Netiva Ben-Yehuda

{{Short description|Israeli author, editor and media personality}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Netiva Ben-Yehuda

| image = Netiva.JPG

| image_size = 170px

| caption = Netiva Ben-Yehuda, 2008

| native_name = נתיבה בן-יהודה

| native_name_lang = he

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|7|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine

| death_date = {{death date and age|2011|2|28|1928|7|26|df=y}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Author, Editor, and former soldier of the Palmach

| nationality = Israeli

| alma_mater =

| known_for =

}}

Netiva Ben Yehuda ({{langx|he|נתיבה בן-יהודה}}; July 1928, Tel Aviv – 28 February 2011) was an Israeli author, editor and media personality. She was a commander in the pre-state Jewish underground Palmach.

Biography

Netiva ("Tiva") Ben-Yehuda was born in Tel Aviv, in Mandate Palestine, on 26 July 1928. Her father was Baruch Ben-Yehuda, director general of the first Israeli ministry of education.{{cite news| url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28019760_ITM | work=Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History | title=Hebrew Gender and Zionist Ideology: The Palmach Trilogy of Netiva Ben Yehuda | date=1 January 2000 |first=Yael| last=Feldman}}

Ben-Yehuda joined the Palmach at the age of 18 and was trained in demolition, bomb disposal, topography, and scouting.{{cite book|last=Pennington|first=Reina|title=Amazons to Fighter Pilots: a Biographical Dictionary of Military Women|year=2003|location=Westport|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=0313327076|page=51}} Her duties included transferring ammunition, escorting convoys, and training recruits.

The Palmach generally opposed women fighting at the front, however Ben-Yehuda was a commander and participated in several battles by performing sabotage operations.{{cite book|last=Pennington |first=Reina |title=Amazons to Fighter Pilots: a Biographical Dictionary of Military Women|year=2003 |location=Westport|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=0313327076|page=51}} On February 11, 1948, Ben-Yehuda and her comrades planted a mine for a busload of Arabs. This event and the ensuing death impacted Ben-Yehuda psychologically.

Ben-Yehuda considered competing in discus throwing at the Olympics, but a bullet injury to her arm kept her from pursuing an athletic career. She studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

File:Netiva Ben-Yehuda.jpg from Palmach Archive]]

Ben Yehuda worked as a freelance editor, and in 1972 published The World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang. Between 1981 and 1991, she published her Palmah trilogy, a series of three novels based on her own experience in the War of Independence (see "Published works").{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Netiva Ben Yehuda|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ben-yehuda-netiva|first=Yael|last=Feldman|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|encyclopedia=Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia|accessdate=4 April 2011}} She wrote over 30 books, including a Hebrew slang dictionary, coauthored with Dahn Ben-Amotz.

She was the host of a late-night Israel Radio show for 14 years where she played old-time Israeli songs and spoke with callers. She was a resident of Palmach Street in the capital, and the local cafe she patronized on that street became known as "Cafe Netiva."{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/radio-host-netiva-ben-yehuda-passes-on-at-83-1.346226|title=Radio Host Netiva Ben Yehuda Passes on at 83|first=Nir|last=Hasson|date=28 February 2011|publisher=|newspaper=Haaretz}}

Ben Yehuda died on 28 February 2011 at the age of 82.

Awards and honours

In 2004, Ben Yehuda received the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award from the city of Jerusalem.{{Cite web| title = Recipients of Yakir Yerushalayim award (in Hebrew)| url = http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_main/TopSiteJeru.asp?newstr=3&src=/jer_sys/publish/HtmlFiles/1030/results_pub_id=12594.html&cont=895| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20131022034528/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_main/TopSiteJeru.asp?newstr=3&src=%2Fjer_sys%2Fpublish%2FHtmlFiles%2F1030%2Fresults_pub_id%3D12594.html&cont=895| archivedate = 2013-10-22}} City of Jerusalem official website

Quote

On the subject of the Palmach: "I don't think that there has ever been any other underground movement in the world in which 'male chauvinism' triumphed so powerfully and so proudly".{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/noroomoftheirown00feld|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/noroomoftheirown00feld/page/177 177]|title=No Room of Their Own: Gender and Nation in Israeli Women's Fiction|first=Yael S.|last=Feldman|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231111461|via=Internet Archive}}

Published works

The World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang (with Dahn Ben Amotz), Zmora Bitan, 1972 [Ha-Milon Le-Ivrit Meduberet]
1948 – Between Calendars (novel), Keter, 1981 [Ben Ha-Sefirot], part of the Palmach trilogy
The World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang, Part 2 (with Dahn Ben Amotz), Zmora Bitan, 1982 [Ha-Milon Le-Ivrit Meduberet II]
Blessings and Curses (writings), Keter, 1984 [Brachot U-Klalot]
Through the Binding Ropes (novel), Domino, 1985 [Mi-Bead L'Avotot], part of the Palmach trilogy
Jerusalem from the Inside (novel), Edanim, 1988 [Yerushalayim Mi-Bifnocho]
Autobiography in Poem and Song (folk songs), Keter, 1991 [Otobiografia Be-Shir U-Zemer]
When the State of Israel Broke Out (novel), Keter, 1991 [Ke-She Partzah Ha-Medinah], part of the Palmach trilogy

References

External links

[http://www.netiva.co.il/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222235837/http://www.netiva.co.il/ |date=2008-02-22 }} (in Hebrew)
[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/NBenYehuda.html Jewish Virtual Library]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/mycentury/wk12.shtml "Front line combat" audio essay by Ben-Yehuda at BBC online]
[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ben-yehuda-netiva "Netiva Ben Yehuda" article in the Jewish Women's Encyclopedia by Yael Feldman]

Category:1928 births

Category:2011 deaths

Category:Jewish Israeli writers

Category:Palmach members

Category:Israeli Ashkenazi Jews

Category:Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine

Category:Hebrew language

Category:Jewish printing and publishing

Category:Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:Israeli women writers

Category:Israeli women novelists

Category:Israeli novelists