Puah Rakovsky (; 1865–1955) was a professional educator, Zionist activist and feminist leader. She worked towards upliftment of Jewish women.

Early life

Rakovsky was born on July 3, 1865, in

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

, Poland, in a traditionally prosperous Jewish family. Her father Menahem Mendel was a trained rabbi, worked as a commission agent and was seventeen years old at her birth. Her mother was fifteen when Rakovsky was born. She was the oldest child of her parents and had fourteen siblings.

Personal life

Rakovsky married four times and had three children – two daughters and a son. She moved to Israel in 1935.

Education

Rakovsky was homeschooled and studied Hebrew, Yiddish and secular subjects. She had to discontinue studies when she was married at the age of 16 to Shlomo Malchin who was ten years older. It was an arranged marriage, which she had initially opposed. She wanted to study to become a midwife, but both her parents and her husband opposed the idea. She eventually persuaded her family to let her study and attained a teaching license. Puah Rakovsky 1

Career

Rakovsky took up teaching in 1889. She taught Hebrew in a girls' school in

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

, Poland. In 1891, she was employed by a Jewish girls' school in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

as a teacher and director. In 1893, she opened a school for girls where Hebrew and Jewish was taught to female students. This school ran until World War I and was of national importance. In Warsaw, Rakovsky became an active member of the Zionist community. Even with her work on the community, she focused on women and their upliftment. Her extensive work and vocal activism led her to be a popular figure in the country. In 1920, Rakovsky founded the Jewish Women’s Association (YFA) in Warsaw which came to be known as a national organization for Zionism and feminist by its belief. The association worked towards providing secular and vocational education to Jewish women and to prepare them to be independent.

Notable work

In 1940–42, her memoirs were published in Hebrew and Yiddish. In her autobiography, she labeled herself a "Radical Jewish Woman". # ''Di yidishe froy'', Warsaw, 1918; # ''Modern day froyen-bavegung'', Warsaw, 1928; # ''Lo Nikhnati'', translated and abridged by David Kalai, Tel Aviv, 1951; # Puah Rakovsky, P.E. Hyman; trans. B. Harshav (ed.), My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman: Memoirs of a Zionist Feminist in Poland, (2002).

References

{{Authority control 1865 births 19th-century Polish Jews 1955 deaths People from Białystok Burials at Har HaMenuchot Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli feminists Polish feminists Polish Zionists