Herman N. Neuberger - Younger Years

Younger Years

Born in Hassfurt, northern Bavaria, he was the son of Meir and Bertha Neuberger, the youngest of three children. His parents hired a teacher, or melamed, to teach him about his heritage and the Torah.

When Hermann was eight years old, the Neubergers moved to Würzburg with its sizeable Jewish community so that the three children could prosper and learn. When Hermann was only 13, a few weeks after his bar mitzvah, his father died. While in Würzburg the young teenager met Rabbi Samson Rafael Weiss, an affluent Torah scholar who became his mentor. Rabbi Weiss convinced him that the best place for him to be was one of the larger yeshivas, so he traveled to Poland to learn in the Mir Yeshiva.

In 1938 tensions were starting to brew in Eastern Europe and Anti-Semitism was beginning to rear its ugly head. Rabbi Neuberger had a relative in New York who was able to send him immigration papers to come to America. Not wanting to leave others behind, he arranged for papers for some of his close relatives too. As good fate would have it, Mrs. Bertha Neuberger and her two other children had already escaped. He also helped Rabbi Dovid Kronglass, who would later become the Mashgiach of Ner Israel, escape.