Rachel Kagan, long-time president of WIZO (the Women’s International Zionist Organization), died in Haifa on Monday at the age of 94. She was buried in Haifa today.
Ms. Kagan was born in Odessa to a well-known Hovevei Zion family. She married Dr. Noah Kagan in 1913. Ms. Kagan established the Hebrew women’s organization, later WIZO, in Haifa, where she had settled, and combined her WIZO activities with other social services in Haifa.
She was also head of the social services of the Va’ad Leumi, was a member of the provisional government and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. She served in the first and fifth Knessets. She became WIZO’s honorary president in 1978.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.