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| relatives=Herman Bernstein (nephew){{r|nyt_obit}}

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Zvi Hirsch Bernstein ({{Langx|yi|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.

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.{{r|JE}}

That same year, he launched Di Post, the first Yiddish-language periodical in the United States,{{r|EJ}} using Yiddish type imported from Vilna and Vienna.{{r|chicago}} The publication lasted only six months.{{r|chicago}} 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.{{r|kabakoff}}{{r|JE}}

Bernstein later became a successful businessman in New York and a patron of the Yiddish theatre.{{r|EJ}} He died in 1907 at the Fairmount Hotel in Tannersville, New York, in the Catskill Mountains.{{r|outlook_obit}}

References

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Bernstein, Hirsch|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3139|first1=Herman|last1=Rosenthal|first2=Peter|last2=Wiernik|volume=3|page=99}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal|first=Murray|last=Frank|title=Notes on the Yiddish Press|journal=The Chicago Jewish Forum|volume=4|issue=4|date=1946|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chicago-jewish-forum_summer-1946_4_4/page/256/mode/2up|page=256|location=Chicago}}

{{cite EJ|title=Bernstein, Zvi Hirsch|first=Eisig|last=Silberschlag|volume= |page= |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bernstein-zvi-hirsch}}

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Bernstein, Hirsch|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3139|first1=Herman|last1=Rosenthal|first2=Peter|last2=Wiernik|volume=3|page=99|no-prescript=1}}

{{cite journal|title=The American Hameassef|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0914820087_38/page/42/mode/2up|first=Jacob|last=Kabakoff|page=42|date=1980|journal=The Jewish Book Annual|publisher=Jewish Book Council|volume=38}}

{{cite news|title=Hirsch Bernstein|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/20547265/|date=August 2, 1907|newspaper=The New York Times|page=7|url-access=subscription}}

{{cite news|title=Tannersville|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/912652694/|date=August 16, 1907|page=5|newspaper=The Jewish Outlook|location=Denver, Colorado|url-access=subscription}}

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Category:1846 births

Category:1907 deaths

Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)

Category:American newspaper editors

Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States

Category:Hebrew-language writers

Category:Lithuanian Jews

Category:People from Augustów Governorate

Category:People from Kudirkos Naumiestis

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:People from Suwałki Governorate

Category:People of the Haskalah

Category:Yiddish-language journalists