JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

E.E. Lifschutz, Bibliography of American and Canadian Jewish
Memoirs and Autobiographies (1970);
National Yiddish Book Center list: “BI, Biography, Autobiography,
Memoirs” (approx. 850 titles).
YIDDISH THEATER
Z. Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn Teater (6 vols.,
1931–69).
ZIONISTS
S.L. Zitron, Leksikon Ẓiyyoni (1924).
AUSTRO-HUNGARY
M. Fruehling, Biographisches Handbuch der in der k.k. oesterreichisch-ungarischen
Armee aktiv gedienten Offiziere
juedischen Stammes (1911), on Jewish officers in Austria-Hungary.
GERMANY
S. Osborne, Germany and Her Jews (1939);
E.G. Lowenthal, Bewaehrung im Untergang (19662), German
Jews who perished during World War II;
E. Duckesz, Ḥakhmei AHW (1908), religious leaders of Altona,
Hamburg, and Wandsbek; with German summary.
ITALY
M. Mortara, Indice alfabetico dei rabbini e scrittori israeliti in
Italia (1886).
PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
D. Tidhar, Enẓiklopedyah le-Ḥaluẓei ha-Yishuv u-Vonav (18
vols., 1947–67, in progress), for 19th and 20th century; a
combination of national biography and current Who’s
Who.
POLAND AND RUSSIA
S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895), lay and rabbinic leaders in Lemberg
(Lvov) from 1500–1900;
P. Kaplan, Byalistoker Leksikon; Biografyes fun Byalistoker
Yidishe Perzenlekhkeyten (1935), for Bialystok.
UNITED STATES
J.R. Rosenbloom, A Biographical Dictionary of Early American
Jews, Colonial Times Through 1800 (1960).
CONTEMPORARIES
Who’s Who in World Jewry (1955, 1965, 1972, 1978).
World Jewish Register (1955–56), same material as in Who’s
Who in World Jewry (1955), arranged by professions.
Rabbis and Scholars
B. Eisenstadt, Dor, Rabbanav ve-Soferav (6 vols., 1895–1903).
Volume 5 is devoted exclusively to the United States;
S.N. Gottlieb, Oholei Shem (1912), mainly for Eastern Europe.
Israel
Sefer ha–Ishim (1937) and Palestine Personalia (1947);
Who’s Who in Israel (1945/46–1967/68), title of first edition:
The Near and Middle East Who’s Who, published almost
every year;
Ishim be-Yisrael (1960, 1966), personalities in Israel.
biram, arthur
United States
J. Pfeffer, Distinguished Jews of America (1917–18). Volume two
was also published separately under the titles: Eminent
Jews of America and Prominent Jews of America; Who’s
Who in American Jewry (1925, 1926, 1928, 1938/39);
Biographical Encyclopedia of American Jews (1935);
American Jews, Their Lives and Achievements (1947, 1958);
Israel Honorarium (5 vols., 1968). Volumes 2–5 contain biographical
sketches of American Jews.
M.D. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in America: A Bibliographical
Dictionary and Sourcebook (1996);
P.S. Nadell, Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical
Dictionary and Sourcebook (1988);
K.M. Olitzky, L.J. Sussman, and M.H. Stern, Reform Judaism
in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook
(1993);
P. Hyman and D.D. Moore, Jewish Women in America: An
Historical Encyclopedia (1997)
[Theodore Wiener]
Bibliography: D.S. Zubatsky, Jewish Autobiographies and
Biographies: an Annotated Bibliography of Books and Dissertations
in English (1989); S.W. Baron, Bibliography of Jewish Social Studies
(1941), 324–48, 214–8; C. Roth, Mag Bibl, 114–56; Waxman, Literature,
2 (19602), 506–16; 3 (19602), 575; 4 (19602), 838–66, 1044–47,
and index S.V. biography, memoirs; H.U. Ribalow, Autobiographies of
American Jews (1965), 3–14 (introd.); J. Mazeh, Zikhronot, 4 (1936);
L.W. Schwarz, Memoirs of My People (1943), introduction, 13–26,
a popular survey of autobiographies. Add. Bibliography: M.
Moseley, Being for Myself Alone: Origins of Jewish Autobiography
(2005); J. Schwarz, Imagining Lives: Autobiographical Fiction of Yiddish
Writers (2005).
BIRAM, ARTHUR (Yiẓḥak; 1878–1967), Hebrew educator.
Biram, who was born in Bischofswerda, Germany, attended
Berlin University and the *Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft
des Judentums in Berlin. From 1909 to 1913 he taught classics
in German high schools. An early member of the Zionist
movement, he went to Ereẓ Israel in 1914 and was appointed
by the Zionist Executive principal of the Reali High School
in Haifa. After serving with the German Army in Palestine
during World War I, Biram became in 1918 deputy principal
of the Hebrew Teachers’ College in Jerusalem. He returned
to Haifa in 1920 and again became principal of the Reali
High School, where he also taught Bible, until 1948. During
his tenure, the school was enlarged and its activities diversified.
In 1937 he initiated the paramilitary training program of
high school pupils, called Ḥagam (abbreviation for Ḥinnukh
Gufani Murḥav, i.e., “extended physical education”), later renamed
*Gadna. In 1943 he established and headed a teachers’
seminary at the Reali High School and, in 1953, initiated the
establishment of a military academy there. He wrote the threevolume
Divrei Yemei Yisrael bi-Zeman ha-Mikra be-Misgeret
Toledot ha-Mizraḥ (“History of Israel in Biblical Times in the
Context of Near Eastern History,” 1962–64), based mainly on
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 709