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"Rabbi Isaac Bernstein ztz"L, was one of the most finest orators and teachers in the English speaking Jewish world. Known for his outstanding shiurim, and spellbinding sermons, he died in August 1994 a relatively young man in his early fifties. Click here to read what the newspapers of the day had to say about the Rav. He was Rav of the Kinloss Gardens Synagogue, Finchley, London. His weekly Parashat Hashavua Shiurim were given at the Ner Yisrael Community Centre in Hendon,London. These Shiurim were given to a capacity crowd of well over 250 people on a weekly basis, making it the largest Shiur of its kind in Europe. Tapes of the Shiurim were distributed each week to almost 200 subscribers - again the largest project of its kind in Europe. These tapes which are reproduced on this Website are available from Ner Yisrael Educational Trust. Click here for details and order form. Proceeds from the sale of tapes support the programmes of the Ner Yisrael Educational Trust, London, England. The shiurim of Rabbi Isaac Bernstein ZTZ"l are copyright material. the copyright owner, ner yisrael educational trust, has given permission for the inclusion of tapes on this website and for the personal use of this material by users of this website. any duplication or sale of this material without the permission of ner yisrael educational trust is both a breach of halacha and of secular law.
If you have heard Rabbi Bernstein's shiurim you will be familiar with his unique talents.
If you have not , we encourage you to sample a shiur.
The shiurim (classes) are suitable for all levels of knowledge but will be most appreciated by those with an intermediate to advanced level of knowldege
All Classes in real audio format are about an hour long.
September 3, 1994, Saturday
HEADLINE: Rabbi Isaac Bernstein
BODY: Isaac Bernstein, rabbi, died from a heart condition in London on August 29 aged 54. He was born in Dublin on November 12, 1939.
ISAAC BERNSTEIN was not most people's idea of a rabbi. True, he had a beard and could be seen shopping in the local Marks and Spencer store wearing a ''kippah'', a skullcap. But with his broad Irish brogue, he resembled more some kind of nonconformist preacher. So it was sometimes difficult to be convinced that this was one of the most uncompromising religious leaders in Britain's Jewish community.
When he was speaking from the pulpit at the Finchley Synagogue in London ''my synagogue'' as Margaret Thatcher used to say, always looking for the good constituency angle the style sounded like chapel. The content was always rabbinical, however, warning of the direct consequences of failing to fulfil the minutiae of Jewish law and lore.
Yet Bernstein was a man of this world, too. The fire and brimstone was frequently accompanied by a wit and humour that could have got him a reasonable living as a stand-up comedian. ... He was regarded as one of the great thinkers, to say nothing of preachers and pastors, not just in London, where he had few competitors, but anywhere in the modern Orthodox Jewish world.
Isaac Joel Bernstein was the son of a rabbi, and it was in his hometown of Dublin that he received his MA and where he held, for four years from 1966, his first rabbinical post as minister of his father's old synagogue, the Terenure Hebrew Congregation, the largest in Ireland.
When he left Ireland it was to become minister of one of the most fashionable Orthodox synagogues in London at Hampstead Garden Suburb, where he stayed until 1977. That was when he received what he might have regarded as the crowning tribute for a young rabbi an offer from the Jewish Centre in New York to be the spiritual leader of one of the most prestigious synagogues in America.
He spent four years in New York, undoubtedly the capital of his style of Judaism and a place from which few rabbis ever return, the temptations both material and professional being so strong. But his family were uncomfortable in the rat-race atmosphere of what is the biggest Jewish city in the world and wanted to return to London. The vacancy at Finchley seemed made to measure.
... What no one could deny was the power of his voice and the purpose to which he put it, both inside and outside his own congregation. He was an educator he had a diploma in education of a kind rarely seen among modern Orthodox rabbis and both old and young would go to learn at his feet. Indeed, his weekly lectures on Talmud at another synagogue in northwest London were generally held to standing-room only attendances and had become internationally famous.
Isaac Bernstein is survived by his wife, two daughters and three sons. Copyright 1994 Times Newspapers Limited
The Independent
September 2, 1994, Friday
HEADLINE: Obituary: Rabbi Isaac Bernstein
BYLINE: JOSEPH FINKLESTONE
BODY: Isaac Bernstein, rabbi: born Dublin 12 November 1939; Minister, Finchley Synagogue 1981-94; married 1966 Ruth Gilbert (three sons, two daughters); died London 29 August 1994.
''HE MADE the Torah come alive''. He was ''the finest orator in Orthodox Jewry in Britain''. Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, Minister of the Finchley Synagogue, in north London, spoke of the written and oral laws in Judaism with a fervour which kept great congregations spellbound. ... Small and wiry with a beard and pugnacious jaw, Bernstein was at his most prophetic and most passionate when he spoke on the holiness of the Land of Israel and particularly of Jerusalem. Not for him giving up an inch of the holy land of ancient Eretz Israel for peace. ... Every year when the right-wing British Herut-Likud Party held their celebration commemorating the unification of Jerusalem (in 1967) at the Finchley Synagogue, Bernstein was the designated speaker. His oratorical gifts were put to their best uses on these occasions and his listeners, already in tune with his views, were profoundly moved by his cascade of thundering words and quotations from the Torah and the sages. Perhaps Bernstein's Dublin birth had something to do with his oratory as well as his temperament, which earned him the nickname of ''Blazes'' Bernstein. ... He would have been at his most magisterial in a huge pre- war East European congregation where his oratory, his outstanding gifts as an expositor of the Torah, the Talmud and the sages, would have been enthusiastically appreciated. Even in London, his study circles -significantly not at his own synagogue - attracted hundreds of devoted participants.
Bernstein's first ministerial post was at the Terenure Hebrew Congregation in Dublin from 1966 to 1970. He made such an impact that he was invited to become the Minister at the prestigious Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue. In 1977 was invited to become the rabbi of the Jewish Center in New York. Though he achieved much and his learning and oratory were admired, ... he returned to London.
His ministry at Finchley, where he first came in 1981, was bedevilled by problems. In the past few years there has been a dramatic drop in membership (parts of the synagogue have been roped off so as not to display the emptiness of the huge hall); and the congregants even split in two with the formation of an alternative minyan or service, held in the synagogue premises. Bernstein at first opposed the idea but then seemed to be supporting it, to the annoyance of the wardens.
It was a misfortune for Bernstein that he served Finchley at a time when the synagogue, like many others in Britain, suffered from the economic recession and finance became such a significant factor. His friends believe that he wore himself out physically and mentally trying to maintain the strength and vitality of his congregation.
Isaac Bernstein's fervent supporters, a substantial percentage of the congregation, saw him as a devoted and learned spiritual leader whose task was made impossible by his burden of duties. ... Copyright 1994 Newspaper Publishing PLC
The Daily Telegraph
September 1, 1994, Thursday
HEADLINE: Obituary of Isaac Bernstein
BODY: ISAAC BERNSTEIN, who has died aged 54, was one of Britain's leading rabbis and a preacher of outstanding quality. He was born in Dublin, where his fervour and fiery temperament earned him the nickname of "Blazes" Bernstein. In his earlier years he would fortify himself before a sermon by nipping out for a whisky, after which he would look brighter and perkier. "Not all the distilled wisdom of the ages is to be found in books," he declared. Bernstein had a deep resonant voice, faultless delivery, strong views and a vehement style. Had the Prophet Amos been Irish he would have sounded like Bernstein. In modern terms Amos would be thought "Leftish": Bernstein was decidedly of the Right, and made the Pope seem liberal. ... At the time of his death -from a heart attack - Bernstein was rabbi of the Finchley synagogue, where his congregation comprised the most loyal of Mrs Thatcher's supporters in the constituency. He shared her views on many issues - though not perhaps on Israel. Isaac Bernstein was born on Nov 12 1939, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and trained as rabbi at Kol Torah Yeshiva (Talmudical College), Jerusalem, and Gateshead Yeshiva, both of them redoubts of fundamental Judaism. He served as a rabbi in the Terenure Hebrew Congregation in Dublin from 1966 to 1970, and it was there that he established his reputation as a preacher. At the age of 31 Bernstein was invited to become rabbi of the Norrice Lea synagogue in Hampstead Garden Suburb, the largest and most glamorous Jewish congregation in the British Isles. Soon after his arrival there he was asked if he had made many friends. "No," he replied, "but I've made a better class of enemy." Bernstein was nearly killed in a serious road accident a few years later - an experience which he claimed gave him a special authority on the subject of the hereafter. He was a handsome man, lean and erect, with a slight limp (a relic of his road accident) and a neatly kempt beard. A witty preacher, when he rained fire and brimstone on the heads of his congregation he would sometimes temper his words with some irreverent aside which left the impression that if God was stern he could also be amiable. Bernstein certainly was, though he went to some trouble to obscure the fact. His sermons were theatrical occasions, and people would crowd to hear him even if they disagreed with him. There was an element of showmanship to his performance: his timing was perfect and his wording felicitous. He would usually draw on Scripture or the Talmud, but if Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw or Jackie Mason suited his purpose then he would quote them too, always with a wealth of gesture. For an Irishman and a rabbi he was uncommonly economic with words, although his sermons seemed short even when they were long. In 1977 he was invited to occupy a major pulpit in New York. It was an unhappy experience. Rabbis there were expected to have a calming effect on their congregations, while Bernstein was inclined to make waves. After four years he returned to London to become rabbi of Finchley. Bernstein was a profound scholar and superb teacher, and could make the driest parts of the Talmud come alive with the brilliance of his exposition. ... Bernstein had a particular love of classical music and grand opera, and could talk as knowledgeably about Turandot as he could about the Talmud. He was a marvellous raconteur - had he not been a rabbi he could have been a successful stand-up comedian - and an amusing companion,.. He married, in 1966, Ruth Gilbert; they had three sons and two daughters. Copyright 1994 The Daily Telegraph
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