Rachel Tzabari

Rachel Tzabari was born in 1909 in Tel Aviv

Rachel Tzabari was born in Tel Aviv in 1909 to parents who had immigrated from Yemen. During World War I her family moved between towns, and her mother and two of the children died in Sejera. The family returned to Tel Aviv in 1917.

She studied at a girls' school and later at a teachers seminary in Tel Aviv. She qualified as a kindergarten teacher in 1928. From 1936 she studied child development at the University of London, and in 1940 she began a master's degree in Jewish studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She joined the Haganah in 1926 and was among its first female undercover operatives. She later held command posts, and in the War of Independence she commanded women soldiers in Jerusalem.

She taught in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, lectured at a teachers college and worked as a schools supervisor. She entered the Knesset in 1952 for Mapai, replacing the late Yehezkel Hen, and was the first woman of Mizrahi origin to serve there. She kept her seat until the 1969 elections and worked on education, religion and state, and women's rights.

She died in 1995.