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Bernard Friedberg

Bernard Friedberg was a Hebraist and bibliographer from Kraków, known for his book Beit Eked Sefarim and his studies of rabbinic families.

1876 to 1961The book Beit Eked SefarimHebrew bibliographyGenealogies of rabbinic families

Born: 19 December 1876, Kraków
Died: 27 January 1961, Tel Aviv
Occupation: Hebraist, bibliographer, genealogist, diamond dealer

Bernard Friedberg was born in 1876 in Kraków

Friedberg was born in Kraków. His father's side was a family of Torah scholars, and his mother's side included community leaders. As a child he studied at a Talmud Torah and a yeshiva, along with secular studies.

At 14 he began writing to scholars of history and bibliography and publishing articles. While still young he published biographies of rabbis, a book on Hebrew printing in Kraków and a book on the gravestones of the city's rabbis.

In 1900 he moved to Frankfurt and managed the Hebrew bookshop of Isaac Kauffmann. In 1904 he opened his own bookshop and later took Joseph Sanger as a partner, until the partnership ended in 1910.

In 1911 he moved to Antwerp and became a diamond dealer. He kept writing on Hebrew bibliography and rabbinic families in German and Hebrew.

During the Holocaust his library was destroyed and his son and daughter were killed. He escaped to Vittel, France, and later reached Mandatory Palestine. He died in 1961.