Zvi Hirsch Bernstein (; March 25, 1846 – August 6, 1907) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

-American editor and publisher. He was the founder of the first

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and the first

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Biography

Hirsch Bernstein was born in

Vladislavov Kudirkos Naumiestis () is a town in southern Lithuania. It is located south-west of Šakiai. History The settlement was first mentioned in 1561 as a village called ''Duoliebaičiai.'' In 1639 the town was renamed ''Vladislavovas'' () by Cec ...

(Neustadt-Schirwindt), then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He received a traditional

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

education and became fluent in written

. He emigrated to the United States in 1870, settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. That same year, he launched ''Di Post'', the first

-language periodical in the United States, using Yiddish

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

imported from

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The publication lasted only six months. 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 ''HaKarmel'' () was a Hebrew periodical, edited and published by Samuel Joseph Fuenn in Vilna from 1860 to 1880. It was one of the important forces of the Haskalah movement in the Russian Empire. History ''HaKarmel'' was founded by Samuel Joseph ...

''. Alongside Ch. G. Vidaver, he was among the earliest regular American correspondents to these publications. Bernstein later became a successful businessman in New York and a patron of the

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satire, satiric or nostalgic revues; melodr ...

. He died in 1907 at the Fairmount Hotel in

Tannersville, New York Tannersville is a village in Greene County, New York, United States. The village is in the north-central part of the town of Hunter on Route 23A. The population was 568 at the 2020 census.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census results, Tannersville vill ...

, in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

References

1846 births 1907 deaths 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) American newspaper editors American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Hebrew-language writers Lithuanian Jews People from Augustów Governorate People from Kudirkos Naumiestis Businesspeople from New York City People from Suwałki Governorate People of the Haskalah Yiddish-language journalists {{US-journalist-19thC-stub