Rachel Rabin-Yaakov, Sister of Yitzhak Rabin and Kibbutz Manara Founder, Dies at 101

Rachel Rabin-Yaakov, a pioneering member of the generation that built Jewish settlement in the Galilee and a respected longtime educator, died on Friday at the age of 101. Her funeral is scheduled for Monday.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1925 to Rosa (née Cohen) and Nehemiah Rabin, Rachel was three years younger than her brother, Yitzhak Rabin, the future prime minister. Her parents were active in the Labor movement: her father Nehemiah was engaged in public affairs, and her mother Rosa—known as “Red Rosa”—was a prominent labor activist, a Haganah member and a Tel Aviv City Council member.

At 17, while active in the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement, Rachel joined a training group that settled a barren, rocky hill on the border with Lebanon and became one of the founders of Kibbutz Manara. She helped establish the Emek Hahula regional school, served as its principal and became a leading educator in the Upper Galilee for decades.

Community Leadership and the Realities of Border Life

Rachel combined educational leadership with the practical and often difficult realities of life in a border community. In 1989 she spoke candidly about the struggle to sustain Manara’s population and morale after security incidents, warning that publicity about attacks discouraged newcomers and made recruitment of young members harder. She also spoke about the pattern of young people leaving the kibbutz after military service to work or travel, and the ongoing efforts by veterans to attract new families.

Rachel Rabin, the sister of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at a memorial ceremony to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of former Israeli prime minister Itzhak Rabin's assassination, at the president's residence in Jerusalem on October 21, 2018. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“We, the veterans, are growing older, and if young members do not join us, we will be in trouble,” she said. “Throughout all the years of our existence, we have invested enormous energy trying to bring new people here, and that struggle never ends.”

Her father Nehemiah later lived at Manara. After his death, friends funded a swimming pool in his memory—a facility that drew public attention years later when it was disparagingly called “the swimming pool of the millionaire kibbutzniks” by Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Preserving a Brother’s Legacy

After Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, Rachel devoted considerable energy to preserving his memory and to promoting tolerance and democratic dialogue through the Rabin Center, lecturing to students and soldiers and helping keep his legacy alive for new generations.

President Isaac Herzog paid tribute to her, noting her long record of educational and public service and recalling how she continued to serve the public despite the deep grief she felt over her brother’s murder. Kibbutz Manara described her as a pillar of the community and extended condolences to her family.

Final Years and Displacement

In recent years Manara experienced a revival, expanding and welcoming new families—efforts Rachel had long championed. That renewal was interrupted by the recent war in the north, when Manara suffered severe damage to homes and infrastructure from shelling and anti-tank fire. Following evacuation and destruction, Rachel moved to assisted living at Kvutzat Kinneret and did not return to the mountain kibbutz she had helped build.

Rachel Rabin-Yaakov’s life combined grassroots pioneer work, decades of educational leadership and sustained public service tied to a prominent family legacy. Her passing marks the end of a life shaped by settlement, education and civic commitment.