Avital Ben-Chorin (née Erika Fackenheim)

Avital Ben-Chorin was born February 25 1923 in Eisenach as Erika Fackenheim. She was an Israeli Hebrew teacher, translator, literary secretary and publicist. She lived and worked in Jerusalem. Together with her husband, Shalom Ben-Chorin, she was a pioneer of German-Israeli youth exchange and co-founder of the first Jewish Reform congregation in Israel. She was married to Shalom Ben-Chorin from 1943 until his death in 1999. The couple has a daughter, Ariela, who was born in 1958.

Avital Ben-Chorin was the only child of Alfred and Herta Fackenheim, née Oppenheim. Her grandfather, Sanitätsrat Dr. Julius Fackenheim, was a respected Eisenach physician.

From 1933, Erika Fackenheim was involved in the Jüdischer Pfadfinderbund Deutschlands (IPD). In 1936, on the advice of her parents, she took the opportunity of Jugendalija and traveled with a group of the Berlin children's home „Ahawah“ to Palästina out.

From 1936 to 1940 she lived in the children and youth home „Ahawah“ in Kiryat Bialik near Haifa. She then served as a board member in the successor institution to „Ahawah“Home, the children's home „Neve Hannah“ in Kiryat Gat. She participated there in the care of the German-speaking volunteers.

From 1940 she worked as a kindergarten assistant in Ramat Gan and studied pedagogy. From 1942 she continued her education at the teacher's seminary in Jerusalem. In 1943, she married Shalom Ben-Chorin.

In 2012, Avital Ben-Corin was awarded the honorary citizenship of the city of Eisenach, and in 2013 she was honored with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Avital Ben-Chorin passed away on October 6 2017 in Haifa.