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WIENER/JEWISH LITERARY ANNIVERSARIES, 1990
1 8 5
known Aramaic version o f the Torah. He also wrote about Jewish
life in the Middle Ages. For a number o f years he edited a scholarly
Jewish journal and also wrote in defense o f traditional Judaism.
S
im o n
B
e r n f e l d
.
50th anniversary o f death. Born in Stanislav, Galicia,
in 1860, died in Berlin, Germany, February 3, 1940. After studies
in Germany he served for several years as chief rabbi o f the Se-
phardi community in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He settled in Berlin
as a private scholar and published a variety o f monographs on
Jewish religion and history in Hebrew, mainly intended to acquaint
East European Jews with the modern studies in that field. Thus
he wrote one o f the first books on modern Biblical criticism in
Hebrew. He also wrote a number o f studies in German. A multi
volume work on the
Teachings ofJudaism: The Foundations ofJewish
Ethics
appeared in part in English in 1929 and 1968.
P
er e z
B
e r n s t e i n
.
100th anniversary o f birth. Born in Meiningen, Ger
many, June 12, 1890, died in Israel in 1971. As a young man
he settled in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and went into business. At
the same time he participated in the Zionist movement there, for
some years as president o f the Dutch Zionist Federation and editor
o f its periodical. He wrote a book on anti-Semitism, which ap
peared in English translation under the title,
Jew-Hate as a Soci
ological Problem
(1951). In 1936 he moved to Palestine and became
a leader o f the General Zionists. After the establishment o f Israel,
he served for a number o f years as minister o f commerce and
industry.
J
o s h u a
B
l o c h
.
100th anniversary o f birth. Born in Dorbian, Lithuania,
December 10, 1890, died in New York in 1957. In this country
since 1907, he eventually became chief o f the Jewish Division o f
the New York Public Library. He helped make this one o f the
major collections o f Judaica in this country. He published several
studies on early Jewish printing, edited the
Journal of Jewish Bib
liography
and prepared a catalogue o f the books published by the
Jewish Publication Society o f America
(On Making Many Books,
1953). He likewise wrote
The People of the Book
(1954), a bibliog
raphy o f American Jewry on the occasion o f its tercentenary. A
theological work,
On the Apocalyptic in Judaism
(1952) rounded out
his literary activity.
M
a r t in
B
u b e r
.
25th anniversary o f death. Born in Vienna, Austria,
in 1878, died in Jerusalem, June 13, 1965. A grandson o f Solomon
Buber, the Midrash scholar, he had both a traditional and modern
academic education, studying philosophy at various German uni
versities. An early Zionist, he always maintained that Jews should
endeavor to live in harmony with the Arabs
(A Land and Two Peo
ples,
1983). His principal contribution to modern Jewish life is seen