Dorothy Bar-Adon
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Dorothy Bar-Adon (; August 2, 1907 – August 7, 1950) was an American-born Israeli journalist. Her early experience as a correspondent was gained on ''The Atlantic City'' ''Press''. From her immigration to Mandate Palestine in 1933 until her death she worked as a journalist for ''
The Palestine Post ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'' (later ''The Jerusalem Post''), covering a wide range of international and domestic issues. She died at 43.


Early life and career in the United States

Dorothy Bar-Adon (née Kahn) was born in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Pennsylvania on August 2, 1907; she was raised in a
Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...
milieu. During her childhood the family moved to the seaside resort of
Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
, New Jersey. When she was 16 years old her father died, leaving the family without its main breadwinner. On completing her high school education Bar-Adon went to work as a staff reporter for ''The Atlantic City Press''. Writing under the by-lines Dot Kahn, Dorothy Kahn and Dorothy R. Kahn, Member of the Press Staff or Staff Correspondent, Bar-Adon was employed by the newspaper until her immigration to Palestine in 1933. During her years at the ''Press'' Bar-Adon's writing seems to have found favor with her editors: many of her stories were placed on the paper's opening pages and bore her by-line. While much of the paper's national and international news was provided by the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, Bar-Adon often covered stories of international interest when assigned to interview visitors to Atlantic City who had a connection to issues of the day. Following the
1929 Palestine riots The 1929 Palestine riots, Buraq Uprising (, ) or the Events of 1929 (, , ''lit.'' Events of 5689 Anno Mundi), was a series of demonstrations and riots in late August 1929 in which a longstanding dispute between Palestinian Arabs and Jews ove ...
, 1930 saw two events initiated by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine which threatened to limit Jewish immigration: the Hope-Simpson report recommended limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine according to the perceived ability of the territory to absorb immigrants. On October 21, 1930, Sidney James Webb, Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies, issued a White Paper restricting further land acquisition by Jews, thus slowing Jewish immigration. Page two of the ''Press''’s November 6, 1930 edition features a by-lined article by Bar-Adon headlined "Resort Jews Resent British Palestine Edict: Pass Resolutions Condemning Act; Rabbi Neuman and Rev. Mellen Speak." The article describes an interfaith meeting held at a local community center the previous evening to protest the British government's recent issuing of the Second
White Paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...
.


Career in Palestine/ Israel

In 1933 Bar-Adon left for Palestine after a busy fortnight in New York. Since Mandatory Palestine was part of the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
, she spent much of her time in the city on the complicated process of obtaining a visa for Palestine from the British Consulate, as well as in collecting letters of recommendation from people who might be able to assist in smoothing her first steps in Palestine. Rabbi
Stephen Samuel Wise Stephen Samuel Wise (March 17, 1874 – April 19, 1949) was an early 20th-century American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader in the Progressive Era. Born in Budapest, he was an infant when his family immigrated to New York. He followed his father ...
provided Kahn with letters of introduction to, among others,
Henrietta Szold Henrietta Szold ( , ; December 21, 1860 – February 13, 1945) was an American-born Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Pal ...
, David Yellin, Irma Lindheim and
Gershon Agron Gershon Harry Agron (; ; 1 November 1959) was an Israeli newspaper editor, politician, and the mayor of West Jerusalem between 1955 and his death in 1959. A Zionism, Zionist from his youth, Agron joined the Jewish Legion and fought in Palestine ...
of ''The Palestine Post''. In June 1933 Bar-Adon arrived in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
; she wrote at length about the young, burgeoning city, then undergoing an influx of Jewish immigrants from Germany who had concluded that the rise of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
to power was a threat to be taken seriously. Bar-Adon was not fluent in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
during her first years in Palestine; she thus began to write for the English-language ''Palestine Post''. From her arrival in Palestine in 1933 until 1936 Bar-Adon lived in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, while serving as a correspondent for the ''Post'' and writing her autobiography ''Spring Up, O Well'', which was published in 1936 by Henry Holt and Co. In spite of perceived dangers concomitant with the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, Bar-Adon travelled throughout the countryside and wrote prolifically of the new and not-so-new cooperative villages: the
moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...
and the
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
. She also met and wrote about members of local Arab communities. In 1934 she covered the marriage of
Talal of Jordan Talal bin Abdullah (26 February 1909 – 7 July 1972) was King of Jordan from the assassination of his father, King Abdullah I, on 1951 until his forced abdication in 1952. He was a member of the Hashemite dynasty. Talal was born in Mecca as th ...
, father of
King Hussein of Jordan Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hussein was traditionally considered a 40th-generatio ...
. From 1936 until 1938 Bar-Adon lived in Kibbutz
Givat Brenner Givat Brenner (), is a kibbutz in the Central District of Israel. Located around south of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional Council. Founded in 1928, it is named after writer Yosef Haim Brenner, who was killed in t ...
, while also spending time in Jerusalem. In 1938 the ''Post'' sent her to
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, where she investigated and wrote about the place of the
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
as a minority in Eastern Europe. In 1939 Bar-Adon met her future husband, the archaeologist
Pessah Bar-Adon Pessah Bar-Adon (; b. 1907, d. 1985) was a Polish-born Israeli archaeologist and writer. Early life Born Pessah Panitsch in Kolno, Poland, to a Zionist, Haredi family, he was educated in a Jewish orthodox school and in yeshivas. He immigrated t ...
. She continued her work as a journalist, both for the ''Post'' and free-lance. On August 17, 1940, their only son, Doron, was born. In 1943 the Bar-Adon family moved to the moshav Merhavia, contiguous with Kibbutz Merhavia, where they lived until Dorothy's death. The closeness of the two settlements, as well as her previous experience as a resident of Kibbutz Givat Brenner, enabled Bar-Adon to contrast the two forms of cooperative communities—kibbutz and moshav—from the stance of homemaker and mother. Her writing on the subject is non-partisan, and this at a time when public debate about the various forms of cooperative settlement in Palestine tended to be highly partisan.


A journalist on the periphery

During the last decade of her life she wrote of daily life in the Jewish cities and villages during World War 2; of the massive immigration of European Jewry to Palestine in the years immediately following the war's end; of the often successful attempts by the British Mandatory authorities to arrest and detain these immigrants in the
Displaced Persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displace ...
in
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
; of the events leading to the establishment of the State of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
in 1948; of the
1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
; of the war's end and the beginning of the building of a civil state. Bar-Adon continued to cover the central events of the day under the persona of a Jewish, Palestinian/ Israeli housewife residing in the agricultural heartland. Simultaneously, from the same stance, she wrote of daily life in the villages and kibbutzim. In addition to her work as a staff reporter for ''The Palestine Post'' Bar Adon was a regular contributor to such journals as ''The Jewish Advocate'', ''The National Jewish Post'', ''Palestine Review'', ''The Journal of Jewish Life and Letters''. She also composed publicity for a broad range of Jewish organizations in Israel and abroad, among them Hadassah,
Magen David Adom The Magen David Adom (, abbr. MDA, pronounced ''MAH-dah'' per its Hebrew acronym, ) is Israel's national emergency medicine, emergency medical, Emergency management, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The literal meaning of the name is ...
, Youth
Aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...
, the Zionist Organization Youth Department. In July 1950 Bar-Adon became ill. She was found to be suffering from kidney disease, characterized by uremia; at the time such conditions were incurable. She died on August 7, 1950. Dorothy Kahn Bar-Adon is buried in the small cemetery adjoining the village of Merhavia.


References and bibliography

*Bar Adon, Doron. ''My Parents’ Garments'', published by the author, Israel: 2005 ebrew*Bar Adon, Dorothy and Pesach, ''Seven Who Fell'', Tel Aviv, 1947 *Bar Adon, Dorothy, ''The Twin Villages of Merhavia'', Tel Aviv, 1948 *Bar Adon, Dorothy Kahn,
Writing Palestine 1933-1950: Dorothy Kahn Bar-Adon
', Esther Carmel Hakim, Nancy Rosenfeld, eds., Boston, 2016. *Beasley, Maurine, and Gibbons, Sheila J. ''Taking Their Place: A Documentary History of Women and Journalism'', State College PA, 2003. *Board, Barbara, ''Reporting from Palestine 1943–1944'', UK, 2008 *Chambers, Deborah; Steiner, Linda; Fleming, Carole, ''Women and Journalism'', New York, 2004 *Hyman, Paula; Ofer, Dalia, eds., ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia'' (CD ROM) *Kahn, Dorothy, ''Spring Up O Well'', London, 1936; New York, 1938 *Lewis, Norman, "From Cheesecake to Chief: Newspaper Editors' Slow Acceptance of Women," ''American Journalism'', (2008) 25:2, 33-55 *Lutes, Jean Marie, ''Front Page Girls: Women Journalists in American Culture and Fiction, 1880–1930'', Ithaca and London, 2006. * Reinharz, Shulamit, ''Jewish Women and the Zionist Enterprise'', Boston, 2005. *Elyada, Ouzi, "A Female Journalist Reporter in the 1930s Palestine : Dorothy Kahn Bar-Adon and the Palestine Post", Media History, 2024, online article, http://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2024


External links


''Palestine Post'' archives

''Jewish Women's Encyclopedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bar-Adon, Dorothy 1907 births 1950 deaths The Jerusalem Post people American emigrants to Mandatory Palestine American Zionists Jews from Mandatory Palestine Journalists from Philadelphia 20th-century Israeli journalists Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah Deaths from kidney disease