A Young Girl

A Young Girl Ploughing in the Fields of the Agricultural School for Girls, Nahalal. K. Hefner & J. Berger, Cracow. Made in Poland.

While the challenges of the nation-building process promoted a good deal of machismo, and the Yishuv was certainly no feminist paradise, the need to exploit all available resources did lead to women being unusually involved in all walks of life. Nahalal was the first moshav created (in 1921) by a workers’ cooperative (moshav ovdim). The Agricultural School for Girls was established in 1926 by Hana Meisel (1883–1972) who, along with her husband Eliezer Shohat (1874–1971), helped create the moshav. Meisel, who originally came from Grodno and studied in Switzerland before completing a doctorate in agronomy at the University of Besançon with distinction, played an important role in shaping the agricultural training offered to women. Her goal was not equality between men and women but the development of a specific role for women reflecting what she assumed were innate female qualities.

Postcard from the book: Jews in Old Postcards and Prints