Mrs. Aura Herzog, aged 97 at her death, was a prominent public figure and social activist for many years and the founder of the Council for a Beautiful Israel.

Mrs. Aura Herzog will be buried next to the Sixth President at the Great Leaders of the Nation Plot at the Mount Herzl Cemetery. Details of the funeral and the shiva will be conveyed shortly.

The Office of the President requests that the general public and media outlets allow the Herzog family to grieve at this time and refrain from directly contacting members of the family.

The Office of the President joins the family in their grief.

Biography of the late Mrs. Aura Herzog:

Aura Herzog (née Ambache, acronym for ‘I Believe with Complete Faith’) was born in Egypt to parents born in Jaffa and Motza. Her parents Leah and Simcha Ambache had four children. Her older sister, Suzy Ambache, was married to the late diplomat and former foreign minister Abba Eban.

Aura and Chaim Herzog had four children: Joel Herzog; Brig. Gen. (res.) Michael (Mike) Herzog, Israel’s ambassador in Washington DC; President Isaac Herzog; and Ronit Herzog, a clinical psychologist. They also had eleven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Her parents were expelled by the Turks during the First World War and reached Egypt from Jaffa. She grew up and was educated in Ismailiyah and Cairo and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics at Witwatersrand University in South Africa.

In 1946, at the end of her studies, she made aliyah to Israel and joined the Haganah. That year, she was elected to participate in the first class of the Jewish Agency’s diplomatic cadet school. In 1947 she married Chaim Herzog and accompanied him throughout his roles in the IDF and public life.

In the War of Independence she served as an officer in the intelligence division and later served in the Science Corps, where she was seriously wounded in a terror attack on the National Institutions building in March 1948.

In 1950-1954 and in 1975-1978, Mrs. Herzog lived with her family in the United States when her husband served as the military attaché and Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Mrs. Aura Herzog served as the secretary-general of the committee for the celebration of the first decade of the State of Israel (1958), as part of which she spearheaded and initiated the Bible Quiz, which has taken place every year since.

She served as the director-general of the Council of Arts and Culture (1959-1968) and in 1969 founded the Council for a Beautiful Israel. In 1971 she published her book The Secrets of Hospitality about manners and customs.

In 1983-1993, her husband Chaim Herzog served as the Sixth President of the State of Israel. Aura continued to fulfill public roles and when Israel celebrated forty years of independence, she headed the “Israel Wears Clean” campaign.

Aura Herzog’s life’s work was the establishment and leadership of the Council for a Beautiful Israel, the first environmental organization in Israel, which she led for forty years in a volunteer capacity.

At the end of her husband’s term as the Sixth President of the State of Israel, she fulfilled various roles, including: Chairwoman of the Public Committee for Jubilee Events (1988), member of the Broadcasting Authority plenary, member of the public council of Mifal Hapayis, member of the board of governors of the Tel Aviv Museum, chairwoman of the Friends of Schneider Medical Center, and international president emeritus of the Council for a Beautiful Israel.

After the death of her husband Chaim Herzog in 1997, she founded and headed the Chaim Herzog Foundation to commemorate his work and legacy.