Bracha was born on September 1897 in Slarosteva village near Bernovitsch, on the Ukrainian/Polish border, to Zvi and Sheina. She married Yitzchak and they had eight children: Arieh, Gershon, Sarah, Ya’acov, David, Chaya, Avraham and Moshe. The family was Hassidic Zionist. Yitzchak was an insurance agent and Bracha kept a chicken and cow farm.
In 1932 Yitschak made Aliyah alone to prepare the framework for his family to arrive in 1934; they settled in Kfar Saba, there he opened a store for imported foodstuffs. Their two youngest were born here. When her two eldest sons Arieh and Gershon joined Etzel, she encouraged them with heart and soul and approved of their following Yair after the split. Her house served as a hideout and shelter for wanted Lehi members.
After twenty inmates prisoners escaped from Latrun Prison, “Mrs Horwitz” – as the fighters knew her – hid Matityahu Schmuelevich in a small secret room in her house for a month and looked after him. When son Arieh was imprisoned, she would walk from the road to Latrun Prison’s gates, carrying loaded baskets of food for her son and his comrades. At times she was obliged to return home, because visiting day was cancelled without anyone notifying her.
Most Kfar-Saba Lehi members found their way to Mrs. Horwitz’s house. She was delighted to host them and fed them foods she’d prepared. Her Babka Cake is fondly remembered. Her ties with former Lehi members continued even after they came out from underground and the State was established. Yehoshua and Necha Cohen’s first stop, when coming from Sde-Bokker, was at “Mrs Horwitz’s”. She would often wonder what sort of relationship existed between Ben-Gurion and Yehoshua, because until her last days she could not forgive Ben-Gurion for his persecution of Lehi/Etzel fighters.
Bracha was widowed from husband Yitzchak on August 6,1970. She was blessed with 26 grandchildren and 94 great-grandchildren in her own lifetime. With a clear mind, aged 103, she passed away on Friday, May 6, 2000.