Miriam Shomer Zunser


Miriam Shomer Zunser was an American journalist, playwright and artist. She was a significant promoter of Jewish culture prior to World War II.

Life

Zunser was born Manya Shaikevitsch in Odessa, Ukraine, to Nokhem Mayer Shaikevitsch, a novelist and playwright and her wife Dinneh Bercinsky. Her family emigrated in 1889 to New York. After graduating high school she worked as a librarian while attending art classes taught by Henry McBride at the Educational Alliance.
In 1932 Zunser was a co-founder and initial president of MAILAMM, the America-Palestine Institute of Musical Sciences, a society for the study and promotion of Jewish music in Palestine and the United States. Later, she was treasurer of the Jewish Music Forum.
Having worked with Henrietta Szold, she was the founder of the Brooklyn chapter of Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America.
Zunser died in New York City.

Personal

In 1905 she married Charles Zunser, son of the poet Eliakum Zunser. They had three children. Her sister was the Yiddish folksinger Anna Shomer Rothenberg.

Publications