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Golda Meir, minister 1964photo by Willem Van de poll

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Golda Mei

Golda Mabovitch was born in 1898 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Her family escaped Russia during a time of increased anti-Jewish sentiment and widespread pogroms of violent mob persecutions of Jewish people.

Her original name was Goldie Mabovitc which she later changed to Goldie Myerson.  Golda Mei died 1978, Jerusalem. Israeli politician who helped founded (1948) the State of Israel and later served as its fourth prime minister (1969鈥�74). She was the first woman to hold the post.

Her father was a skilled carpenter, and her mother, Blume Neidich, named her after her maternal great-grandmother. She was a domineering matriarch who lived to be ninety-four and who always took salt instead of sugar in her tea to remember the bitterness of the Jewish Diaspora.

At fourteen, Meir graduated from the Fourth Street Elementary School as class valedictorian but had to fight her parents for the right to go to high school. She wanted to be a teacher While her parents wanted her to find a husband. Meir rebelled by going to live with her sister, Sheyna Korngold, in Denver. The Korngold household was filled with intellectual conversations about Zionism, Socialism, and more. While there Golda also met her future husband, Morris Meyerson.

1. Golda Meir signed Israel’s independence declaration

Golda Meir photo by Marion. S  

After becoming a kibbutz representative to the Israeli labor organization Histadrut, Golda quickly rose through the ranks. She then held several key posts in the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, then the highest Jewish authority in Palestine, becoming a powerful spokesperson for the Zionist cause during World War II. When Israel declared independence in 1948, she was one of only two women asked to sign the independence declaration. 

That year later she was appointed minister to Moscow. She was elected to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in 1949 and served in that body until 1974.

2. Meir was elected as the first Israel Parliament

 Golda Meir served as a Minister of Labor from 1949-to 195. The following are major programs she carried out including housing and road construction and also supported the policy of unrestricted Jewish immigration to Israel. She was then appointed as a foreign minister in 1956. She promoted the Israeli policy of assistance to the new African states aimed at enhancing diplomatic support among uncommitted nations.

3.Golda Meir was secretary general of the  Mapai Party

Golda Meir 1949photo by Theodore

 After Golda Meir retired in  1966, she became the secretary-general of the Mapai Party. She also supported Prime Minister  Levi Eshkol in intraparty conflicts. After Israel鈥檚 victory in the Six-Day War (June 1967) against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. She helped merge Mapai with two dissident parties into the Israel Labor Party.

4. Golda Meir became the first woman and  fourth prime minister 

After Eshkol died in 1969, Meir became prime minister. She maintained the coalition government that had emerged in 1967. Meir pressed for a peace settlement in the Middle East by diplomatic means. 

She helped the country from the terrorist attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. This is when 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage, beaten, and eventually murdered.

Meir was Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Israel was caught off guard and suffered severe losses in the first days of the war, before recovering and defeating the invading armies. Public anger at the government caused Meir’s resignation the following year.

5. Golda Meir was a teacher before pursuing politics 

Golda Meir, minister 1964photo by Willem Van de poll  

Golda Meir attended the teacher’s college at Milwaukee State Normal School in 1916, and  1917.  She took a position at a Yiddish-speaking Folks Schule in Milwaukee in 1917. While at the Folks Schule, she came more closely into contact with the ideals of Labor Zionism. In 1913, she had begun dating Morris Meyerson. She was a committed Labor Zionist and he was a dedicated socialist. During this time, she also worked part-time at the Milwaukee Public Library.

6.  Meir discovered  activism in her Grade school 

Golda attended the Fourth Street Grade School from 1906 to 1912. A leader early on had organized a fundraiser to pay for her classmates’ textbooks. After forming the American Young Sisters Society, she rented a hall and scheduled a public meeting for the event. She graduated as valedictorian of her class.

In 1913, Golda returned to North Division High and graduated in 1915.  There she became an active member of Young Poale Zion. Then later became Habonim, the Labor Zionist youth movement. She spoke at public meetings and embraced Socialist Zionism.

7. When Golda moved to Palestine was  delayed by World war I

Golda and Morris were married in 191 and had intentions to make Aliyah, as Jews from the diaspora refer to moving to Israel (Aliyah means “ascent”). But they were stalled by the curtailing of transatlantic travel during WWI. While waiting to go, Golda raised funds for the Marxist-Zionist worker’s group Poale Zion. She finally made the move with her husband and sister in 1921.

8 . Golda Meir earned awards and recognition 

Edward Heath and Golda Meir photo by Moshe Miler  

Meir was awarded the honor of World Mother by American Mothers in 1974. She was also awarded the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service by Princeton University’s American Whig鈥揅liosophic Society.

In 1975, Meir was awarded the Israel Prize for her special contribution to society and the State of Israel. In 1985, Meir was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.

9. She was the first Israel to issue a passport

Immediately after signing the declaration, Golda flew to the United States to raise money for the fledgling state. As part of this, she received what was effectively the very first passport (technically a Laissez-passer, or travel document) that Israel ever printed. She was soon made Israel鈥檚 Minister Plenipotentiary to the Soviet Union, an office she held for less than a year, but during that time she went to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at Moscow Choral Synagogue, where she was mobbed by thousands of Russian Jews chanting her name. The scene was later depicted along with her face on the 10,000 Shekel note.

10. The cause of her was lymphoma 

Golda Meir photo by Marion. S

In 1966, she decided to retire from the government. A year earlier, she had been diagnosed with lymphoma, a condition that she kept a secret. She was being treated at Hadassah Hospital in the dead of night. She died on December 8, 1978, at age eighty.

Golda Mei was referred t  as the Iron Lady of Israeli politics. This is because she played a fundamental role in establishing Israel as a country and guiding it through its difficult formative years. She published her autobiography, My Life in 1975.

Golda Meir was only known for her political achievements but also known her iconic fashion. Golda made a sartorial mark by wearing clunky orthopedic shoes, which became known as Natalie Golda, or 鈥淕olda鈥檚 Shoes.鈥� Pairs were supplied to female soldiers for