Hedva Harechavi

Hedva Harechavi was born in 1941 in Degania Bet

Harechavi was born in 1941 in Kibbutz Degania Bet. Her mother, Ellen Rothschild, was born in Germany, and her father, Misha Harechavi, was born in Russia. She studied at the Jordan Valley joint school.

She studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem from 1963 to 1967. Her first poems appeared in the daily Al Hamishmar, sent in by the poet Leah Goldberg. Goldberg also prepared her first book, Because He Is A King, published in 1974.

Her collected poems, A Bird That Is Inside Stands Outside, came out in 2009. Her book Rana in 2014 brought her the Bialik Prize, and Migo followed in 2017, named for her son's nickname. Her poems were translated into several languages, and some were set to music.

As a painter she worked mainly in watercolor and expressive drawing, and showed in solo and group exhibitions. From 1991 to 1998 she curated a series of exhibitions of works by artists with mental illness, autism and Down syndrome.

Her only son, Elisha, was killed in 2003. She lived in the Abu Tor neighborhood of Jerusalem and died of cancer on 28 December 2025.