Letters from the Ghettos

An editor, writer, and educator, Berakha Ḥabas was one of the first women journalists in Israel. Born in Alytus, Lithuania, to a wealthy, religious family, Ḥabas was the fourth child in a family of seven. In 1908, she emigrated with her family to Palestine, where she studied at the Lewinsky Teachers’ Seminary in Tel Aviv. Ḥabas served on the editorial board of the newspaper Davar from 1935 to 1953 and was also an editor at the Am Oved publishing house. During and immediately following World War II, she served as the editor in chief of Min Ha-moked, a library of original and translated works that chronicled the world crisis.