Miriam Ben-Porat

Miriam Ben-Porat was born in 1918 in Vitebsk

Miriam Shinezon was born in 1918 in Vitebsk to a Jewish family of seven children. The family moved to Lithuania, where her parents owned a textile factory. In 1936 she immigrated alone to the Land of Israel, and most of her family was later murdered in the Holocaust.

She studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1945. She then worked as a prosecutor and rose to deputy State Attorney. She prosecuted cases including the trial of the killers of Israel Kastner.

She became a judge of the Jerusalem District Court, and the Bar Association boycotted her swearing in. In 1975 she became president of that court, and from 1964 to 1978 she also taught at the Hebrew University. In 1977 she was appointed to the Supreme Court and later served as its deputy president.

In 1988 she retired from the bench and the Knesset chose her as State Comptroller, the first woman in the post. Her reports covered the water system, immigrant absorption, police investigations and funds transferred by ministers, and some led to dismissals and trials. She served two terms until 1998 and died in 2012.