MAIMON (Fishman), ADA

MAIMON (Fishman), ADA (1893–1973). Israeli labor leader, member of the First and Second Knessets. Born in Marculesti, Bessarabia, Maimon was the sister of Judah Leib *Maimon, who was a member of the United Religious Front in the first Knesset. Ada Maimon received a traditional and general Hebrew education. In her youth she joined a movement that was connected to Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir. She settled in Ereẓ Israel in 1912, and worked as a teacher in Petaḥ Tikvah, Reḥovot, Nes Ẓiyyonah, and Ben Shemen. In 1914 she was sent to open a Hebrew girls school in Safed. In 1913–20 Maimon was a member of the Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir Central Committee, and was a delegate to the Prague conference in 1920 at which the Hitaḥadut – the union between Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir and Ẓe'irei Ẓiyyon – was established. She participated in the founding conference of the *Histadrut in 1920, and was elected to its Executive Committee. She was one of the founders of the Women's Workers Council (*Mo'eẓet ha-Po'alot) and its secretary in 1921–30. In 1930 she founded the Ayanot Agricultural School near Nes Ẓiyyonah, and headed it for many years. In 1946–47 Maimon headed the Immigration Department of the Histadrut, and in this capacity visited displaced persons camps in Germany and British detention camps in Cyprus. In 1949 she was elected to the First Knesset on the Mapai list. In the First and Second Knesset she was a member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and actively participated in initiating and passing legislation concerning the status of women. Unlike most other women labor leaders, she was also a member of the Executive of World *wizo.

Ada Maimon wrote Tenu'at ha-Po'alot be-Erez Yisrael (1929), Ha-Ḥaluẓah be-Erez-Yisrael (1930), Ayanot, Mi-Meshek Po'alot le-Veit Sefer Ḥakla'i Tikhon (1946), Ḥamishim Shenot Tenu'at ha-Po'alot, 1904–54 (1955), and Le-Orekh ha-Derekh: Mivḥar Devarim ve-Iggerot (1973).

[Susan Hattis Rolef (2^nd ed.)]