Aura Herzog

Aura Herzog was born in 1924 in Ismailia

Aura Ambache was born on 24 December 1924 in Ismailia, Egypt, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family of Russian and Polish descent. Her father Simcha was an engineer, and her mother Leah came from the Steinberg family of Motza. Her sister Suzy later married the diplomat Abba Eban.

She attended French schools in Ismailia and Cairo. She earned a BA in mathematics and physics at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.

She immigrated in October 1946 and joined the first class of the Jewish Agency's Diplomatic School. She was a member of the Haganah and married Chaim Herzog in 1947, and the couple had 4 children. In 1948 she was seriously injured in a bombing of the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem.

She lived in the United States with her husband from 1950 to 1954 and from 1975 to 1978. In 1958 she headed the committee for Israel's 10th anniversary and initiated the International Bible Contest. She headed the culture department of the Ministry of Education and Culture from 1959 to 1968, and in 1969 founded the Council for a Beautiful Israel.

In 1971 she published a book on hospitality and manners. She was First Lady from 1983 to 1993 and later chaired the public committee for Israel's Jubilee in 1998. She died on 10 January 2022 and was buried on Mount Herzl beside her husband.