[1] Kerbel was born to a Jewish family in the village of Semyonovka in Chernigov Governorate, Russian Republic (currently Semenivka, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine), on the day that the Winter Palace in Petrograd was stormed by the Bolsheviks.

During World War II, Kerbel helped build the defenses for the Battle of Moscow, then served in the Northern Fleet, gaining renown as a military artist.

In the 1950s to 1970s Kerbel sculpted many portraits of Soviet and foreign intellectuals: writer Boris Lavrenyov and violinist David Oistrakh, Canadian clergyman James Gareth Endicott, Giacomo Manzù (sculptor) and Pietro Orgento (orchestral conductor) from Italy and many others.

Many people now view his few remaining statues with nostalgia, particularly in Chemnitz, where his bust of Karl Marx is referred to as 'the head'.

Among the monuments on the graves of the Soviet soldiers carefully preserved in Germany are Kerbel sculptures in Berlin and on Seelow Heights.