He was born in Pultusk, Poland, during his
youth he was regarded as a prodigy in Talmud. He studied violin in Lodz and the
age of 19 became cantor in Hethar, Hungary. Birnbaum became chief cantor in
Czestochowa, Poland, where he founded a school for hazzanim in 1907. He wrote
books of liturgical music, some for choir and organ, and set modern, Hebrew
poems to music. Birnbaum also published textbooks on music and was a founder of
the Cantorial Association in Poland. His musical library is now in the Hebrew
Union College, Cincinnati.
