Dvorah Barzilay-Yegar

Dvorah Barzilay-Yegar was born in 1933 in Mostyska

Dvorah Barzilay was born in 1933 in Mostyska and came to Palestine with her family in 1936. She grew up in Rehovot and went to school there. Her father, Moshe Barzilay, later became the third mayor of Rehovot.

She earned a B.A. in history and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, then an M.A. there after her army service. After research in England she received a Ph.D. on the idea of a Jewish national home in British policy from 1917 to 1923. She also earned a teaching certificate and taught history at a high school in Rehovot from 1958 to 1960.

From 1961 to 1974 she worked as a researcher and editor on Weizmann's letters and papers and at the Weizmann Archives. From 1966 to 1969 she worked in London, gathering material in British archives on Weizmann's role around the Balfour Declaration, and later edited Volumes VII and VIII of his letters. She went on to edit Samuel Tolkowsky's Zionist political diary and to lead a survey of archival sources on the British Mandate.

In 1979 she married Moshe Yegar, a historian and diplomat, and joined him on his postings in New York, Stockholm and Prague. She taught at Queens College in New York and at Charles University in Prague. She died on January 11, 2026.