| AdminHistory | Bernard (Baer) Spiers, born Schlesien, Poland, 1827; obtained a rabbinical diploma at the age of 20; served as a rabbi and preacher in Posen before arriving in London about 1866, where his innovative Talmud classes in English drew large crowds; honorary lecturer, Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge (later the Jewish Religious Education Board); Principal, Collegiate School, Coram Street, 1867-; married Rose Jessel, daughter of Michael Aaron Jessel and Mary Isaacs, 1869; took in Jewish boy boarders at his home, where he taught Hebrew and religion; elected as a dayan (religious judge) of the United Synagogue, 1876, combining his duties with those of librarian of Hebrew books and manuscripts at the Beth Hamedrash; died 1901. Publications include: a Passover Haggadah (1877); 'The School System of the Talmud' (1882); 'The Threefold Cord' (1891). |