Paula Ben-Gurion | |
|---|---|
| פולה בן גוריון | |
 Paula Ben-Gurion, 1955 | |
| Spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel | |
| In role 3 November 1955 – 26 June 1963 | |
| Prime Minister | David Ben-Gurion |
| Preceded by | Tzippora Sharett |
| Succeeded by | Miriam Eshkol |
| In role 17 May 1948 – 26 January 1954 | |
| Prime Minister | David Ben-Gurion |
| Preceded by | Title established |
| Succeeded by | Tzippora Sharett |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paula Munweis 8 April 1892 Minsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus) |
| Died | 29 January 1968 (aged 75) Beer Sheva, Israel[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Newark Beth Israel Medical Center |
| Occupation | Nurse |
Paula Ben-Gurion (née Munweis) (Hebrew: פולה בן גוריון; 8 April 1892[2][3] – 29 January 1968) was the wife of David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel.
Paula Munweis was born in Minsk, then part of the Russian Empire, the daughter of Samuel Munweis and Bertha Bloch. She immigrated to New York as a teenager where the 1910 United States census gave her date of birth as 1890. She was trained as a nurse at Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey and worked in a New York gynaecological clinic.[4][5] David Ben-Gurion met her at the home of her employer and Poale Zion supporter Dr Samuel Ellsberg in summer of 1915. They spoke Yiddish together because Ben-Gurion's English was poor and Paula could not speak Hebrew.[6][7] They married in 1917 at New York City's town hall. The following year Ben-Gurion enlisted as a soldier in the new British-raised Jewish Legion. He left Paula three months pregnant. They did not meet again until she arrived, with their one year old daughter Geula, in Jaffa 18 months later.[8] Paula was originally against the idea of going to Israel, as her anarchist politics pitted her against both Zionism and state building. Recalling this period Ben-Gurion said that she was not a Zionist, she had very little Jewish feeling, she was an American, she was an anarchist. She had no interest in Israel. "America is better, why do we need the land of Israel?"[9] They had three children, Geula, Amos and Renana. Throughout their marriage she had to endure Ben-Gurion's long absences abroad and recurring suspicions, sometimes justified, about his relationships with other women.[10]
She was known for her acerbic tongue. She was fluent in Yiddish, English, and eventually Hebrew. A feisty woman, she had no qualms about asking her husband to wash the dishes. She was bemused by her husband's interest in yoga and when his tutor, the famous Moshé Feldenkrais would show up she would say: "Here comes Mr. Hocus Pocus."
Paula is buried with her husband in Midreshet Ben-Gurion in Israel's Negev desert.
In 1958, David Ben-Gurion published his letters to her: Letters to Paula and the Children.
A number of schools and institutions in Israel are named for her. Leslie Moonves, former president and CEO of CBS Television, is her grand-nephew.[5]
