Ruth Dayan

{{Infobox person

| name = Ruth Dayan

| native_name = {{Script/Hebrew|רות דיין}}

| native_name_lang =

| image = Ruth Dayan.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Ruth Dayan in 1955

| birth_name = Ruth Schwartz ({{Script/Hebrew|רות שוורץ}})

| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|3|6|df=y}}

| birth_place = Haifa, Palestine

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|2|5|1917|3|6|df=y}}

| death_place = Tel Aviv, Israel

| resting_place = Nahalal Cemetery

| known_for = {{hlist|Social activist|writer}}

| spouse = {{Marriage|Moshe Dayan|1935|1971|end=divorced}}

| children = 3

}}

Ruth Dayan ({{langx|he|רות דיין}}; 6 March 1917 – 5 February 2021) was an Israeli social activist who was the founder of the Maskit fashion house. She was also the first wife of Israeli Foreign Minister and General, Moshe Dayan (1915–1981). Active in many social causes, Dayan was a recipient of the Israeli President's Medal of Distinction, the Solomon Bublick Award, and the Yigal Allon Prize, in recognition of her social empowerment efforts.

Biography

Ruth Schwartz (later Dayan) was born in Haifa, Palestine in 1917{{cite news|title=The Times Diary|issue=57518|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS168259705/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=d52eb6e4|access-date=9 October 2023|work=The Times

|date=25 March 1969}} during the end of the Ottoman Empire rule of the region, as the elder of the two daughters of Rachel (née Klimkar) and Tzvi Schwartz. Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who were part of the Second Aliyah.{{Cite web|title=Ruth Dayan, storied social activist and 1st wife of Moshe Dayan, dead at 103|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/ruth-dayan-storied-social-activist-and-1st-wife-of-moshe-dayan-dead-at-103/|access-date=6 February 2021|website=timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}{{Cite web

|title=Ruth Dayan, matriarch of an Israeli dynasty, dies at 103|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/ruth-dayan-fashion-icon-and-wife-of-moshe-dayan-passes-at-103-657969|access-date=7 February 2021|website=The Jerusalem Post|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=5 February 2021

|title=Israel: Ruth Dayan, peace and fashion icon, dies – General news

|url=http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2021/02/05/israel-ruth-dayan-peace-and-fashion-icon-dies_31568c1c-84b5-434e-9e13-06bd19ecafd4.html|access-date=7 February 2021|website=ANSAMed|language=en}} When Schwartz was two, the family relocated to England, where her parents completed their education. The family returned to Mandatory Palestine when she was 8. At this time, her mother, Rachel Schwartz was the first woman in Palestine to obtain a driver's license. Her sister married Ezer Weizman, nephew of Chaim Weizmann.

Ruth moved to Nahalal when she was 18 and met her future husband, Israeli military leader and politician, Moshe Dayan. The couple married in 1935, and remained married for 36 years until their divorce in 1971. During this time, the couple lived in Nahalal and later in Tzahala.{{Cite news|title=Aharona Dayan, the lesser-known branch of Israel's leading family dynasty|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-aharona-dayan-and-her-unfinished-business-1.5235126|access-date=7 February 2021|newspaper=Haaretz|language=en}} The couple's early years were difficult, with conditions at the moshav being primitive and her husband being active with the Haganah. His association with that organization led to his arrest and detention in a British prison for more than a year.

The couple had three children: Yael Dayan, a former Knesset member and Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv; Ehud (Udi) Dayan, a writer, who died in 2017; and Asaf "Assi" Dayan, an actor and filmmaker who died in 2014. Dayan's sister, Reuma, was married to Ezer Weizman, the Israeli air force general, Defense minister and the seventh President of Israel.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Ezer Weizman – The Seventh President of the State of Israel|url=http://archive.president.gov.il/English/The_Presidency_In_Israel/Presidents_Of_Israel/Pages/EzerWeizmann.aspx|access-date=7 February 2021|website=archive.president.gov.il}}

Dayan collaborated on her life story with biographer Anthony David on a book which was published as The Remarkable Lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and their Forty Year Peace Mission (2015). Earlier, she had created a sensation with her tell-all book Or Did I Dream the Dream? The Story of Ruth Dayan, coauthored with journalist Helga Dudman in 1973, which became a best-seller. Among other things, Dayan said her husband "had such bad taste in women".{{cite magazine|date=26 February 1973|title=ISRAEL: Life with Moshe|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910563,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414135504/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910563,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 April 2008}}[http://nswas.org/article619.html Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam honors Ruth Dayan and Samih al-Qasim], nswas.org; accessed 19 September 2017.[http://www.bookfinder.com/author/ruth-dayan Books by Ruth Dayan], BookFinder.com; accessed 19 September 2017.[http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211872828970&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter Grapevine: Here's... the baby!]{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, jpost.com; accessed 19 September 2017.

Dayan died on 5 February 2021 at her home in Tel Aviv. She was 103, one month and one day short of her 104th birthday.{{Cite news|date=5 February 2021|title=Social activist Ruth Dayan dies at 103|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1zOq9qgu|access-date=6 February 2021|website=ynetnews|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Ruth Dayan, matriarch of an Israeli dynasty, dies at 103|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/ruth-dayan-fashion-icon-and-wife-of-moshe-dayan-passes-at-103-657969|access-date=6 February 2021|website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|language=en-US}}

Career

File:Ruth Dayan at maskit.jpg

In 1954, Dayan founded Maskit, a fashion and decorative arts house that provided her with a way of creating jobs for new immigrants and preserving Jewish ethnic crafts and culture of the various communities living in Israel.{{cite news|title=A Leitersdorf showcase|author=Shachar Atwan|url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/a-leitersdorf-showcase-1.379537|newspaper=Haaretz|date=19 August 2011|access-date=3 April 2012}} In 1955, Dayan met fashion designer Finy Leitersdorf, who designed clothes and accessories for Maskit for 15 years.{{Cite web|last=Israel|first=David|title=Ruth Dayan Founder of Maskit, Divorcee of Illustrious Soldier, Dead at 103|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/ruth-dayan-founder-of-maskit-wife-of-illustrious-soldier-dead-at-103/2021/02/05/|access-date=2021-02-08|language=en-US}} The two collaborated on a joint exhibit of Maskit designs at the Dizengoff Museum (today the Tel Aviv Museum). Maskit went on to have ten stores in Israel and one in New York, and supported over 2000 families. Its products were sold at department stores in the United States, and its fashions were used in galas and fundraisers for Israel Bonds.

Maskit ceased operations in 1994. However, some of the designs from Maskit were picked up by designer Sharon Tal, when Dayan collaborated with her when Tal returned from London after having worked there for British designer Alexander McQueen.

=Social activism=

Dayan was an advocate of peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine. She founded a Jewish–Arab social group, Brit Bnei Shem (Ibnaa Sam). She worked on behalf of new immigrants, the rights of Bedouins, and women's causes. She was a lifelong friend of Palestinian poet and nationalist Raymonda Tawil, mother of Suha Arafat, who in 1990 became the wife of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. In 1978, Dayan and Tawil planted a peace forest in Neve Shalom, Israel.{{Cite news|last=Levy|first=Gideon|date=27 February 2010|title=Moshe Dayan's Widow: Israel Doesn't Know How to Make Peace|work=Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5034491|access-date=7 February 2021}} Dayan was also a member of charity initiatives including founding Variety Israel, which supported abandoned children and children with disabilities.

Awards and recognition

File:Reuven Rivlin in Jasmine conference with Ofra Strauss and Ruth Dayan.jpg, 2014]]

Dayan received many awards including the 2007 Partner of Peace Award from the Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam community, a cooperative village of Jews and Arabs midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. She was also a recipient of the Yigal Allon Prize, President's Medal of Distinction, the Solomon Bublick Award from the Hebrew University, and an honorary doctorate from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In 2010, Dayan was awarded honorary citizenship by the Israeli town of Herzliya.

Published works

{{Cite book|last=Dayan|first=Ruth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZUTzgEACAAJ|title=National Crafts Among Israelis & Arabs: One Path to Peace: at the ICA Auditorium, Nash House|date=1969|publisher=Anglo-Israel association|language=en}}
{{Cite book|last1=Dayan|first1=Ruth|last2=Dudman|first2=Helga|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/724724|title=... Or did I dream a dream? The story of Ruth Dayan|date=1973|publisher=Steimatzky's Agency / Weidenfeld and Nicolson|isbn=0-297-76525-6|location=London|oclc=724724}}
{{Cite book|last1=Dayan|first1=Ruth|last2=Feinberg|first2=Wilburt|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/802820|title=Crafts of Israel|date=1974|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-02-534420-X|location=New York|oclc=802820}}
{{Cite book|last=David, Anthony|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/919874906|title=An improbable friendship: the remarkable lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and their forty-year peace mission|date=2015|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=978-1-62872-631-2|location=New York|oclc=919874906}}