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Advanced level – ‫רמה מתקדמת‬

Rachel Yanait ben Tzvi (1886-1979)

Rachel Yanait was born Golda Lishinsky but she saw her name as an expression of
exile (galut) mentality, so she changed it. She chose "Yanait" as her surname after
the Hasmonean King Alexander Yannai, who was also the High Priest. The choice
of Yannai is also connected to its tonal resemblance to her father's name, Yona. She
continued to carry this surname even after her marriage to Yitzhak ben Tzvi.
Rachel Yanait was among the first teachers of the Hebrew Academy of Jerusalem.
In addition to teaching, she worked as a printer at the print shop "United Printers"
(Dfus Achdut). She led, along with Zev Ashur, the first workers' strike in Jewish
Palestine. The strike was accompanied by stormy demonstrations against the
owners of both Arab and Jewish print shops as one, who took advantage of workers
and degraded them.

In 1919, Rachel Yanait set up a plant nursery, on the grounds of her home in
Rechavia. She called it "The women workers' farm". In the nursery, Yanait wanted
to train women in agriculture and botany. They specialized in planting trees and
growing flowers. Pine trees that were grown in the nursery were planted on the
hillsides at Shaar Hagai, by The Jewish National Fund. The flowers were sold to
passers-by in Rechavia itself. In addition, Yanait convinced the Governor of
Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, to plant trees from the nursery around Jerusalem. They
were planted mostly in Rechavia, Talpiot, and Beit HaKerem.
In 1978 Rachel was awarded the Israel prize for her "Singular Contribution to
Society and Country" for her life's work.

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