Bernhard Avraham (after converting to Christianity – Ivan) (1762–1832) – physician, author of a memorandum opposing accusations of Jews in ritual crimes.

In 1789, Avraham Bernhard studied in London and practiced medicine in Hasenpoth. In 1798, he was recognized as a doctor by the St. Petersburg Medical Collegium and appointed as a physician in Shavli, Vilna Governorate. During this period, he published several works, including:

Gründe für die Inoculation (dedicated to the Lithuanian rural population)

Observations sur l'enterrement prématuré des juifs (also published in German as Bemerkungen über das frühe Beerdigen der jüdischen Leichen)

Behandlung eines epidemischen Wurmfiebers, das im Jahr 1796 in Kurland herrschte

In 1802, Avraham Bernhard was discharged from service due to illness, but in 1805, he was assigned to the army. From 1806, he served at the Kobrin Military Hospital, and in 1808, he became the chief doctor of all Lithuanian hospitals, for which he was promoted to the rank of court councillor. He later worked at the temporary military hospital in Slonim but was discharged from service in 1810.

He then practiced medicine in Mitau (now - Jelgava) before moving to Moscow. In 1812, he was appointed inspector of the Minsk Medical Administration but was dismissed in 1813. In 1819, he was appointed as an inspector in the Vilna Medical Administration but left the service in 1822. In 1824, he was reappointed to the Minsk Medical Administration and, according to some sources, converted to Christianity that same year.

In 1825, Emperor Alexander I increased Bernhard’s salary for his work Medical and Topographical Description of the City of Vilna. In 1826, he submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs a request for permission to publish Beiträge zur medicinischen Policey und geschichtlichen Arzneikunde, in which he proposed banning early marriages among Jews and addressed the issue of rapid Jewish burials. The work was approved by the Medical-Surgical Academy’s conference.

Among the papers found in Emperor Alexander I’s office after his death was a letter from “Dr. Bernhard of Shavli” along with a memorandum on Jews titled Light in the Darkness of Samogitia, in which Bernhard opposed accusations of ritual crimes against Jews. Some sources suggest that this memorandum was written during the Vitebsk Governorate’s investigation of the Sennensky case, which the poet and senator Gavriil Derzhavin allegedly sought to use against Jews.

Selected Works:

Gründe für die Inoculation (dem litthauischen Landvolke gewidmet). Mitau, 1799

Observations sur l'enterrement prématuré des juifs. Mitau, 1799

Bemerkungen über das frühe Beerdigen der jüdischen Leichen. Mitau, 1802

Behandlung eines epidemischen Wurmfiebers, das im Jahr 1796 in Kurland herrschte. Hufeland's Journal f. prakt. Arzeneikunde, 1797

Medicinisch-chirurgische Beobachtungen in den Kriegshospitälern zu Kobrin und Slonim gesammelt

References:

Wunderbar R. Geschichte der Juden in Liv- und Kurland. Mitau, 1853, pp. 66–67

Chistovich Ya. История первых медицинских школ в России. St. Petersburg, 1883

De le Roi. Geschichte der evangelischen Judenmission. I, 336