Ruth Dayan

Ruth Dayan was born in 1917 in Haifa

Ruth Schwartz was born in Haifa in 1917, the elder of two daughters of Tzvi and Rachel Schwartz, immigrants of the Second Aliyah. As a small child she moved with her parents to England, and the family later returned to the Land of Israel. Her sister Reuma married Ezer Weizman, later President of Israel.

In Jerusalem she studied at the Hebrew Gymnasium Rehavia and was active in the HaMahanot HaOlim youth movement. She then moved to Nahalal, studied at the agricultural school for girls, and met Moshe Dayan. They married in 1935 and had three children, Yael, Udi and Assi.

In 1949 she worked as an agricultural instructor in new immigrant villages and began a project to turn the women's crafts into a source of income. In 1954 this became Maskit, a government company she managed, which employed new immigrants and used designs of many communities. Maskit ceased operations in 1994.

She worked for peace between Jews and Arabs, for new immigrants, Bedouin rights and women's causes. She led the Brit Bnei Shem association and was among the founders of Variety Israel. She ran on the lists of Sheli, Ratz and Meretz, and she divorced Moshe Dayan in 1971.

She published an autobiography in 1973 and received the Yigal Allon Prize and the President's Medal of Distinction. She died at her home in Tel Aviv in 2021.