Elisheva Barak-Ososkin, 88 years old, passed away yesterday (Monday), after several years of poor health. She was best known as the loving wife of Aharon Barak, former President of the Supreme Court and Attorney General, and one of the most influential people in Israeli society and politics in recent decades. However, this somewhat overshadowed her own life, which was also filled with extensive public and legal work.
Barak-Ososkin was born in Romania in 1936 and immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of 5, escaping, at the last moment, from the Holocaust. In 1957, she married Aharon Barak, while studying biology, zoology, and genetics. However, in the 1960s, her career was stalled due to the need to support her husband’s meteoric rise in the legal academic ranks. In the 1970s, she decided to join the legal field as well, starting law studies, after which she became a lawyer. She interned for a decade at the Supreme Court under the four presidents who preceded her husband.
In 1990, Barak was appointed as a judge in the labor courts in Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva, and a few years later advanced to the National Labor Court, where she served until her retirement at the age of 70, in 2006. In her role, Barak was characterized by her adjudication in favor of workers, the interests of the working class, and labor organizations. Social justice was at the forefront of her mind, which was reflected in most of her rulings, most notably the establishment of the right to a hearing before dismissal or changes in an employee’s status.
Additionally, Barak served as a lecturer in law at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, alongside her husband, with the two characterized by a successful professional and personal collaboration that served as an example for the entire Israeli public.
