Rachel Rabin Yaakov, Sister of Yitzhak Rabin and Kibbutz Founder, Dies at 101

Rachel Rabin Yaakov, the younger sister of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and a founding member of Kibbutz Menara, passed away on Friday at the age of 101. A veteran educator and prominent figure in the kibbutz movement and the Upper Galilee region, Rabin Yaakov was born in Tel Aviv in 1925. She was among the founders of Kibbutz Menara in 1943, located in the Naftali Mountains near the Lebanese border.

During the 1948 War of Independence, Rabin Yaakov remained at the kibbutz to help defend it and treat the wounded, while many children and mothers were evacuated. Throughout her life, she held various leadership roles at Menara, including kibbutz secretary and board member. A significant portion of her career was dedicated to education, where she taught at the local elementary school and was instrumental in establishing the "Har Ve'Gei" regional school. She also served as a supervisor in the Ministry of Education's settlement education department and chaired the association of academic colleges for education of the kibbutz movements.

Her extensive work in education earned her numerous awards, including the "Aliyat HaNoar" and "Settlement Education" prize and the Hebrew University's education prize. In 2017, the kibbutz movement nominated her for the Israel Prize. In the early days of the "Swords of Iron" war, Rabin Yaakov was evacuated from Menara due to daily Hezbollah shelling. Due to her medical condition, she has not returned to her home at the kibbutz, where she had been a member for over eight decades.

President Isaac Herzog eulogized Rabin Yaakov, calling her life a "model of educational and public endeavor." He acknowledged her role in establishing Menara and its defense during the War of Independence, and her decades as a "leading figure in Menara and the kibbutz movement." Herzog also noted her deep pain over the assassination of her brother, Yitzhak Rabin, whom she deeply admired, while still choosing to "continue to adhere to public service."

Rabin Yaakov was married to Rafi Yaakov, who passed away in 2012. They had three children together, and the couple also adopted a son who fell in the Yom Kippur War. She will be laid to rest on Monday at the Menara cemetery.