GERSHON GURA (GORA)

GERSHON GURA (GORA) (February 1908-May 31, 1994[1])

            He was born in Czyżewo, Bialystok region, Poland, into an elite, Hassidic family.  He studied in religious elementary school, yeshivas, and with private tutors.  He was an active leader in the Orthodox workers’ movement of Poale Agudat Yisrael (Agudat Israel workers).  From 1936 he was living in Israel where he was active in community affairs.  He began writing Yiddish and Hebrew verse when quite young.  His first publication was a poem in Unzer veg (Our way) in Shedlets (1923).  He contributed poetry and articles to: Ortodoksishe yugnt-bleter (Orthodox youth pages), Unzer arbeter shtime (Our labor’s voice), Yugend-kreften 1 (Forces of youth 1), Der yud (The Jew), and Dos yidishe togblat (The Jewish daily news)—all in Warsaw; Der idisher arbeter (The Jewish worker) and Beys-yankev-zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal) in Lodz; Bendiner vokhnblat (Będzin weekly newspaper) and Unzer veg in Shedlets; and in the Hebrew weeklies and magazines: Diglenu (Our banner), Darḥenu (Our way), and Yavne (Havdala accoutrements), among others, in Warsaw.  From 1936 he was a regular contributor to all Poale Agudat Yisrael publications in Yiddish and Hebrew.  He was also a member of the editorial board of the daily newspaper Shearim (Gates) in Tel Aviv.  He authored an autobiographical work: Besaarot hayamim (Stormy days) (Tel Aviv, 1980), 3 vols.

Source: Biblyografishe yorbukh fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbook from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1927).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 153.]

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[1] The National Library of Israel gives his dates as: 1910-1995.