Public lifeרבקה זיו

Rebecca Sieff

Rebecca Sieff was a British Zionist and feminist who helped found the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) and served as its first president.

1890 to 1966Co-founding WIZOFirst president of WIZODaniel Sieff Research Institute

Born: 23 February 1890, Leeds
Died: 8 January 1966, Tel Aviv
Occupation: activist

Rebecca Sieff was born in 1890 in Leeds

Rebecca Sieff was born Rebecca Marks in Leeds on 23 February 1890. Her father, Michael Marks, later co-founded Marks & Spencer. In 1894 the family moved to Manchester.

She attended the Manchester High School for Girls and in 1908 began studying English literature at Manchester University. There she met her future husband, Israel Sieff, and became a friend of Chaim Weizmann. They married in 1910 and had four children.

During the First World War she raised charity for the Jews of Poland. In 1918 she was elected to the Council of the English Zionist Federation and helped found the Federation of Women Zionists. With Vera Weizmann and others she led the creation of WIZO and became its first president.

In 1934 the family endowed the Daniel Sieff Research Institute in memory of their son Daniel. It was renamed the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1949. In 1935 she and her husband moved into a villa in Tel Mond, where she lived until her death.

In 1949 WIZO moved its center to Israel. She died at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on 8 January 1966. A hospital in Safed and a WIZO center in Jerusalem bear her name.