Brainin, Simon

Russian physician; born at Riga, Livonia, July 15, 1854. He graduated from the gymnasium of his birthplace; studied medicine at the universities of Dorpat and Berlin; held the position of physician of the Jewish community of Riga; and was one of the directors of the community, the last independent Jewish "kahal" in Russia, until this institution was abolished by the government. He was a member of the committee of the government to investigate the rights of the Jews of the city of Riga, 1885; delegate from the government of Poltava to the rabbinical conference at St. Petersburg, 1892; and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia. In 1895 he emigrated to New York, where he is now (1902) a practising physician, and member of the county medical and German medical societies, of the Harlem Medical Association, and of the New York Historical Society. Brainin is the author of: "Oraḥ la-Ḥayyim," a work on popular medicine, in Hebrew, Wilna, 1883; "Der Aerztliche Führer," Riga, 1885; "Ueber Kefyr," Vienna, 1886; and many articles in various periodicals.

H. R.