Reuben Brainin

Who was Reuben Brainin?

Reuben Brainin, Reuven Brainin, or Ruben ben Mordecai Brainin was a Russian Jewish publicist, biographer and literary critic.

He was born in Ljady now in Dubroŭna Raion, Vitsebsk Voblast, Belarus (former "Lithuania", now Belarus) in 1862 and had moved to Berlin by 1901.

At different times Brainin contributed to the periodicals Ha-Meliẓ, Ha-Toren, Ha-Ẓefirah, Ha-Maggid, and Ha-Shiloaḥ. In 1895 he issued a periodical under the title "Mi-Mizraḥ u-Mi-Ma-arab" (From East and West), of which only four numbers appeared.

Brainin was the author of several pamphlets, the most important of which were his sketch of Pereẓ Smolenskin's life and works (Warsaw, 1896); and a translation of M. Lazarus' essay on Jeremiah (Warsaw, 1897). He also wrote about one hundred biographical sketches of modern Jewish scholars and writers.

To "Aḥiasaf" Brainin contributed the following articles:

"Ilane Sraḳ" (Barren Trees) (i. 32)

"Bar Ḥalafta" (ii. 71)

"Dappim Meḳuṭṭa'im" (Loose Leaves) (v. 120).

He also contributed to the same periodical the following biographical sketches:

Moritz Lazarus (iv. 214)

Rabbi Moritz Güdemann (iv. 219)

Theodor Herzl (v. 222)