Tzedek, Nechama

Daughter of Bella and Israel Dov, one of the first settlers of Ramat Gan. Was born in 1917 in Alexandria, Egypt, to which her parents were expelled by the Turks at the beginning of the First World War. When she was one year old she returned with her parents to Palestine and the family settled in Neve Shalom. After completing her studies at the Neve Tzedek School for Girls, her parents did not have enough money to allow her to continue her studies and she decided to become independent and attended high school in the evening. But she stopped her studies in the sixth year of high school and chose to learn a nurse’s profession that matched her desire to help others. She was accepted as a trainee at the government hospital in Jaffa. Despite the hard work and difficult conditions and despite the moments of discouragement and despair, as revealed in the pages of her diary, Nechama overcame the obstacles and continued her studies. The doctors and nurses testified about her success in her studies, and her sensitivity and dedication to the patients in the institution. At that time she joined the Hagana and served as a first aid counselor. When the riots of 1936-1939 broke out, Nechama complained about the tension between the Arab and Jewish nurses due to incitement in the hospital. Shortly after the start of the riots she came for a short vacation at her parents’ home in Ramat Gan, excited and worried, and was afraid to return to work. But her loyalty to the gang and her devotion to her co-workers and the fear that she would have to stay for the evening shift also made her return to the hospital. On the night of 30 Av, August 17, 1936, Nechama and her friend Marta Fink were ambushed and wounded and that evening she died of her wounds, and was buried in the old cemetery on Trumpeldor Street in Tel Aviv. She was survived by her parents, two brothers and two sisters, and stories of her life were published in the newspapers of the period, in the book “Blood and Fire” and in “The 1936 Riots”. The “Achayot (Nurses)” Street in Jaffa is named for Nechama and Martha, and in Ramat Gan the street next to her family’s residence is named after her.