BERNSTEIN, HIRSCH:
Russian-American editor and publisher; born in Vladislavov (Neustadt-Schirvint), government of Suvalki, near the Prussian frontier, March 25, 1846. He received the usual Jewish education and learned to write Hebrew fluently. He emigrated to the United States in 1870, settling in New York, where he still (1902) resides. While following from the first commercial pursuits, he has continued his Hebrew studies in his leisure hours. In 1870 he started "The Post," the first Judæo-German or Yiddish periodical in America; but, like many subsequent publications of that nature, it had but a short existence. In the same year he founded the "Ha-Ẓofeh be'Ereẓ ha-Ḥadashah," the first publication in the Neo-Hebraic language in America. It appeared weekly for five years and contained many interesting contributions, which throw light on local and contemporary Jewish history. Bernstein was at one time a constant contributor to "Ha-Maggid," "Ha-Lebanon," and "Ha-Karmel," and, after Ch. G. Vidaver, was probably the first regular American correspondent to European Hebrew periodicals.
