Raphael Thon (1916–2005) was born in Tel Aviv. After his mother’s death when he was four years old, he moved with his father to Jerusalem, where he attended the British school run by Mrs. Kaler and, later, the Gymnasia Ivrit, from which he graduated in 1933. From 1934–1956 he was a founding member of Kibbutz Beit Hashitta and of Maoz Hayyim. In 1946, he was an emissary for the Habonim Youth Movement in the U.K. and in 1947 established the Haganah there. After his return to Israel in 1950, he served for six years as head of the regional council of the Beit Sha’an region. From 1958–1983, he was an inspector of road traffic at the Ministry of Transport. His publications include: We Walked Around the Dead Sea (1934, published 1977); We Went to Mount Hermon and Reached Damascus (1933, published in 1979); and The Fight for Equal Rights for Women: The Life Story of Sarah Thon (1996).
