Ginossar (Née Hacohen), Rosa

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GINOSSAR (née Hacohen), ROSA

GINOSSAR (née Hacohen), ROSA (1890–1979), Zionist women leader. Daughter of the writer Mordecai ben Hillel *Hacohen, Rosa Ginossar was born in Gomel, Belorussia and immigrated with her family to Ereẓ Israel in 1907 with the Second Aliyah. She studied law there and succeeded in having the ban against the admission of women to the Palestine bar removed, becoming the first practicing woman lawyer in Ereẓ Israel. She married Shlomo, the son of Aḥad *Ha-Am (Asher Hirsch Ginsberg), Israel's first ambassador to Italy (1949–51), who hebraized his name to Ginossar. Rosa Ginossar joined *wizo at its inception in 1920, becoming its first secretary, and was actively associated with the organization throughout its history. After serving as treasurer for many years, she was elected chairman of the World Executive in 1951 and president in 1963. On her retirement from active work in 1970, she was appointed honorary president.