Trager, Hannah

Hannah Trager, writer and communal activist, was born in London to Zerah (1843-1935) and Rachel Lea Barnett (1842-1924). Her father, a native of Lithuania, was studying at a yeshiva in Slobodka when Yitzhak Hacohen, a merchant from London, came in search of a husband for his daughter. Barnett's teacher, Rabbi Chaim Kreuzer, recommended him, but Barnett turned down the match. He could not understand how his rabbi, a lover of Zion who had always encouraged his students to settle in the Land of Israel, could send him to London. Ultimately, with the rabbi's blessing, Barnett in 1865 agreed to go t...