Bergmann, Judah
BERGMANN, JUDAH
BERGMANN, JUDAH (1874–1956), rabbi and author. Born in Brzezany (Galicia), Bergmann served as rabbi at Karlsruhe and Frankfurt on the Oder and from 1908 with the Berlin Jewish community. Bergmann took an early interest in Jewish scholarship and published various articles on Jewish history and folklore in Jewish scholarly journals. Among his published works are Juedische Apologetik im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (1908), in which he described the self-defense of Palestinian Judaism against emerging Christianity; Legenden der Juden (1919), a study on the nature and sources of aggadah; Ha-Am ve-Ruḥo (1938), studies and essays on the problems of scholarship and life; Ha-Ẓedakah be-Yisrael (1944), a study on the history and institutions of charity among the Jews; and Ha-Folklor ha-Yehudi (1953), about the popular knowledge, beliefs, characteristics, and customs of Jewish people. He was one of the founders of the Freie Juedische Volkshochschule in Berlin. When the Nazis seized power in 1933, he emigrated to Jerusalem. His son was E.D. *Bergmann.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]