Chaim Bermant (1929–1998)

Chaim Bermant was born to a Jewish family in Breslev, then part of Poland (present-day Braslav, Belarus). His father was a rabbi. In 1933, when he was four, the family moved to Borovka, Latvia, and when he was eight, they emigrated to Glasgow, Scotland. Bermant attended a secular as well as a Jewish school in Glasgow, and then entered Glasgow University, where he graduated in economics. He went on to a degree from the London School of Economics.

From 1955 to 1957, he worked as a teacher in a secondary modern school in Essex, an experience he later drew on for his novel Here Endeth the Lesson (1969). He became a scriptwriter for Scottish Television, then moved to Granada Television in Manchester.

In 1961, he began to work for The Jewish Chronicle (JC), the London-based international Jewish newspaper, and served as its features editor from 1964 to 1966. He then turned to writing his own column, which became "On the Other Hand" in 1978. He also contributed occasionally to the national British press, particularly The Observer and The Daily Telegraph. As an Orthodox Jew and supporter of Israel, he was frequently critical of both. He was a prolific author, beginning with his debut novel, Jericho Sleep Alone, published in 1964. His nonficton work centered around Jewish themes, and included The Cousinhood (1971), and Lord Jacobovits (1990), a biography of Britain's Chief Rabbi.

Some of his journalism was collected in Murmurings of a Licensed Heretic (1990). He was

married to Judith Weil, with whom he had four children.