Yitzhak Rabin's Sister, Pioneer Rachel Rabin-Yaakov, Dies at 101

Rachel Rabin-Yaakov, a founder of Kibbutz Menara and the younger sister of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, passed away on Friday at the age of 101. Born in Tel Aviv in 1925, Rabin-Yaakov chose a pioneering path from a young age. After completing her studies in 1942, she joined a "Working Youth" group for training in the north. At just 18, she ascended with her peers to establish Kibbutz Menara, the first Jewish settlement in the Upper Galilee.

Rabin-Yaakov remained at Menara for over eight decades, serving in various roles including educator, secretary, and board member. During the 1948 War of Independence, Menara, near the Lebanese border, faced constant shelling. While most women and children were evacuated, Rabin-Yaakov stayed, serving as a radio operator and medic, tending to the wounded. She recounted treating two fighters injured during an operation, later recognizing one of them by a scar near his eye during a bus ride in Tel Aviv.

Beyond her kibbutz activities, Rabin-Yaakov dedicated significant time to education. She taught the first class at Menara and co-founded the "Har V'Gei" regional school. In the 1980s, she was a supervisor in the Ministry of Education's settlement education department and later chaired the "Oranim" and "Seminarium HaKibbutzim" academic colleges for education. In 2017, she was recommended for the Israel Prize.

Politically, Rabin-Yaakov was active in the "Mapai" party and was placed on its Knesset election lists in the 1950s and 1960s. She married Rafi Yaakov during the first truce of the War of Independence, and they had three children. Their adopted son, Binyamin Jedidi, was killed in the Yom Kippur War. Rafi Yaakov passed away in 2012.

President Isaac Herzog eulogized Rabin-Yaakov as a "model of educational and public endeavor," noting her role as a fighter in 1948 and her grief over her brother Yitzhak's assassination, stating, "I know how much she mourned the murder of her brother Yitzhak, and alongside that, she chose to continue and adhere to working for the public good." A biography of her life, written by her granddaughter Maya Valentine, was published in September 2026.