We were riding high in the afterglow of Independence Day 5785. It wasn’t the torch-lighting ceremony that lit up our spirits, nor the various other national celebrations. No—it was a single article on our “Librarians” website that made our hearts swell: We had managed to uncover the identity of a baby documented in our photo collections who was born just minutes after Israel’s Declaration of Independence. It was a beautiful little triumph.
And then—came the twist.
An urgent letter arrived on our doorstep (well, we got an email). It read:
To: The National Library of Israel
I saw your post about the State of Israel’s first baby. Please be advised: you got it wrong. The first baby to receive a birth certificate from the State of Israel—document number 000001—is my wife. She was born at Yarkon Hospital in Tel Aviv (which no longer exists), under the name Drora Cohen. Twenty-two years later, Miss Drora Cohen agreed to marry me and became Mrs. Drora Halperin. These days, we’re grandparents to five wonderful grandchildren. I’ve attached a copy of her birth certificate for your reference.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gideon Halperin
“Oh no,” we gasped. “Could we have made a mistake? Have we sullied the good name of the National Library of Israel? What shame!”
So we picked up the phone and rang the distinguished couple. That’s when we discovered—much to our surprise—that the official first baby of the State of Israel was actually born four months after David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel.
Wait… what?
Here’s the deal. Chronologically, the very first children of the new Jewish state were born on May 14, 1948 – the 5th of Iyar, 5708 – the very day of the declaration. But since the state had just come into being, it hadn’t yet taken over the paperwork. Officially, those babies were still recognized by the British Mandate. Their birth certificates were stamped: “Department of Health, Government of Palestine (Eretz Yisrael).”
Makes sense.
A declaration, no matter how historic, doesn’t instantly replace a 30-year-old colonial bureaucracy. These things take time.
When it came to birth certificates, it took exactly four months for the newly founded State of Israel to update its documents to reflect the change in the ruling authorities. And so, on the 6th of Elul, 5708—September 10, 1948—at Yarkon Hospital in Tel Aviv, a beautiful baby girl named Drora Cohen was issued the very State of Israel’s first birth certificate. The number? Naturally: 000001. Which means that Drora Cohen is, officially, the first baby ever born in the State of Israel.
“My name is Drora, from the word dror (freedom). My parents gave me the name in honor of the new state,” she tells us. “My mother never even mentioned it to me until I was in high school. And I, for my part, chose to keep it to myself all these years.”
Drora says that while her mother kept the fact from her, she didn’t keep it from the authorities. For instance, she wrote letters requesting exemption from education fees and other grants offered to children born on the 5th of Iyar. These requests, by the way, were all denied. The young country was not exactly rolling in funds.
As for the official ceremonies where those 5th of Iyar babies were honored—Drora was usually left out. And when she was invited, it was only after some polite nudging from her family—especially her ever-loyal “agent,” husband Gideon.
Somehow, she was almost forgotten.
Good thing there’s a National Library. So here’s what you should know: Drora, born to Polish immigrant parents, is a specialist in immunology. She worked for many years at Tel Aviv University. She has two children—a son and a daughter—and five grandchildren. Today, she lives in Ramat Aviv, devotes her time to art, sculpture, and painting, and is, of course, a full-time grandmother.
“I’m actually listed as Palestinian, just like many others,” says her devoted fan and husband, Gideon. “That’s how our birth certificates recorded it—anyone born before Drora. But there’s only one Drora. Just one person in all of Israel carries a document like that. Grandma Drora is number one. And she’s got the certificate to prove it. Even if she didn’t have it—she’d still be number one.”
