Rachel Cohen-Kagan
Rachel Cohen-Kagan ( Hebrew רחל כהן-כגן; born February 19, 1888 in Odessa ; died October 15, 1982 in Haifa ) was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and suffragette . She was one of 37 people who signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence .
Life
She was born as Rachel Lubersky in Odessa in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine ) into a family active in Zionism . Her father was one of the founders of Chibbat Zion , and in his vicinity she met Zionist figures from Odessa such as Achad Ha'am and Chaim Nachman Bialik . Her husband Noach Cohen, whom she married in 1912, emigrated to Eretz Israel in 1913 . Because of the outbreak of the First World War , she could not succeed him until 1919. The crossing took place on the ship Ruslan , where she met the poet Rachel , who dedicated a poem written in Russian to her.
The couple lived in Jabneel for the first two years and moved to Jerusalem in 1921 . Here Rachel Cohen worked for Henrietta Szold in a women's organization that was merged into WIZO in 1933 . In 1925 she moved with her family to Haifa , where she served as chairman of the municipal social committee from 1932 to 1946. She became a member of the Provisional State Council Moetzet Ha Am , which had taken over the legislative function of the British Privy Council in the Palestine mandate . On May 14, 1948, she and Golda Meir were the only women to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
In the first Knesset election in 1949 , WIZO won a single seat held by Rachel Cohen-Kagan. In the first Knesset, she introduced a bill for equal rights for women, which was torpedoed by religious circles. In 1951 she lost her seat, joined the Liberal Party and moved back to parliament in 1961. In opposition to the merging of this party with Cherut , she was one of the founders of the Independent Liberals , but lost her seat in parliament in the 1965 elections. In 1961, she received honorary citizenship of the city of Haifa.
She had two sons with her husband Noach Cohen, with whom she was married until his death in 1963.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Jewish Women's Archive (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cohen-Kagan, Rachel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | רחל כהן-כגן (Hebrew); Lubersky, Rachel (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli politician and women's rights activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Odessa |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1982 |
| Place of death | Haifa |