Maisel-Shoḥat, Hannah
MAISEL-SHOḤAT, HANNAH
MAISEL-SHOḤAT, HANNAH (1890–1972), Israeli pioneer and educator, wife of Eliezer *Shoḥat. Hannah Maisel was born in Grodno, Belorussia, and studied education, agronomy, and science in Russia, Switzerland, and France. Active in the Po'alei Zion movement in Russia, she settled in Ereẓ Israel in 1909, and in 1911 founded the first women's agricultural farm in Kinneret on the shores of Lake Tiberias, with 14 pupils (among them the poetess *Raḥel (Bluwstein)). In 1919, she established the first "Labor Kitchen" in Tel Aviv, and later the wizo School for Home Economics. In 1920, she was elected to the first executive of wizo, and in the following year she and her husband were among the founders of the first moshav, *Nahalal. From the very first years of her aliyah Hannah Maisel-Shoḥat realized the importance of training the young women who had come on aliyah in agriculture and home economics, and her initiative, vision, and activity in this sphere constitute an important chapter in the history of the development of agriculture and education in Israel. In 1929 she founded the wizo Agricultural High School in Nahalal and was its principal from its foundation until 1960. As a leader of the *Mo'eẓet ha-Po'alot (Council of Women Workers) she was one of the organizers of the first conference of the Labor Movement in Ereẓ Israel.
bibliography:
Tidhar, 15, 4745–46.
[Benjamin Jaffe (2nd ed.)]