Ruth Pearl
{{Short description|Israeli-American software developer (1935–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name = רות פרל
| birth_name = Eveline Rejwan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|11|11}}
| birth_place = Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|07|20|1935|11|11}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| nationality = {{hlist|Israel| United States}}
| native_name_lang = he
| other_names =
| occupation =
| education = Technion
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{marriage|Judea Pearl|1960}}
| children = 3 (including Daniel)
}}
Ruth Pearl ({{Langx|he|רות פרל}}; born Eveline Rejwan; November 11, 1935 – July 20, 2021) was an Israeli-American software developer. She was the mother of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, who was murdered by Muslim extremists connected to Al-Qaeda in 2002.{{cite news |last= |first= |date=July 30, 2021 |title=Ruth Pearl, Mother of Murdered Reporter Daniel Pearl, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/us/ruth-pearl-dead.html |work=The New York Times |location= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=August 1, 2021 |title=Ruth Pearl Found a Mission After the Execution of Her Son |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ruth-pearl-found-a-mission-after-the-execution-of-her-son-11627843050 |work=The Wall Street Journal |location= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=July 28, 2021 |title=Ruth Pearl, mother of slain Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl, dies at 85 |url=https://www.jns.org/ruth-pearl-mother-of-slain-jewish-journalist-daniel-pearl-dies-at-85/ |publisher=JNS |location= |access-date=}}
Early life and career
Pearl was born Eveline Rejwan on November 11, 1935, in Baghdad, Iraq. Her father, Joseph, was a tailor who ran an import business, and her mother, Victoria (Abada) Rejwan, was a homemaker. She had four siblings: two older brothers and two younger sisters.{{cite web |url=https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2021/07/31501-iraqi-survivor-ruth-pearl-85-fostered-harmony-and-understanding-memory-son-daniel |title=Iraqi Survivor Ruth Pearl, 85, Fostered Harmony and Understanding in Memory of Son Daniel Pearl |last= |first= |date=July 22, 2021 |website= |publisher=USC Shoah Foundation |access-date= |quote=}} When Pearl was 5, she lived through the Farhud, an outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in Iraq following a failed nationalist coup. She and her family hid in their home for days, protected by their Arab neighbors who told rioters that no Jews lived there.
Her family then moved to a suburb of Baghdad but anti-Jewish attacks persisted and she herself witnessed the bodies of Iraqi Jews hanging from gallows in a square. Her father lost vision in one eye after an assault and he had to bribe a police officer to free his two sons after they were arrested on false charges.
In the late 1940s, Pearl worked with an underground Zionist movement that facilitated the emigration of Jews, then illegal, to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine. At this time, Pearl began using the Hebrew name Ruth. Around 1948, her two older brothers were smuggled into Palestine from Iraq. In 1949, Ruth's oldest brother was killed fighting for the Israeli army, which she did not learn about until years later as her father had withheld the information from his family. In 1951, Pearl arrived with her family in Israel as part of the mass exodus of Iraqi Jews.
Education
Pearl entered the Israeli Navy in 1955.{{cite web |title=Ruth Pearl on Critical Thinking and Respect |url=https://sfi.usc.edu/video/ruth-pearl-critical-thinking-and-respect |publisher=USC Shoah Foundation}} Recognizing her skill in mathematics, the Navy assigned her to teach trigonometry to officer candidates. She went on to study at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where she earned a degree in electrical engineering as one of
four women in a class of 120. While at Technion, she met Judea Pearl and, in 1960, they married and moved to the United States for graduate studies. She earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Newark College of Engineering (now known as the New Jersey Institute of Technology).{{cite news |title=Remembering Ruth Pearl, mother of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, and 'strength incarnate' |url=https://forward.com/news/473471/remembering-ruth-pearl-mother-of-slain-journalist-daniel-pearl-and/ |publisher=Forward |date=July 24, 2021}}
Later life
After the kidnapping and murder of her son Daniel in 2002, Pearl and her family started the nonprofit Daniel Pearl Foundation to continue Daniel’s legacy and values. The organization seeks to promote tolerance, combat hatred, and nurture cross-cultural understanding, particularly through journalism, music and dialogue, three of Daniel’s passions in life.{{cite news |title=Ruth Pearl, seeker of justice for her murdered journalist son, Daniel, dies at 85 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ruth-pearl-dead/2021/07/30/9c9b39fe-efc6-11eb-a452-4da5fe48582d_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 30, 2021}}
Pearl served in multiple executive roles with the Daniel Pearl Foundation, effectively managing it as CEO.{{cite news |title=Ruth Pearl, mother of slain journalist who turned her grief into activism, dies at 85 |url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-07-30/ruth-pearl-daniel-slain-journalist-dies |publisher=Los Angeles Times. |date=July 30, 2021}} She helped establish and guide numerous programs, including Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowships, which bring mid-career journalists from Muslim-dominated countries to work at U.S.-based news organizations. She also oversaw Daniel Pearl World Music Days, an annual celebration of global concerts dedicated to using music as a bridge between cultures. Through these programs and others, she hoped to combat hatred and violence by connecting people through their common humanity.
References
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Category:People from Los Angeles
Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States
Category:Iraqi emigrants to Israel
Category:Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni
Category:Israeli Navy personnel
Category:New Jersey Institute of Technology alumni