“The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” – James E. Faust.
Truer words were never spoken. Today I want to talk of one such mother, whose influence on her daughter went well beyond her lifetime to better the lives of an entire nation, making her daughter one of the trailblazing pioneers of her times…and a legendary role model for generations of young women – past, present and those yet to come. I want to talk about Celia Bader, mother of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Celia Bader (nee Amster), was born in 1902 in the United States of America, 4 months after her immigrant parents arrived in New York from Austria. She grew up to be an intellectually ambitious girl who graduated from high school at 15 years of age, but didn’t get to go to college. She had to forego her further formal education to go work in Manhattan’s garment district so that her brother could attend Cornell University.
Tradition, culture and her gender denied her her aspirations…she wouldn’t let that repeat with her children. She would impress the importance of education on her future children.
She worked as a bookkeeper and eventually married Nathan Bader, a Russian immigrant who came to the United States with his family at the age of 13. He was a furrier and ran his own business. Both Celia and Nathan were Jewish. They had two daughters, Marilyn and Joan Ruth. Marilyn died from illness when she was less than 2 years old.
Celia was more than a traditional Jewish wife and mother. She brought her intellectual awareness to her role as a mother, with the intention of providing a life better than her own to her surviving daughter, Ruth (nicknamed Kiki).
As a mother, she fueled Ruth’s natural intelligence. Celia encouraged reading and would make weekly library visits with Ruth. Here’s an excerpt from the book for children, ‘I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark’, written by Debbie Levy and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley:
“Celia Amster Bader thought girls should also have the chance to make their mark on the world. So she took Ruth to the library.
On the shelves were stories of girls and women who did big things. Ruth read about Nancy Drew, girl detective. She discovered Amelia Earhart, daring aviator. She learned of Athena, goddess of Greek myths. Here were independent girls and women, taking charge.
Ruth read her way into this world. Around her, the sweet scent of books blended with the savory aromas from the Chinese restaurant downstairs. Delicious! A girl could be anything.”
Celia encouraged her daughter’s candor and self-expression. Ruth grew up to be both Jewish and American. Celia had high ambitions for her daughter, which unfortunately, in a cruel blow of fate, she did not live to see them fulfilled.
When Ruth was a freshman at James Madison High School in Brooklyn, NY, Celia was found to have cervical cancer. She died at the age of 47 in 1950, one day before her daughter’s high school graduation. Ruth went on to make her mother proud and then some. Celia’s upbringing reflected in Ruth’s academic success.
In her journey to becoming Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she reflected Celia Bader’s legacy of strength, character and resolve. I don’t need to elaborate on what RBG has done for gender equality and constitutional rights in this country, and in ripple effect, across the world – unless you live under a rock, you have heard of her accomplishments.
President Bill Clinton famously said during his announcement speech while nominating her as Supreme Court Justice in 1993, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg does not need a seat on the Supreme Court to earn her place in the American history books. She has already done that.”
And that was just at the beginning of her illustrious run as the second woman (first Jewish woman) to be appointed as a Supreme Court Justice…she served till her death on September 18, 2020 due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Admittedly, her husband Martin Ginsburg and her children were an incredible support system when she was breaking the glass ceilings and being a revolutionary attorney, civil servant and lifelong advocate of gender equality. But, one cannot deny her mother, Celia Bader’s influence during her formative years and on how she chose to fulfill her mother’s dreams for her.
At the same ceremony in 1993 when Judge Ginsburg stood with President Clinton in the Rose Garden for announcement of her Supreme Court nomination, Ruth paid a tribute to her mother, “I pray that I may be all that she would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons.”
Oh, Notorious RBG, you have been much more than that. You are an icon, a legend, an inspiration and so much more that words and adjectives won’t suffice. You were your mother’s daughter.
If there was ever a doubt on how powerful a mother’s influence can be, we just have to remember Celia Bader and her daughter Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I Dissent!” has been famously associated with RBG…but I want to drive home the point that her mother Celia was the original “Dissenter”.
Celia Bader lived in a time and age where mothers were supposed to teach daughters on how to keep a home and be an obedient future wife. Instead, she chose to empower her daughter with education and independence. She chose to inspire her daughter to dream and work towards making her dreams come true. She chose to dissent against societal, religious and gender inequality to ensure her daughter rose above such restraints, to be whoever that she wanted to be.
If only I can be even half the mother as Celia Bader, to my daughter, I will consider myself a successful mom. I will teach my daughter about you and your daughter. Your legacy established by your daughter, will always live on.
In a public television documentary about Jewish Americans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “What is the difference between a book-keeper in New York’s Garment District and a U.S. Supreme Court justice? One generation.”
One generation – with seeds of greatness planted in it by mothers like Celia Amster Bader.
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Sruthi Yejju 