Miriam Hadar Weingarten

Miriam Hadar Weingarten is an Israeli beauty pageant winner, journalist and lawyer.

Miriam Hadar Weingarten
Miriam Hadar in Jerusalem as Miss Israel
Born	Miriam Hadar 1937 Jerusalem
Other names	Mira Weingarten
Title	Miss Israel 1958
Spouse(s)	Jack Weingarten (2 children) Akiva Nof (1 daughter)
Children	3 (including Lea Fastow)
Relatives	Andrew Fastow (son in law)

Hadar-Weingarten was born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel). She did her military service in the Israeli Air Force while studying law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At age 21 Hadar-Weingarten won the title of Beauty Queen of Jerusalem and Beauty Queen of Israel. She represented Israel in the Miss Universe pageant, where she placed among the finalists and won the trophy for the Best Speech. After this experience, she embarked on a three-year government-sponsored lecture tour throughout the US and Canada.

Upon returning to Israel, Hadar-Weingarten was a writer and editor for 17 years on the staff of the newspapers Ha'aretz and Ma'ariv, where she reported on the government and Knesset. Her first husband was the Jewish Texan Jack Weingarten of the Weingarten's supermarket chain; she had two children with him. In parallel with her family life she began to study cinema at Tel Aviv University. After her divorce she married Knesset Member Akiva Nof and later gave birth to a daughter, Ayelet. She began to teach at Tel Aviv University and later emigrated to New York. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Hadar-Weingarten was the first woman to cross the Suez Canal into Egypt with the Israeli Armed Forces. To get to the front lines - ordinarily forbidden to women - she disguised herself as a man, wearing a helmet, boots and male uniform. She recorded the bitter fighting and bloody horrors throughout the war.

Hadar-Weingarten now lives in New York, where she works in real estate. She received the Real Estate Board of New York Residential Deal Award.

Her daughter, Lea, married Andrew Fastow of Enron infamy.[1]

References

1. The Fastows' Enron world: Two vacation homes. A Porsche for him, Mercedes-Benz for her. Thousands for charity. And financial schemes that will send them both to prison.

• "Weingarten wins REBNY award", Real Estate Weekly (New York City). December 11, 2002.
• " On the Israeli front: Mira Weingarten - first woman across Suez Canal", The Houston Post January 11, 1975. Page 3B.
• "Charming Sabra: Lovely, Brainy Miss Israel Has Led a Colorful Life," Charleston Evening Post March 4, 1959.
• "Beauty Queen, Military Veteran, Plans Career in Foreign Service," The Greenville News May 27, 1959.
• "Most Beautiful Sergeant in World Visits Here," Evening Sun (Baltimore) June 1, 1959.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Atara (Korina) Barzilay	Miss Israel 1958	Succeeded by Rina Yitzchakov (Izakov)