User:Jon.hornstein/Moses Henry Berstein

Moses Menry Berstein ;

Early life
Rabbi Moses Henry Berstein born in Grodno on 04 September 1872; his father was Rabbi Leo (Ariyah Leib) Ber(n)stein the Grodno Maggid. He was the eldest of 2 brothers and 4 sisters. They were a "fiddler on the roof" type of family poor but mostly happy. Near them, in the big manor house on the hill, lived Count Malinovsky, who had Jewish blood in his veins, and who was kind, thoughtful and generous to rabbi Leo's family. In 1881, when Moses Henry was nine years old, Czar Alexander 11 of Russia was assassinated, and many pogroms broke out - but not in Count Malinovsky's district.

He had just returned from England with a "treasure", an English nanny, with rustling black silk skirts, called Miss Waring. She was to teach the count's sons English. She told the count that the boys would do better if they had some competition from some local intelligent children, so Moses Henry and his brother Gershon (George) went to the big house every morning for English lessons.

They also learned Latin, Greek and Euclid. In the afternoons, they learned Hebrew and religious subjects. They had time for swimming in the Nemen River in summer and learned nature study from the woods.

In 1887 when Moses Henry was 15, he was sent to Yeshiva at Vilna. After studying day and night for four years, going home only for holidays, he returned in 1891 with his smichah rolled up like a scroll and tied with a thread of blue wool.

Next door to the synagogue house lived a Jewish blacksmith called Levi. His shop looked like a livery stable. He had a forge for making horseshoes; he mended carts, ovens, droshkies and anything made of metal. He was also an excellent amateur silversmith, making candlesticks, and ornaments for the Torah and facsimiles of dogs, cats, geese and deer, which sold readily. Moses Henry liked watching Levi and he helped with the animals and enjoyed the warmth of the forge.

In 1891 the Czar decided to build another section of the Trans-Siberian railway. He was short of manpower, so he decided to call up one million men from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. All the 19-year-olds received a letter saying that they were to report to the recruiting office in their nearest capital city on their 20th birthdays.

Moses Henry's 20th birthday was on 4th September 1892. Rabbi Leo went to see Count Malinovsky. He did not want Moses Henry to go to Siberia, perhaps never to return. Count Malinovsky was sympathetic. He offered to lend him a large sum of money, so that he could pay the recruiting officer to disregard Moses Henry's name on the list.

But Moses Henry was adamant. He would not permit his father to impoverish himself, and said he would go on his birthday. He told Levi about his journey to enlist in the army, and Levi about his journey to enlist in the army, and Levi secretly made him a lucky charm- a silver goose. When the time came for him to depart, Rabbi Leo blessed it, all the holy men he knew touched it, and all the women spat on it and polished it to keep off the evil eye. Moses Henry put the silver goose in the pocket nearest to his heart, with a silver chain around his neck, and kissed his family goodbye. Many tears were shed, as he jumped on one of Levi's horses, arranging to leave it tied to a tree near the river and left.

He swam the river, patting his silver goose to keep away chills from the cold water. He made his way to the Vilna recruiting office. The officer registered his name and other particulars in copperplate handwriting on a piece of parchment. Then - miracle of miracles - he told Moses that very morning they had enrolled the last of the million men, and that he could go home safely, and he wrote a p.s. on the parchment to prove it, adding a seal which was a replica of the Czar's signet ring. Moses Henry dashed home, and there was a feast in Grodno that night. Rabbi Leo said that it was a sign from heaven that Moses Henry must leave his family and go to England where Queen Victoria protected all her people.

He was given two shirts and 40 rubble's, and walked to Danzig there he boarded a ship which took him to Dublin. There he saw over a shop the name Levi. This Levi agreed to let him stay as long as he liked in return for teaching his children Hebrew. He later added Latin, Greek and Euclid to the curriculum, and his pupils became very successful in their secular studies as well...

Later on Moses Henry went to London, where he worked as a Rabbi, Shochet, and teacher at the Yeshiva Etz Chaim, and he wrote Hebrew books about humour, poetry, and natural history; he even had a keeper's pass at the London zoo.

His books are all in the British Library and the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

Marriage
In 1897 he met Maria (Menuchah) Blank at Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee service in the Great Synagogue in London. They married in London on the 3rd May 1904, and had five children. Maria died from a meningitis infection in 1930.

Working life
He went on to spend all his working life as a shocket in England where he trained many hundreds of shochetim and published a number of books in Hebrew on Shechita, Kashrut and Humour.

Death and legacy
Moses Henry spent the last 11 years of his life in Bulawayo in Rhodesia with his daughter Lily and son-in-law Rabbi Wolfe Yesorsky. He was a typical old style Talmud Chacham who never allowed a day to pass without devoting some part of it to the study of Torah. He was described as modest and unassuming and g-d fearing. He was loved and honoured by all who came into contact with him.

Books

 * Treasure of Wit, Humour, Satire and Poetry. (אוצר פתגמים מחכמים) Published by Narodiczky, London (1904).
 * עולם התושיה, 1932