Marcel Freilich-Kaplon: The Scientist Who Brought Chemistry to Israeli Schoolchildren

Some teachers just have that extra "something" - a true passion for what they teach and for making it accessible to their students. These are the kinds of teachers who dedicate themselves to passing on their knowledge with burning enthusiasm and immense determination. Dr. Marcel Freilich-Kaplon was exactly this kind of teacher. She embodied a rare combination of wisdom, passion, and boundless dedication. The vitality and love that burned deep within her came to a tragic end on October 7. However, the books that Marcel and her colleagues authored remain with us, carrying on her legacy.

The late Dr. Marcel Freilich-Kaplon, from a private album, and the 9th grade textbook that she helped write, which is preserved in the National Library of Israel

“Every encounter with Marcel was an inspirational experience, and whether it was in the classroom, in a science project, or during a personal conversation, she touched hearts and left an indelible mark,” Dr. Yael Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute of Science says about her colleague and dear friend Marcel Freilich-Kaplon, who was tragically murdered on October 7. From conversations with those whose hearts she touched, we discovered that Marcel was not only a scientist and writer but also a dedicated and professional educator who had a noble goal of making chemistry accessible to Israeli schoolchildren.

Marcel Freilich-Kaplon immigrated to Israel from Morocco with her parents, Hanna and Nissim Medina, when she was three years old. She was the 13th of 14 siblings. The family settled in a transit camp (ma’abarah) in Be’er Sheva and later moved to Neighborhood Dalet (D) in the city. Her favorite subject in high school was chemistry. After serving in the IDF as a teacher-soldier, she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at Ben-Gurion University before embarking on a career teaching chemistry to high school students. In the late 1990s, she met Dr. Miri Kesner of the Weizmann Institute, who invited her to take part in some of the Institute’s projects. Miri told us that she was immediately impressed by Marcel’s unique personality and abilities: “I suggested she become invoved in our projects advancing chemistry education across schools in southern Israel. She was intelligent, dedicated, organized, with creative ideas and positive energy that she gave to everyone who worked with her. She was a wonderful teacher for students as well as for teachers. We were always looking for people like her and I was sure she’d go far.”

Later on, Marcel enrolled in a doctorate program at the Weizmann Institute, focusing on groundbreaking research in chemistry education using interactive online tools, under the guidance of Prof. Avi Hofstein and Dr. Miri Kesner. “Marcel dealt with every element of the teaching of science – as a high school teacher, as a developer of educational materials, as a researcher, and as a trainer of teachers – a variety of skills that are rarely embodied in a single person”, says Prof. Hofstein. After completing her studies in 2007, she continued working at the Weizmann Institute and later at the Davidson Institute of Science Education. Miri adds: “We stayed in touch after we parted ways and later on we were academic writing partners. Working with her was always focused, efficient and enjoyable. That last thing we wrote was published in September 2023, a few weeks before the terrible massacre.”

Marcel married Nuriel, and together they raised three children: Mor, Ziv, and Amit. The family moved to Kibbutz Be’eri, where she became a full-fledged kibbutznik—so much so that she was offered the management role of kibbutz secretary-general on several occasions. But Marcel preferred to expand her knowledge and dedicate herself to her life’s work—teaching chemistry, developing educational materials, and training teachers. Not only did she deepen her understanding of science, but she also worked with care and sensitivity to make it accessible to her students, colleagues, and anyone else who happened to be around her. After Marcel and Nuriel decided to separate, she was set up with her partner, Dror Kaplon, and the two embarked on what was a second chapter for both of them. They were deeply in love, curious, and passionate about nature and travel. In their later years, they delved into the dietary principles of Maimonides and were dedicated to maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle.

Marcel developed educational materials, was actively engaged in establishing the “We Have Chemistry” (Yesh Lanu Chimia) competition for high school students and was deeply involved in teacher training. She led numerous projects, including the development of professional learning communities for science and technology teachers. Over the last 15 years, she was a partner in developing science and technology textbooks, digital tools, and various projects, including chapters on materials science. Along with her colleagues, she published scientific articles and books, the most recent of which was published in September 2023.

Many Hebrew books co-authored by Marcel can be found at the National Library of Israel, including Exploring Living Materials, Journey to the Elements for Eighth Grade, and Exploring Matter and Energy. Her fascinating doctoral dissertation, Semiempirical Calculations to Examine the Effect of Geometric Changes on the Properties of Charge Transfer Complexes, written in Hebrew, is also kept at the Library. All of these are evidence of Marcel’s significant contribution to making the field of chemistry accessible to students.

Dr. Yael Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute describes Marcel as a “ball of energy,” a woman who committed herself to her role with the utmost professionalism and dedication, outspoken with a can-do attitude. “These books were the first project she was involved in with middle schools. The idea was to turn the material into something interactive, and that’s what she did until she was murdered. There was a brief period when she worked at the Davidson Institute of Science Education, where she was involved in a project creating short, engaging videos,” Schwartz says. “Working with her was a complete pleasure. She was the kind of woman who pushes you to new heights. When we worked together on teacher training, during summer workshops, the teachers were thrilled by her. She also played a significant role in the communities. She ran a science project that focused on teacher discourse on practices.”

Schwartz and Marcel were not only colleagues but also close friends. Schwartz recounts that even in her final hours, Marcel expressed concern for Schwartz’s son, who had been called up to Gaza. On the Saturday when the disaster occurred, Schwartz was exposed to what happened to Marcel and Dror, step by step, in real-time. “We have a WhatsApp group, and we asked Marcel what was happening and if she was okay,” Schwartz says. “She said they were in the safe room, and that’s how it started. We were in constant contact with her every few minutes. She described the gunfire aimed at her window and her house, and the shouting around them. She said she was scared, and then contact was severed. We knew that something terrible was happening. I so hoped that her phone had died. I hoped she had managed to escape. Every few minutes, I tried to call and text her to send us a sign. The next morning, I searched for her children online. I found her son Ziv, and he said they were assuming that Marcel and Dror had been kidnapped to Gaza. After a few days of waiting, we received the heartbreaking news.”

The couple spent about four hours in the safe room before terrorists broke into their home. Marcel’s son, Ziv Freilich, told us that on the same day, he and his siblings saw a video showing Marcel and Dror being led away, bound, outside their home. The following day, the siblings received another video showing them lying lifeless. “With our assistance, the process of identifying my mother’s body was expedited, and within a few days, representatives from the army came to inform us officially. By then, we were pretty sure we knew what had happened to her.”

Schwartz also saw those distressing videos of her beloved friend. “I can’t get that video out of my mind. For months, as I tried to fall asleep, I couldn’t rid myself of that image of her being led out to her death. It still haunts me to this day,” Schwartz recounts.

Marcel had other dreams she never got to fulfill. She was fascinated by Maimonides’ dietary principles, and she had planned on writing a book about his ideas on nutrition and medicine from a modern scientific perspective, and to give lectures on the subject. Her colleagues at the Weizmann Institute, still devastated by the tragedy, are using the programs and content she created and are continuing to help develop her legacy. “I learned a lot from her about total commitment. About what it means to be a totally dedicated person,” Schwartz says with sadness. “Total dedication in work, in friendships, in family. An indescribable loyalty. But it’s so much more than that—Marcel was impossible to miss. She was my friend, and I miss her. Her absence hurts me every day.”

Lives Lost: The Works of the October 7 Fallen – A Special Project

“Israel’s Miss Manners” Extends an Outstretched Hand

While researching the history of Israeli social etiquette at the National Library, Noa Bavly accidently stumbled across a particular book that had once belonged to her great-grandmother, Hanna Bavly - Israel's own "Miss Manners"…

Noa Bavly | 28.08.24

Hanna Bavly, Israel's queen of etiquette, and the book "Hanna Bavly is Rolling in Her Grave", written by her great-granddaughter Noa Bavly - images courtesy of Noa Bavly

When I was about to graduate from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, I started thinking about my final project. I decided to create a book from scratch – designing it, forming the concept, choosing the format, the fonts and the images as well as the type of paper. I even made the book cover myself using several techniques and stitched and bound it by hand. In a digital age, I wanted to go back to the fundamentals and create a book whose pages cannot be swiped with a finger.

In order to choose a subject, I looked at my family and surroundings. I wanted to choose a personal subject that would also be relevant and timely. This led me to the idea of writing about current Israeli society from a historical and personal perspective, using the writings of my great-grandmother, the late Hanna Bavly, who was nicknamed “Israel’s Miss Manners.”

Noa5 — Hanna Bavly visiting a chemical plant in South Africa, photo courtesy of Noa Bavly

The production of the book required extensive and serious cultural and historical research. In my research I went to the National Library of Israel. Searching for books on manners and etiquette, I found an American book from the 1980s (The New Etiquette by Marjabelle Young Stewart, St. Martin’s Press) and took it out. Upon opening the book, on the inside cover, was a surprise. An outstretched hand from the past. In the first page of the book was an inscription that noted the book had once been a part of my great-grandmother Hanna Bavly’s personal collection (she had hundreds of books on the subject), and was donated to the National Library by her son after her death.

Noa9 — Noa Bavly was surpised to learn that the book she had loaned from the National Library of Israel (*The New Etiquette* by Marjabelle Young Stewart, St. Martin’s Press) was donated to the NLI by her own great-grandmother, Hanna Bavly

But as I said, Hanna Bavly’s meticulous manners were just a starting point for a timely and relevant statement. The book I designed focuses on manners—or more precisely—the lack of manners in Israeli society. It draws a line between the iconic figure of Hanna Bavly (whose name became synonymous with manners and etiquette) and contemporary Israel.

Noa10 — Hanna Bavly was Israel’s leading expert on etiquette and manners. Above is a page from *The New Etiquette* by Marjabelle Young Stewart, which Bavly donated to the National Library of Israel

The book’s third chapter, titled “The Dream and Its Downfall” contrasts Hanna’s manners and etiquette advice from her “Questions and Answers” column that she wrote from the early 1960s until the late 1980s with cringeworthy, embarrassing, humorous, vulgar, and iconic moments in Israeli culture and public life. The chapter focuses on four aspects in which vulgarity prevails: interpersonal relationships, politics, table manners and road rage.

Noa6 — Two of Hanna Bavly’s newspaper columns on etiquette – on the left Hanna advises one of her readers not to intervene in the work of the waiting staff at a restaurant, even when a pile of dirty dishes is waiting to be removed. On the right – Hanna advises a woman who is consistently ignored by her husband during social encounters to take initiative and not wait to be introduced – “Introduce yourself, with your full name and position, to any person whom you feel it is right and necessary for you to know. It is likely that after a few such independent introductions, your husband will change his practice.” – courtesy of Noa Bavly

The other three chapters include an introduction to the history of manners in both Israeli and universal context, a chapter on the life and work of Hanna Bavly and a closing chapter featuring relevant academic articles that broaden the perspective and view.

Poster — A poster promoting a lecture and Q&A session in Tel Aviv with Hanna Bavly, titled “Our Manners – What We Have and What We Desire”, November 11, 1967. The Tel Aviv – Yafo City Archives, available via the NLI digital collection

I tailored the design to match the content of the chapters: the first two chapters, focusing on the history of manners, etiquette, and Hanna Bavly herself, as well as the fourth (academic) chapter, are designed with restraint and sophistication. The third chapter however, which contrasts Hanna’s polite advice with Israeli reality, is designed in a wild style reminiscent of trashy tabloids.

I designed the book in a way that recalled Hanna’s columns – just like Hanna, I too decided that a serious message can best be conveyed with a healthy dose of humor. I kept the original titles and Q&As of Hanna Bavly’s columns and incorporated them in my book ironically. This choice contributes to the critical, ironic and amusing language of the book.

*Hanna Bavly is Rolling in Her Grave*, by Noa Bavly

The book Hanna Bavly is Rolling in Her Grave is my final project for the Department of Visual Communication at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. I am grateful and appreciative to my final project mentor, Idan Vaaknin, for his close and enriching guidance. He was the perfect role model teaching me a lot and providing me with a significant experience. I am hoping to publish my book soon so stay tuned.

You can find more of Noa Bavly’s art at: instagram.com/noartnb/

Remembering Ephraim Kishon, Israel’s Champion of Satire

Israel is marking a century since the birth of its greatest satirist. No doubt, he would have a lot to say about the current state of Israeli society…

Hillel Kuttler | 25.08.24

History of Israel Israeli Culture

Ephraim Kishon in his office, 1971, photo by Boris Karmi, the Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

During Iftach Leibovich’s childhood in Jerusalem, the family would play a board game called Havila Higiya (“A Package Arrived”). The premise was this: You receive a letter stating that something reached the post office and to come pick it up. Along the way, you confront obstacles to attaining the package: missing identification papers, needing a new photo for the ID and so on.

The game was all too realistic for Israelis used to the daily struggles of accomplishing basic tasks in a bureaucracy-laden society.

“It was the stupidest game and the most brilliant game,” said Leibovich.

Havila Higiya was created by Ephraim Kishon, still acclaimed as the greatest humorist, satirist and social commentator in Israel’s history. Kishon, who died in 2005, was born 100 years ago this month.

Ephraim Kishon in 1966, photo by Boris Karmi, the Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

One of his legacies is that Leibovich is the artistic director of the Israel Comedy Festival in Honor of Ephraim Kishon, a week-long celebration held each August at Jerusalem’s Incubator Theater.

The event includes lectures and stagings of Kishon’s work, along with contemporary comedic plays and stand-up appearances.

Experts tie Kishon’s keen observations of society, from the perspective of an average Israeli, to his being an outsider. Kishon was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary whose name — he was born Ferenc Hoffmann — was Hebraicized by a port official upon immigrating in 1949.

Chaim Topol and Esther Greenberg in the film *Sallah Shabati*, written and directed by Ephraim Kishon. From the Chaim Topol Archive, courtesy of the family and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, the National Library of Israel and the University of Haifa (colorization by MyHeritage)

He quickly learned and mastered Hebrew and soon was penning columns in the language in local newspapers. He went on to write books and screenplays and make films. Two of the five movies he directed, Sallah Shabati (1964) and The Policeman (1971), which he also wrote and co-produced, earned Academy Award nominations as best foreign-language films.

997001754100405171 — A promotional poster for the 1971 Oscar-nominated Hebrew film *The Policeman*, written and directed by Ephraim Kishon and starring Shaike Ophir, the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israel Film Archive Collection, available online via the NLI digital collection

11026 004 23 — Ephraim Kishon pictured with Shaike Ophir and wife at the premiere of the film *The Fox in the Chicken Coop*, May, 1978. Photo by Danny Gotfried, the Dan Hadani Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

The Family Book (titled in its English translations as My Family, Right or Wrong), Kishon’s 1977 collection of essays and fiction stories about home life during his early years in Israel, is said to be the second-most-purchased book in Hebrew after the Bible.

500 Golden Globe — Topol and Kishon with the Golden Globe, *Maariv*, February 19, 1965, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel

Both Leibovich and Ziv Hermelin-Shadar — who at the festival hosted podcasts discussing each of the films screened daily, dubbed “Kishoncasts” — cited The Family Book as a key influence.

It was the first book Leibovich’s father gave him — the boy was about 13 — and, “from that, I became a big fan of Kishon,” he said.

Hermelin-Shadar was about 10 when he first read it. “It’s a book that’s very Jewish and very family-oriented,” he said. “It makes me laugh. Kishon, in his stories, is trying to live life, and other people are ruining it for him. He succeeds in capturing the wackiness … of Israeli society.”

11026 003 02 — Ephraim Kishon with Menachem Begin, Israel’s Prime Minister at the time, at the premiere of the film *The Fox in the Chicken Coop*, May, 1978. Photo by Danny Gotfried, the Dan Hadani Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

Such wackiness arose recently over a play scheduled for this summer’s festival. The play’s promotional poster unintentionally sparked a controversy Kishon might’ve enjoyed.

The poster shows the faces of three men and the play’s title, Naked. The word is meant as a metaphor for the show’s theme as a behind-the-scenes look at how a circus operates. No one is nude. But some Jerusalem residents presumed indecency and pressured the mayor’s office to withdraw its funding for the festival and to shut down the show. Leibovich wrote a long letter defending the work and stressing that no one appeared naked.

“It’s poetic that this happened at a Kishon festival,” he said. “To make a big deal about it was a farce. There was nothing for me to fight against because there was nothing to censor.”

The show’s three performances proceeded as scheduled.

11026 007 44 — Ephraim Kishon with Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, at the premiere of the film *The Fox in the Chicken Coop*, May, 1978. Photo by Danny Gotfried, the Dan Hadani Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israely

Kishon’s accomplishments went hand-in-hand with insecurity. Alongside placards of his films and plays on his office’s walls appeared articles written by critics.

990044968010205171 — Ephraim Kishon in his office, 1973. Photo by IPPA staff photgrapher, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

“He felt he wasn’t appreciated. He wanted more love from critics,” said Hermelin-Shadar. “He was a great success, but felt that he wasn’t accepted here as [such].”

Following his father’s death at his summer home in Switzerland, Rafi Kishon was asked to develop a one-man show for Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theater. As a veterinarian, he’d spoken about animals on numerous television programs and was comfortable appearing before the camera. But writing and performing in the show, Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Ephraim Kishon, was extra-gratifying, he said.

He performs it monthly at the Cameri — it’s now titled Ephraim Kishon: Humor, Life and Films — and accepts private bookings from groups. The appearances involve screening movie clips and telling stories about his father.

“What I say is unique about Ephraim Kishon’s humor is that it unites Israelis of all types,” he explained.

“I take it as a compliment when I perform and people say, ‘The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.’ It’s a good feeling to walk in my father’s shoes.”

997009327551305171 — Ephraim Kishon in his office, 1971, photo by Boris Karmi, the Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel

Leibovich, too, has walking in mind. For a Kishon festival, he’d like to organize an interactive version of Havila Higiya, with participants following the game’s instructions to traipse around Jerusalem in an effort, challenging as it promises to be, to pick up a package at the post office.

“I’ve dreamt of it,” he said, “since the first festival.”

Writer-editor Hillel Kuttler can be reached at [email protected]

Dan Hadani: A Life Documenting Israel

The story of how one man's successful photography company was able to document life in Israel across several decades. Why did he later decide to destroy his life's work? Dan Hadani is celebrating his 100th birthday, and to mark it he told us of his personal journey which led him to granting all of us an invaluable gift of photographic documentation. This was his creation – now it’s our story.

Liron Halbriech | 22.08.24

History of Israel Photographs Zionism

Left: Dan Hadani during a visit to the National Library of Israel, 2024. Right: Dan Hadani taking photos during a visit to Egypt during the peace talks, 1977. Photo by David Peretz, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel

On August 24, 2024, Dan Hadani marked his 100^th birthday. He celebrated this joyous event with a party, almost an act of defiance against life itself – against everything he experienced as a child in Poland, against everything the State of Israel has been through, and against the terrible ordeals of the past year – letting everyone know: I’m still here!

He uses a walker and is easily tired, but his mind is clear and sharp and his memory promises to provide us with a fascinating story, spread out over a century, a story which cannot be done justice even with a thousand pictures.

In the hundred years that have passed since his birth, he has managed to reinvent himself a number of times and live multiple lives with the resourcefulness of the proverbial cat. In his most significant incarnation, the one based in Israel, he built one of the most important visual archives collected here with his own two hands, a monumental life project for one man.

In 2016, that project faced destruction – at the hands of its creator. After decades of devotion to photographs and documentation, Hadani decided that the two million negatives, meticulously cataloged and a photographic testament to events in Israel from 1965 to 2000, would be destroyed.

***

Dan Hadani was born Dunek Zloczewski in Lodz, Poland.

He began life as a Polish Jew raised by a Zionist family. As a child, he saw his parents take pride in their work and craft, and that striving for professional excellence became a part of him. From his father, he learned the difficulty of living as a Jew in a state that was not his own, dealing with emerging antisemitism, and the importance of mutual aid and charitable works.

He spent his youth trying to survive in the Lodz Ghetto and then in Auschwitz, where he met Dr. Mengele and where he was largely able to avoid the wrath of his Nazi workmasters. He managed to survive and to offer support to others who suffered worse fates. He used everything he had – knowledge of languages, the ability to learn quickly, as well as technical skills – in order to show how necessary he was to the SS men. At the same time, he served as an assistant to the ghetto doctor and tried to do everything he could to help his friends in need.

In 1945, Hadani was freed from Nazi captivity. His parents and his only sister, however, had already been murdered by the Nazis. Although he had other options, Hadani felt it was clear that he would fulfill his parents’ unwritten will, realizing their Zionist dream and making Aliyah to Israel.

A year later, Hadani went to study seamanship in Italy. He passed the course with flying colors and immediately returned to Israel: “I came on Aliya Dalet – 3,000 people with forged passports. I had a Dutchman’s passport, a Jew who lived in Israel.”

A day after he arrived, he was enlisted in the navy of a country that had just been established: “I didn’t know a word in Hebrew; here and there ‘Shalom’ or words like that,” he recalled. “But on the ship the orders were in Hebrew. I often asked ‘What’s that word?” and they translated it for me. That’s how I learned. There were a hundred and twenty soldiers on the ship, the vast majority of them new immigrants and they gave us orders in this way. That’s how I learned Hebrew.”

It wasn’t the first time Hadani was thrown into a situation alone and without basic knowledge. As he had done before, he used his amazing resourcefulness and survival abilities to develop within the navy, from a new immigrant who knew no Hebrew to an officer who served for 15 years.

Independence Day 1973 — David Ben-Gurion, photographed by Dan Hadani on Israel’s 25th Independence Day. May 7, 1973, the Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel

And then, somewhat surprisingly, his last appointment in the IDF was as a press officer for the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. The change had a dramatic effect on him: “In the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit I received the shock of my life. I met with reporters at Sokolov House, suddenly I heard all the stories.” Instead of making efforts to hide secret operational activity, Hadani now had to think differently. As a press officer, he was responsible for managing, accompanying, and briefing journalists and photographers from Israel and around the world, helping them cover events related to the IDF. This, he admits, was his apprenticeship in journalism.

When he was released from the IDF a year later, he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do next. He was 41 years old: “The moment I got out of the army, I had an idea what I would do. I wanted to form an association, a group of photographers, and open a company, a cooperative of press photographers. I wanted to be the one organizing it, just like I was during my time in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.”

While serving in the unit, Hadani had identified the need for a professional agency for photography and press purposes, which could quickly cover events across the country: “I wanted to establish a large cooperative and see to people’s livelihood. I saw that we lacked a specific body in the country, that we weren’t initiating contact with people from outside of Israel, with the foreign press.” Everyone who heard the idea tried to talk him out of it, saying it was too big a project for him and that he would fail before he even started.

Despite this, he gathered together some photographers he knew to pitch the idea: “Some 10, 12 photographers came, and I told them what I wanted to do. And then one photographer got up in the middle and asked: ‘Tell me, you want us to run out and take pictures while you sit in the office? I’ll be running around and you’ll get money to sit at a desk? You want me to hand over my salary to you?”

כתבה של דן מעריב 20 בםברואר 1976 — An article and photos by Dan Hadani, dedicated to artists Meir and Makvalla Pichhadze. *Maariv*, February 20, 1976, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel

כתבה על משפחה בעוני מעריב 11 באפריל 1969 — An article about a poverty-stricken family, photos by Dan Hadani, *Maariv*, April 11, 1969, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel

Nothing came of the meeting, but Hadani wouldn’t give up and decided to go it alone. For many long months, he worked as a freelance photographer, even getting writing opportunities from foreign journalists: “If I needed a photographer, I ordered a photographer for pay – on one condition: that the negatives were mine,” he said. When at one point he couldn’t find a photographer, he bought a camera and began taking his own pictures.

Slowly but surely, Hadani gained success and clients, ultimately realizing the dream he envisioned when he first left the army. He established the Israel Press & Photo Agency, or IPPA. He worked with salaried and freelance photographers, both in Israel and around the world. Over the course of 45 years of activity, the agency covered almost every important event in Israel: if there was a big concert, government meeting, or terror attack – Hadani’s photographers were there. In fact, if you were reading newspaper reports about Israel during this time, you probably saw thousands of his agency’s photographs.

מתוך עיתון דבר 3 ביולי 1980 — A photo by Dan Hadani, featured in an article about Israel’s new F-16 fighter jets. *Dava*r, July 3, 1980, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel

Hadani took care to properly preserve all the photos he received and all the rights he acquired. With admirable care for detail, he cataloged and maintained the negatives from all the photos which reached the agency, quietly cultivating an archive which documented much of life in the State of Israel at ground level.

Hadani is proud, and rightly so, of his journalistic achievements: The photo of the father of Robert Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, reading a newspaper with the article on the murder, became world-famous. A photo showing Menachem Begin bending over before Anwar Sadat and Jimmy Carter (he was picking something up) during a peace treaty ceremony was also a hit and a nice change from the generally rigid statesmanship of the time. There was also an article featuring the first photos of legendary Soviet WWII-era spy Leopold Trepper following his arrival in Israel. Trepper immigrated in 1974 and spent the last few years of his life in the country. To this we can add hundreds of thousands of pictures, piles of film documenting major cultural and political events as well as wars and terrorist attacks.

A photo by Dan Hadani, showing Israeli PM Menachem Begin bent over next to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. US President Jimmy Carter is standing behind Sadat. This photo was taken on March 25, 1979, ahead of the signing of the historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The Dan Hadani Archive, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel

When he decided to close the agency and retire, he didn’t know what would become of the archival treasure trove he had developed over decades: “I created something that doesn’t exist in the country. It was my own little quirk. It’s hard for me today to understand how I even ended up doing it. You cultivate it. You keep perfecting it. And it’s hard. It’s hard to let go…”

He tried to find a place which would take his life’s work in its entirety and understand its incredible inherent value. After a few years of fruitless searches and failed deals, he decided with sadness to destroy the project he had dedicated much of his life to: “I was about to buy two shredders to begin destroying the negatives. I cried. To destroy such a thing? I knew there was a treasure here.”

Fortunately, Hadani discussed his intentions with his daughter-in-law, Batya Calderon, who quickly appealed to Dr. Hezi Amiur, curator of the Israel Collection at the National Library. Amiur immediately understood the value of this archive and succeeded in convincing Hadani to provide the National Library with the entire collection, which could then serve the broader public.

Despite the great difficulty in saying goodbye to the illustrious project he’d cultivated for years, Hadani had finally found a home for his life’s work: “I am happy and I am content,” he said. “I am very proud that it’s in the best hands I could have dreamed of.”

Watch our special interview with Dan Hadani (English subtitles available via Youtube’s auto-translate option)

Even at 100 years old, Hadani refuses to sit back and take it easy. Last year, he built up a website on the Wix platform which tells the story of his life and his journalistic achievements, as well as other challenges he overcame in life. He still drives a car and takes care to remain curious and incisive, even today: “I expect and am waiting to enjoy the future. And I will rest a little, because I work very hard.”

With the look of a sober, knowledgeable man, keenly aware of the past and looking firmly towards the future, he made a very specific request in honor of his birthday: “I want to see a good future. I want to see the state I built. Today I don’t see it.”