Iconic Williamsburg: Rav Ephraim Berman

This is the story of a rov and talmid chochom from who valiantly stood at the helm of Congregation Beis Aaron Beis Sholom Mikra Kodesh on Sumner Avenue until it could no longer be sustained—serving as one of the last holdouts in a deteriorating old Williamsburg. 

Szczuczyn

Rav Ephraim was born to his father, Rav Avrohom Dovid, in the year 1897 in the town of Szczuczyn, near Lomza and Biyalistok in eastern Poland. 

He learned in Novardok, Slabodka, and other great Yehsivos. The ship’s manifest tells the story of a young man who crossed the Atlantic alone in the year 1924. It seems that he came directly from the Slabodka yeshiva, and he sponsored by a congregation in Brownsville. Barely being able to speak the language, he told the immigration authorities that he was being sponsored by Congregation Beis Zedek on “Instwill Street,” which is properly pronounced and written Hinsdale Street.

But he did not remain in New York for long. He made his way to Philadelphia where he had family. “He tried to establish a yeshiva there,” recalls his son. “But it was a midbar, and the project did not take off.” 

Moving to Brooklyn 

He married Rose, the daughter of Rav Avrohom Sochen of Williamsburg. As we noted in our profile on Rav Avrohom Halevi Sochen, the Sochen’s hailed from Keidan, where Rav Avrohom served as a rov. Thus, Rose is mentioned on the immigration documents as having been born in Keidan. 

The Bermans settled in Williamsburg, and soon Rav Ephraim was called to the pulpit of Congregation Beis Aaron, also known as the First Austro-Hungarian Congregation (inaugurated on Sumner Avenue in September of 1907), which was led by Rav Simcha Abeles until his passing in 1925. For the next forty years, Rav Berman would serve faithfully in this position.  

“He spoke every Shabbos, primarily in Yiddish,” recalled his daughter-in-law. “When I knew him, the neighborhood had changed drastically, and it was a small kehillah. They were using the downstairs shul,” she said. “It was a grand shul, with ornately-carved woodwork and pews,” she remembered. 

In addition, Rav Berman served on the bais din of Agudas Harabanim, and was a prominent mesader gittin in New York. 

As the membership dwindled, so did other shuls in the area, and it merged another Shul, and absorbed the name Beis Sholom. Even when he moved out to Lefferts Avenue in Crown Heights, he would still commute to the shul during the week for tefillos. Around 1966, the Shul closed its doors forever. 

Literary Legacy

Rav Berman’s children remember him as a quiet and eidel individual, and a brilliant talmid chochom. He loved learning, and this was his existence. The Rebbetzin was likewise a brilliant and learned woman, endowed with wisdom in all areas of life. 

Learning was what he loved, and some of the fruits of his Torah is contained his three seforim, Eifer Kodashim on sugyos in Kodshim, No’am Ephraim, a compilation of droshos on Bereishis and Shemos and on Mo’adim, and Hamedrash V’hahigoyon, more droshos on various topics. He received approbations for the seforim from Rav Yitzchok Eizik Sher, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka in Bnei Brak, and from Rav Yechiel Mordechai Gordon, the Lomza Rosh Yeshiva. 

In his introduction to his droshos he explains that “The endeavor of all bnei hayeshiva has always been to elevate their entire surroundings… and many of us find ourselves facing our brethren, reminding of them of their duties toward their Creator and towards their brethren, awakening them toward a life of good deeds.” 

He further writes that his oratory career began all the way back in Slabodka. “Before I even turned twenty years old, I was delivering droshos in the Chevra Mikra Shul in Slabodka before a large crowd. Oftentimes, Rav Moshe Mordechai would remain to hear me, and it seemed to me that he enjoyed my speaking.”  

In their last years, the Berman’s moved to Far Rockaway, where their children had move, and this is where they lived out their years, with Rav Ephraim spending his days learning Torah, until his petirah in 1977 following a lifetime dedicated to Torah and leading a community for more than forty years in Williamsburg of yore.