author
Bernard Drachman
1861–1945
A pioneering American Orthodox rabbi, teacher, and translator, he helped shape a confident English-speaking Orthodoxy in the United States. His career bridged old-world scholarship and modern American Jewish life.
1 Audiobook
From the Heart of Israel: Jewish Tales and Types
by Bernard Drachman
About the author
Born in New York City in 1861, Bernard Drachman became one of the best-known Orthodox rabbis in America at a time when Jewish life in the United States was changing quickly. He studied at Columbia College and continued his Jewish and academic training in Europe, including at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau and the University of Heidelberg.
Back in the United States, he served congregations in Newark and New York and became especially associated with Congregation Zichron Ephraim, later known as Park East Synagogue, where he led for decades. He was also active as an educator and communal leader, and is often remembered as one of the first American Orthodox rabbis to preach regularly in English, helping traditional Judaism speak more directly to American-born Jews.
Drachman also wrote and translated widely. His English translation of Samson Raphael Hirsch's The Nineteen Letters helped introduce important modern Orthodox thought to new readers, and his memoir The Unfading Light preserves a firsthand view of American Jewish religious life in his era. He died in New York in 1945.