Digitizing History: Palestine Broadcasting Service, 1936-1948
Women's Corner
Another large group of influencers were women. By 1939, the PBS targeted, local national / international women organizations such as WIZO: Women's International Zionist Organization; and Hadassah: The Women's Zionist Organization of America. They targetted them in very traditional ways. The women were seen primarily as the home makers, so topics were mainly about food, fashion and home economics. One of the first presenters of a regular radio series was Lilian Cornfeld, head of the Department of Nutrition, WIZO. She had already made her reputation as a writer on food and nutrition for the Palestine Post. Now she was to become presenter of a new weekly radio series entitled "Entre Nous" (in English translation "Between ourselves" or in Hebrew בינינו לבין עצמנו (transliteration: "Beineinoo L'vein Atzmainoo", every Saturday evening from 6:00PM - 6:15PM.
Lilian Cornfeld
The previous weeks the fifteen-minute Saturday evening slot, while dedicated to women's issues, hadn't yet settled down to a recognizeable format. The first program, on Saturday June 17, 1939, was called "Health Talk: The Hygiene of Ear and Hearing, presented by Dr. Max Altman. The following week, June 24, the program was entitled "Housewives and their Maids: a talk to women", by Nany Margules (a member of the Palestine WIZO World Committee). It was only on Saturday, July 1, that the name "Entre Nous" made its first appearance:
July 1: Entre Nous: on many aspects of their social work in Palestine, presented by Jenny Blumenfeld.
July 8: Entre Nous: The Women in Society, a talk to women by N. Minsky-Avishai
July 15Entre Nous: Preservation of Youth and Health, a talk by Dr. Elli Wettkower.
July 22 Entre Nous: A talk to women by Nany Margules
July 29: Entre Nous: Children's Playgrounds, a talk to women by Rachel Schwartz
August 5 Entre Nous: Women at Work, by Rivka Osterreicher
August 12 Entre Nous: How to look after a baby during a Khamsin, a talk by Rachel Pesach
August 19: Entre Nous: Help him Eat, a talk on children's appetite, by Sara Bromberg (Head of the Department of Dietetics of the Hadassah)
Saturday, August 26, 1939 under the title "One Two Three... a Talk on Labour Saving Dishes, presented by Lilian Cornfeld, Head of the Department of Nutrition, WIZO.
The final broadcast in this series was Wednesday, April 1, 1942.
The name in Hebrew "Benainoo l'vein Azmainu" ("Between Ourselves") was later taken up by Edwin Samuel, Director of PBS in 1945 as the title a new series of talks, not on nutrition but on ongoing developments, changes that were happening to programmes and people on the PBS.
In the 1940s, in order to get feedback, once again they turned to a national competition: "Mother and Child", in which the mothers would send in photos of themselves and their families. PBS worked with woman NGO's for their programming material and two names stick out to get the women's corner up and running. A husband and wife team: Asher Hirshberg and Tichiya Bat-Oren.
One of the outcomes was a booklet "B'Maagolei Tazona" which roughly translates as "Food Circle" which came out in 1946. This was meant to be a monthly, but only one issue was ever published. A second booklet came out six months later entitled "Halichot HaBayit" roughly translated as "House Rules", about how to clean various materials the housewife would likely come across. but it was edited by someone called Mina Myer. Once again only one booklet was ever published. However, many years later, in 1966, Techiya Bat-Oren, authored a book of the same title, leaving one to wonder who was Mina Myer?
