Jurist Miriam Ben-Porat dies at age 94

Miriam Ben-Porat, who broke gender barriers in Israel’s legal and political system, died Thursday at the age of 94.

Ben-Porat was Israel’s first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and later its first female state comptroller.

Born in Russia in January 1918, she was the youngest of seven siblings. She grew up in Lithuania, and in 1936 left her family behind when she migrated to British-controlled Palestine. Most of her family was killed in the Holocaust.

She won the Israel Prize in 1991 and was considered one of the country’s most respected figures even after her retirement from public life.