Golda Meir

Golda Meir

Golda Meir
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 9 to 10
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.75

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		immigration, security, founding, prime, director, political, department, policy, founded, establish, service, politics, number, between, government, leadership
	content words:		Golda Meir, Golda Mabovitz, United States, Poalei Zion, Jewish Agency, Russian Jews, Soviet Union, Six-Day War

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Golda Meir
By Kathleen Redman

¹ Golda Meir was born Golda Mabovitz in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1898. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was a child. They settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she attended teachers' college and later became a teacher.

Her first entry into Jewish politics came in 1915 when she joined the Jewish labor party known as Poalei Zion. She married in 1921 and moved with her husband to Palestine in 1921. There, she began a life of committed service to her people, both before and after Israel's founding.

Golda Mabovitz - who changed her name in 1956 to the Hebrew name Meir, which means "to burn brightly" -- became leader of the political department of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. As the department's leader, she actively encouraged and organized the migration of Russian Jews to Palestine. She stayed with the Jewish Agency until the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

She was elected to Israel's first parliament and served as director of a number of Israeli agencies. She was also Israel's ambassador to the Soviet Union (now Russia). In 1969, Meir became prime minister of Israel -- and the third woman in the world to become a prime minister.

As prime minister, she took on problems concerning Arab land Israel took in the Six-Day War of 1967. Political leaders in Israel were divided on how to deal with the land; some thought it best to return the land to Arabs, others fought to keep the land for Israel. Meir allowed Israelis to settle in the land. Her government had a very open immigration policy and she tried to establish a friendship between Israel and the United States.

After another war in 1973, Meir's leadership of Israel came to an end. She was blamed for overestimating Israel's security and making the country open to attacks from Arab countries. She resigned as prime minister in 1974, but refused to give up politics. She continued to work for Israel until she died in 1978.

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