Tova Sanhadray

Tova Sanhadray was born in 1906 in Ternopil

Tova Diamond was born in 1906 in Ternopil in Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary. Her parents, Shlomo and Esther, kept a religious Zionist home. She studied at a Polish elementary school and at the Tarbut high school in her city.

In her twenties she joined the religious pioneer movement Torah VeAvoda and became active in Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi. She trained as a teacher, taught Hebrew and helped found Bnot Mizrachi. In 1932 she ran a training group for future immigrants.

She immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1934 and lived in Tel Aviv, working in odd jobs. In 1935 she helped found the Hapoel HaMizrachi Women Workers organization and became its secretary general. She also helped develop the women's programs of Emunah.

In 1949 she formed the Working and Religious Women list after the United Religious Front excluded women, but it did not pass the threshold. She entered the Knesset in 1959 as the first woman to represent the National Religious Party, and served as Deputy Speaker from 1963. She lost her seat in the 1973 elections.

She married Rabbi Yisrael Sanhadray in 1938, and their son Uri was born in 1948. After his death in 1966 she married Rabbi Kalman Goldreich. She died in 1993.