Nahum Tzemach

Zemach was born in Rogozhnitsy (near Bialystok) White Russia in 1887, the son of Eliezer and Haya Zisel Zemach

In 1909 Founded "Habima" as a group theater performing in Hebrew, however, after the authorities banned performances in Hebrew, the group had to migrate. In 1913, Zemach took the group to perform for the 11th Zionist Congress in Vienna, but could not receive any financial support.

In 1914 tried to start a group in Warsaw, after making an alliance with Menachem Gansin and they first turned to Hannah Rubina, who decided to join the group, but only in 1917. They moved to Moscow and became a part of Moscow Theatre group with a director Yevgeny Vakhtangov, performing in Hebrew. . The license for the establishment of the theater is signed by the Minister of National Affairs Soviet Union who was then Joseph Stalin.

Zemach's activity was pioneering, since the Hebrew theaters that operated before that in Palestine and throughout the other countries were not managed in a professional manner. He took care of donations, plays and directors in the first eight years of the theater, in which it presented four plays which dealt with Jewish history, Jewish culture and the Hebrew language.

First, he chose "The Dybbuk," a drama of legend written by S. Ansky. He subsequently chose "The Golem" by H. Levick, a version of this play produced under the title "The Deluge", "Jacob's Dream" by Beer-Hoffman, and "The Eternal Jew" written by David Pinski. In 1926, the Habima Company left the Soviet Union and toured widely for a number of years in Europe and the United States. They played in one hundred and eleven performances at New York's Mansfield Theatre from December 1926 to March 1927.

In June 1927 the group split, most of the players returned to Europe and from there immigrated to Palestine where Habima would make its new home. It later became the national theatre of Israel in 1958.

Zemach remained with a small group in the United States, including three members of his family, his wife - Miriam Goldina, his sister - Shafra Berks and his brother - Benjamin. He failed in his attempt to establish a Hebrew theater, after a while the last of the actors left and he began directing plays in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, although his income was impressive, he lost unfortunately all his assets following the great crisis in the United States of the year 1929.

In 1930 His son Ariel was born. He joined the Association for the Promotion of the Yiddish Language in Los Angeles, and appeared on its behalf along with his wife and brother at several events.

In 1935, He went to Palestine where he stayed for two years working as a clerk in the insurance company.

In June 1937, he returned to New York, and two years later, in September 1939, died at the age of 52, after being ill for several years financially ruined.