Hanna Rovina

Hanna Rovina was born in 1888 in Byerazino

Hanna Rovina was born Hanna Rubin in Byerazino, in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire. Her parents were David and Sarah-Rivka Rubin, and she had a sister and a brother. As a girl she learned Hebrew at a reformed heder for girls.

She studied in Yekaterinoslav but had to stop, and worked as a private teacher. She then trained as a kindergarten teacher at a Hebrew course in Warsaw.

She began acting at Nahum Zemach's Hebrew Stage Theatre and joined Habima in Moscow in 1917. Her role as Leah'le in The Dybbuk by S. An-sky made her known. In 1928 she moved to Mandate Palestine with the Habima actors.

She performed for Jewish Brigade soldiers during World War II and for IDF soldiers in the War of Independence. In 1934 her daughter Ilana was born from her relationship with the poet Alexander Penn. In 1958 she read the Declaration of Independence at a reenactment ceremony.

In her later years she acted in plays by Nissim Aloni, who wrote the lead of Aunt Liza for her. She stayed on stage almost until her death. She died in Ra'anana in 1980 and was buried at Kiryat Shaul cemetery.