Rabbi David Berman archives

Collection description

Scope and content:: This fonds contains correspondence related to David Berman’s activity as rabbi of the Communauté israélite de Bruxelles (CIB), various notes on the activity of the CIB after the Liberation and on Jewish life during the Second World War, press clippings, certificates of engagements established by Berman, eulogies on the occasion of his decease and announcements of his passing, and correspondence from his widow (years 1960-1970). (See boxes Y 93 – Y 95).

Administrative/biographical history:: Israël David Berman was born in Mire (Romania) in 1889. He undertook rabbinical studies in Paris, in the footsteps of his father who was also a rabbi. Mobilised during the First World War, he practiced in Dijon from 1920 onwards where he would meet his future wife, Madeleine Émilie Bloch, one of the daughters of the Chief Rabbi of Belgium Armand Bloch. David Berman became the deputy rabbi in Brussels in 1923; he also taught Jewish religion in the synagogue and from 1932 onwards in various athenaeums in the capital. He published a number of articles on Belgian Judaism; his patriotic speeches were equally remarkable. During the Second World War, he found exile in the south of France where he became active in the Resistance. After the war, he was engaged in the reconstruction of the Jewish community of Brussels. He published numerous literary and pedagogical articles in both Jewish and non-Jewish periodicals. He died in Brussels in 1947. (J.-P. Schreiber, "Berman, Israël David", in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 49-50.)

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Holocaust--Liberation; Jewish community; Jewish daily life and religious practices; Marriage and divorce; Personal records; Rabbis; World War II

Access, restrictions:: Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.