Bernstein - Cohen Miriam

About

Miriam Bernstein-Cohen was born in 1895 in Chișinău, into the family of physician and Zionist activist Jacob Bernstein-Kogan, and grew up in a rich cultural environment, learning Hebrew from an early age and being introduced to theater by her parents. After the 1903 pogrom, the family temporarily moved to Kharkiv, where she studied medicine at the Kharkiv National University, graduating in 1918, but her passion for acting prevailed; she attended the drama school of Paul Elkin and studied under Constantin Stanislavski in Moscow. Under the pseudonym Maria Alexandrova, she made her professional debut in Russian theaters, working as a nurse during World War I, before emigrating to Palestine in 1921. As a pioneer of professional theater in Palestine, she founded the first Hebrew troupe, Te’atron Ivri, in 1921 alongside actors such as Meir Tavori, then organized a group's trip to Berlin for further training, leading to the creation of the Teatron Eretz Israeli under the direction of Menahem Gnessin. In 1925, she founded the first Hebrew magazine dedicated to theater, Te’atron ve-Omanut, published until 1928, and performed in numerous shows at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv, Ohel, and municipal theaters, playing versatile roles in comedies and classical dramas such as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House. She also directed, taught acting at schools such as Beit Zvi, translated plays and prose (Maupassant, Pushkin, Pearl Buck), wrote poetry, novels, memoirs, and hosted radio shows about theater, contributing to the development of Hebrew culture. She was married three times: her first brief marriage was to a lawyer, her second to actor Aaron Hirsch, with whom she had a son, David, and her third to actor Michael Gor, with whom she had a daughter, Aviva, who also became an actress at the Cameri. She lived at times in Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Palestine; though initially rejected by Habimah, she was later recognized with the Israel Prize for Theater in 1975 and the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality Prize in 1969, with which she established a scholarship for young actors. She passed away in 1991 in Tel Aviv, leaving a legacy of over six decades in theater, literature, and artistic education.