The Reformed Heder in Pinsk

Born in Motele, Russian Empire (today Motal, Belarus), Ḥaya Weizmann-Lichtenstein was brought up in a traditional home, one of fifteen children; among her siblings was Chaim Weizmann, later the first president of Israel. Her parents provided Weizmann-Lichtenstein an education in heder alongside boys, which was unusual for the time and place. In 1897, she received her teaching credentials in nearby Pinsk, where her family had moved to advance the educational prospects of her siblings. Having become involved in Zionist causes during her years as a student, Weizmann-Lichtenstein formed a Zionist youth association for girls while working as a schoolteacher in Pinsk. In 1902, she married Abraham Lichtenstein, a Talmud scholar. Following the Kishinev pogrom in 1903 and the ensuing threat of mass violence, Weizmann-Lichtenstein helped organize an armed Zionist group in Pinsk. In 1906, she was a delegate at the Russian Zionist Helsingfors (Helsinki) conference. After living in Vilna for several years, Weizmann-Lichtenstein moved to Yekaterinoslav (today Dnipro, Ukraine), where she remained throughout World War I. Weizmann-Lichtenstein immigrated in 1921 to Palestine, where she continued to teach and support activist women’s causes.