Esther Vilenska

Esther Vilenska was born in 1918 in Vilnius

Vilenska was born in Vilnius in 1918 as Esther Novik and later changed her name. She went to high school in the city and was active in the Hashomer Hatzair movement. In 1938 she emigrated to Mandatory Palestine.

She studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She earned a BA in sociology and history and an MA in history.

She joined the Palestine Communist Party in 1940 and became an editor of Kol HaAm in 1943, then chief editor in 1947. In 1944 she was elected to the Assembly of Representatives. She sat on the Histadrut executive committee from 1949 to 1973 and was elected to the Tel Aviv city council in 1949.

She entered the Knesset in 1951 and served in the second, third and fifth Knessets. She focused on civil liberties and on conditions for women, and proposed a bill for equal pay for women and men. In 1973 she left Maki and founded Aki, editing its monthly paper.

She was first married to Meir Vilner and later to Zvi Breitstein, with whom she had 2 children. She wrote books and pamphlets in several languages. She died in 1975, and her labor history book appeared in 1976.