Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 3, 2026

Hirsch Bernstein

Zvi Hirsch Bernstein was a Russian-American editor and publisher. He was the founder of the first Yiddish and the first Hebrew periodicals in the United States.

Last revised
Jul 3, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
353 w
Citations
10
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Hirsch Bernstein
Born
Zvi Hirsch Bernstein

(1846-03-25)March 25, 1846
Vladislavov, Augustów Governorate, Congress Poland
DiedAugust 6, 1907(1907-08-06) (aged 61)1
Tannersville, New York
LanguageHebrew, Yiddish
RelativesHerman Bernstein (nephew)1

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.

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.52

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

References

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Wiernik, Peter (1902). "Bernstein, Hirsch". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 99.

  1. "Hirsch Bernstein". The New York Times. August 2, 1907. p. 7.
  2.  Rosenthal, Herman; Wiernik, Peter (1902). "Bernstein, Hirsch". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 99.
  3. Silberschlag, Eisig (2007). "Bernstein, Zvi Hirsch". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
  4. Frank, Murray (1946). "Notes on the Yiddish Press". The Chicago Jewish Forum. 4 (4). Chicago: 256.
  5. Kabakoff, Jacob (1980). "The American Hameassef". The Jewish Book Annual. 38. Jewish Book Council: 42.
  6. "Tannersville". The Jewish Outlook. Denver, Colorado. August 16, 1907. p. 5.