For some years, he worked as an antiquarian book dealer in that city, but his literary pursuits absorbed most of his attention; eventually, he embraced writing as his full-time profession.

He was the principal contributor to Wilhelm Freund's monthly periodical, Zur Judenfrage, published in Berlin from July 1843 to June 1844.

He was entrusted with the task of editing and refining the committee's Entwurf, and was one of the principal authors of the Aufruf that called for the establishment of a religious Reform movement among German Jews, published in Berlin newspapers in early April 1845.

The paper was finally suppressed in 1853, and Bernstein established the Volkszeitung, a journal devoted, like its predecessor, largely to the dissemination of democratic views.

[2] He was the author of two novels depicting Jewish life, Vögele der Maggid and Mendel Gibbor, initially published in Josef Wertheimer's Jahrbuch für Israeliten and then in book form (Berlin, 1860; 7th edition, ib.

Unlike contemporary ghetto stories, Bernstein's novels were intended for a Jewish audience, and make extensive use of German-Jewish idioms.