Garari Khaim (1883-1940)

Garari Khaim (Chaim) (real surname: Blumberg) (1883, Dvinsk – 1940) – educator and writer.

Khaim Garari settled in Eretz-Israel in 1906 and began teaching at the Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. A pioneer of Hebrew-language theatre, he founded the amateur troupe Lovers of the Hebrew Stage (Hovevei HaBama HaIvrit), where he served as director, actor, and translator of plays.

He contributed to the Jewish periodical press in Hebrew both in Russia and in Eretz-Israel. He edited books on Jewish holidays, including Sefer HaChanukah (1937) and Sefer Tevet, Shevat, Adar (1941). His articles and short stories were collected in the anthology Kitvei Khaim Garari (vols. 1–2, 1941–1942). He died in Eretz-Israel.

Wife: Yehudit Garari (1885 – ?) – educator and public figure, daughter of A. Eisenberg, one of the founders of Rehovot. In 1903, she established a Hebrew-language kindergarten in Rehovot. She also taught at the Herzliya Secondary School and at the Levinsky Teachers’ Seminary for Women in Tel Aviv, where she headed the model school. She published numerous articles and authored several books.

Son: Izhar Garari (b. 1908, Jaffa – ?) – political figure. He earned a law degree from the Sorbonne (Paris). From 1948, he was one of the founders of the Progressive Party of Israel. Between 1947 and 1974, he served as a Knesset member representing the Progressive Party (later the Liberal Party and the Independent Liberal Party). In 1968, he joined the Mimad party. He founded and chaired the Association for Israeli Foreign Policy and was a member of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations from 1954 to 1967.