Hadassah was born to Eliyahu and Mazal in July 13, 1916 in Benghazi, and her birth name was Reihana Nimni. Her father was a merchant, her mother a homemaker. In Hadassah’s traditional family, she had a half-dozen siblings. The father passed away and was buried in Libya, while the mother made aliyah following her children. Since she and her family had British citizenship, she was put together with other youths with the same status, and she reached Egypt with the British Army. There they resided in a transit camp. In 1942, while in Egypt, she married Rahamim Labi, whom she knew from her youth in Benghazi. The couple made aliyah legally that year, by rail. They settled in the Yemenite neighborhood of Rehovot, Shaarayim, and they Hebraicized their name to Lavi.

Hadassah and Rahamim joined Lehi, and their home became a base for ceaseless underground activity. They lived in different spots in Shaarayim, including a basement in which two families lived, each of them possessing one room and sharing the kitchenette. Hadassah would cook glue from flour and water for the young underground members who went out to put up posters. Lehi members who were wanted by the CID would spend the night with them, if not longer.

Hadassah and Rahamim had six children (and sixteen grandchildren), the last two born in 1951 in the house they bought in Shikun HaVatikim in Rehovot. Hadassah’s energies were fully dedicated to raising the children and taking care of their studies.

Hadassah passed away after being injured in an accident at her home, at age 75, December 30,1991.

In her last years, she would visit the senior citizens center, where she joined a painting class.