Gershom Bader

Gershom Bader (August 21, 1868 – November 11, 1953) was a Jewish Galician-American writer, journalist, and playwright who wrote in Hebrew and Yiddish.

He published articles in Hebrew papers since his youth to express his views on social and political subjects.

Although he was religious, he was critical of the conservative and pro-Hasidic policies of the established Jewish orthodoxy and became a supporter of the Zionist Hibbat Zion movement.

[3] Bader moved to Lviv in 1894, where he worked as a teacher, and became active in Yiddish literary life and the Zionist movement.

He was a contributor to, among other newspapers and periodicals, Der Yud, Tsukunft, Zhitlowsky’s Dos Naye Lebn, Pardes, and Ha-Shiloaḥ.

He also wrote several stage pieces, including Tate-Mames Tsores (Trouble for Parents), Nont Baym Fayer (Near to the Fire), Yisroel Bal Shem Tov, R’ Chaim Raytses, Der Amerikaner Doktor (The American Doctor), and Di Goldene Royz (The Golden Rose).

[3] Bader immigrated to America in 1912 and became a staff writer at several Jewish journals and correspondent for European Yiddish and Hebrew periodicals.

Other plays were performed in New York after he moved there in 1912, including "Der Rebe in Feyer," "Tsvishn Libe un Toyt," "Froy Gleybt Froy," "The Rabbi's Melody" in 1919 (starring Ludwig Satz and with music from Joseph Rumshinsky), and "Di Goldene Royze" in 1920 (starring Boris Thomashefsky and Kessler and with music from Herman Wohl).

In 1908, he cofounded the Goldfaden Association, which was founded to protect the interests of stage artists, with Julius Gutman, Matityahu Thur, and Norman Glimer.