Miriam Bernstein-Cohen

Miriam Bernstein-Cohen (Russian: Мария Яковлевна Бернштейн-Коган Hebrew: מרים ברנשטיין-כהן‎), 1895-1991, was an Israeli actress, director, poet and translator.

Biography

Bernstein-Cohen was born in Kishinev, Russian Empire, on December 14, 1895.^[1] Some archival sources say that the family moved to Kharkov in 1901 due to the father's involvement with the Social-Revolutionary Party (he was investigated in 1903 over his involvement with the party's clandestine typography in Odessa)^[2]. In Kharkov in 1902, Jacob Bernstein-Cohen (1859—1929, biography) — a Zionist leader and a practicing physician, — was elected as representative of the I and II Jewish prayer societies of the city (but not confirmed by the Kharkov governor)^[3] and also elected to the I and II State Duma through the Social Democrat party list. However, in an interview that she gave for the Israel Broadcasting Authority documentary, Pillar of Fire, she spoke of her experience during the Kishinev pogrom that broke out in 1903^[4]. In any case, she attended the German Gymnasium in Kharkov, and appeared in school productions. She was introduced to theater at an early age.

The family (parents and two daughters) lived in Palestine from 1907 to 1910. Bernstein-Cohen attended The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Jaffa and appeared in Hebrew and French plays produced by Dr. Haim Harari.

In 1910, the family returned to Kishinev, where she completed high school. She left for Kharkov to study medicine, attended drama school as well.

During World War I, Bernstein-Cohen worked as a nurse in a military hospital. After completing her medical studies she worked as a physician, and also acted in local theater companies. In 1917 she married for the first time, but the marriage was short-lived.

In 1918, she traveled to Moscow, where she studied with Constantin Stanislavsky. In Moscow she met Nahum Zemach and Menahem Gnessin, who were among the founders of the HaBima Theater and who invited her to join the new theater company. She rejected the invitation and continued her studies with Stanislavsky, remaining faithful to his method throughout her career. She then returned to Kishinev (now in Moldova) and began her theatrical career under the stage name Maria Alexandrova.

Bernstein-Cohen travelled to Palestine via Italy in 1921. In Italy, she married her second husband, Aaron Hirsch (Kipper), a fellow-actor from Kishinev, and gave birth to her son, David.

In Palestine, she joined the newly established Hebrew Theater in Tel Aviv, the first professional theater company in Palestine, directed by David Davidow^[5]. It was here that she met her future husband, Michael Gur. She also worked as an instructor at the drama club at the Herzliya Gymnasium. The members of the Hebrew Theater performed plays under Bernstein-Cohen’s direction. In 1922 they signed a contract with the owners of the Eden cinema in Tel Aviv, to mount a new production every two weeks.

Eventually, Bernstein-Cohen left to study in Berlin with other members of the group (including Michael Gur). The purpose of the trip was to raise the professional level of acting^[6]. Bernstein-Cohen took care of the organizational aspects, raising funds and planning the curriculum. The group asked Menahem Gnessin, who had left Habimah, to be their manager and director. They called themselves the Eretz Israeli theater. Their first production, Belshazzar, was a success. As a result, Bernstein-Cohen appeared in three German films. The group returned to Palestine, but disbanded in 1926. That same year she divorced.

In 1925 Bernstein-Cohen founded and edited a periodical, Te’atron ve-Omanut (Theater and Art) the first Hebrew-language publication in Palestine on the topic.

Bernstein-Cohen married Michael Gur in approximately 1929. Their daughter, Aviva, was born in Riga in 1933. They returned to Palestine, and settled down in a house on Bilu street in Tel Aviv^[7], where they lived for many years. However tense relations with HaBima theatre caused her not to be accepted in the theater. She attempted to found her own theater company, but many problems plagued the company, and it never achieved success.

For many years she coached theater, appeared in Europe, published essays, and was a member of Hatzohar, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's revisionist political party. In 1948, in Israel's war of independence, she spent time performing for soldiers of the new army.

In 1952, she joined the Cameri Theater, and help parts in many plays until retiring in 1964. After her retirement, she moved to her son's kibbutz, Palmachim, where she lived until moving to a retirement home in Ramat Efal.

Bernstein-Cohen died April 4, 1991.

Her sister Elena (Елена Яковлевна Коган-Бернштейн) was Vladimir Nabokov's treating physician and family friend in Paris.^[8] Her cousins are Russian revolutionary and political activist Matvey Kogan-Bernshtein (1886—1918, biography) and Soviet economist and geographer Sergei Bernshtein-Kogan (1886—1951, biography). Her uncle — Russian revolutionary Lev Kogan-Bernshtein (1862—1889, biography).

Awards

• In 1975, Bernstein-Cohen was awarded the Israel Prize, for theatre.^[9]

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients

References

1. ^ Although her birth certificate from the Kishinev rabbinical office says December 14, 1894.
2. ^ Л.Г. Протасов. Люди Учредительного собрания: портрет в интерьере эпохи. М., РОСПЭН, 2008
3. ^ Alexandra Loshak, State Archives of the Kharkov Region
4. ^ http://www.snunit.k12.il/cgi-bin/galim/concepts/show_concept.pl?act=show_concept&Id=8
5. ^ Miriam Bernstein-Cohen in the Jewish Virtual Library
6. ^ Linda Ben-Zvi. Theater in Israel. University of Michigan Press, 1996. ISBN 0472106074. pg.69. See Theater in Israel on Google Books
7. ^ Kaniuk, Yoram On the street where I live article in HaAretz newspaper
8. ^ Afterword to the first American edition of "Lolita"
9. ^ "Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1975 (in Hebrew)". http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashlag/Tashmab_Tashlag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashlah. 

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Name	Bernstein-Cohen, Miriam
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Date of birth	1895
Place of birth
Date of death	1991
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