BERNHARD VAKHSHTEYN (WACHSTEIN)

BERNHARD VAKHSHTEYN (WACHSTEIN) (January 19, 1968-January 15, 1935)

            He was born in Toyst (Tłuste), southeastern Galicia, into a scholarly, Hassidic family.  In his youth he was carried away with the current of the Jewish Enlightenment movement and left on foot for Czernowitz where, after countless torments, he entered university and studied law.  He later studied philosophy and history at the University of Vienna and graduated with a Ph.D.  In 1903 he became director of the Vienna community library which, under his leadership, grew strong and became a collecting point for Jewish scholars from around the world.  He was also employed to decipher blurred gravestone inscriptions in old Jewish cemeteries, and he published several volumes of these inscriptions from the cemeteries in Vienna and Eisenstadt.  Together with his friend of many years, Dr. Alfred Landau, he did a scholarly reconstruction and published the Prague letters of 1619: Jüdische Privatbriefe aus dem Jahre 1619 (Vienna, 1911)—an important contribution to research in Jewish cultural history and Yiddish philology.  He was a member of the honorary curatorium of YIVO.  He published the following works: “Di oysbreytung fun ignats bernshtayns lebnsverk” (The expansion of the life work of Ignatz Bernstein), Filologishe shriftn fun yivo (Philological writings from YIVO) 1 (1926), pp. 27-38; “Velvl zbarzhers briv tsu zayn bruder meyer” (Velvl Zbarzher’s letters to his brother Meyer), Filologishr shriftn fun yivo 2 (1927), pp. 1-42; “Tikunim” (Corrigenda), Filologisher shriftn fun yivo 2 (1927), p. 216; “Shvue khamure al bardon” (Difficult oath at Bardon), Historishe shriftn fun yivo (Historical writings from YIVO) 1 (1929), pp. 703-6; “R. azarye de rosis hadres zkeynim” (R. Azariah de Rossi’s Hadrat zekenim [Glory of the elders]), Filologishe shriftn fun yivo 3 (1928), pp. 367-74; “Di proger takones fun 1767 kegn luksus” (The Prague rules of 1767 against luxury), Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) 1.4 (1931), pp. 335-54 (Vilna); “A yidishe kool in 18tn y״h” (A Jewish community in the 18^th century), Yivo-bleter 6.1 (1934), pp. 84-116 (offprint: Vilna, 1934); “Der measef un zayn gayst” (Collecting and its spirit), translated from Hebrew, from Vakhshteyn’s bequest, in Vakhshteyn bukh, zamlbukh tsum ondenḳ fun d״r. bernhard vakhshteyn, 1868-1935 (Volume for Vakhshteyn, collection to the memory of Dr. Bernhard Vakhshteyn) (Vilna, 1939), pp. 1-6; “Nisht gedrukt lider fun velvl zbarzher” (Unpublished poems by Velvl Zbarzher), in Vakhshteyn bukh, pp. 181-92.  He died in Vienna.

Sources: Y. Sigal, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) 9 (1927); M. Unzerfeld, in Hadoar (New York) (February 27, 1931); obituary notice in Literarishe bleter (January 25, 1935); M. Vaynraykh, in Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 8.2 (1935, pp. 155-61; Y. Davidzon, in Yivo-bleter 13.2-4 (1938), pp. 354-72; Professor M. Balaban, in Yivo-bleter 13.2-4 (1938), pp. 193-227; Sh. Z. Pipe, Yivo-bleter 7.8 (1937), p. 630; Vakhshtayen-bukh (Vilna, 1939); Yivo-biblyografye (New York) (1943), see index; M. Naygreshl, in Fun noentn over (New York) 1 (1955); Dr. N. M. Gelber, in Ḥokhmat yisrael bemaarav eropa (The wisdom of Israel in Western Europe) (Tel Aviv, 1958), pp. 232-40; A. M. Haberman, in Yad lekore (Jerusalem) (November 1958-April 1959), pp. 163-65.

Borekh Tshubinski