Bracha Habas (; 20 January 1900 – 31 July 1968) was a Lithuanian and Israeli journalist, literary editor, and writer. She is being considered as “one of the first professional women journalists in Israel.”

Early life and education

Born on 20 January 1900 in

Alytus Alytus () is a city with Town privileges, municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, sixth-largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, 14th-largest city in the Baltic ...

, southern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, Bracha Habas moved to Palestine with her family in 1906. After the completion of her school education, she enrolled at the Training Seminary for Women Teachers where she graduated in 1921. In 1919, she joined the socialist-Zionist party,

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

through which she started empowering the young working women. In 1926, she went to Germany to enroll at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

to advance her knowledge of

pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

theory. On her return, she worked with the schools that were associated with Women Teachers’ Seminary.

Career

She later began her professional career in journalism. She periodically wrote editorials, stories and reports in a number of leading newspapers. She also served on the editorial board of the newspaper ''

Davar ''Davar'' (, lit. ''Speech, Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. A similarly named website was launched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an ...

'' and of the ''

Am Oved Am Oved ("A Working People") is an Israeli publishing house. History Am Oved was founded in 1942 by Berl Katznelson, who was its first editor in chief. It was created as an organ of the Histadrut, Israel's federation of Labor, with a goal of publ ...

'', a books publishing house. She was also sent to the

Zionist Congress The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( ''HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami'') and Wor ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

as its correspondent by the ''Davar '' newspaper. She briefly worked in educating the rural youths.

Personal life

In 1946, she married

David Hacohen David Hacohen (; 20 October 1898 – 19 February 1984) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1949 and 1953, and again from 1955 until 1969. He fought with the Ottoman Army in World War I. After the war he studie ...

, an Israeli politician and diplomat. She died of cancer on 31 July 1968.

Selected works

Sources: * ''Ḥomah u-Migdal'' (1939) * ''Korot Ma'pil Ẓa'ir'' (1942) * ''David Ben-Gurion ve-Doro'' (1952) * ''Pagodot ha-Zahav'' (1959) * ''Benot Ḥayil'' (1964) * ''Ḥayyav u-Moto shel Joop Westerweel'' (1964) * ''Tenu'ah le-Lo Shem'' (1965) * ''He-Ḥaẓer ve-ha-Givah'' (1968)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habas, Bracha 1900 births 1968 deaths Israeli newspaper journalists Israeli women journalists Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent 20th-century Israeli journalists 20th-century Israeli women journalists 20th-century Israeli women writers People from Alytus Lithuanian emigrants to Israel Leipzig University alumni