Rest in Peace Dr. Ruth

Sex Therapist and Israeli Sniper

Jul 13, 2024

Dr. Ruth passed away yesterday at the age of 96. Most know her as an outspoken and humorous sex therapist. But there is far more to her story. Here’s just a little bit of it.

When Karola Ruth Siegel was sent to Switzerland at age 10 while her parents remained in Germany in 1938. Her father was sent to Dachau and then Auschwitz, where he was killed in the Shoah (The Holocaust). Her mother disappeared without a record being made by the Germans. At the end of WW2, Karola moved to Mandatory Palestine, which was an English possession and had been since the end of WW1. She also began using her middle name, Ruth.

Ruth joined the Haganah, a paramilitary force formed to protect Jews in the territory and the forerunner of the Israeli Defense Force. Haganah took the lead in the rebellion against the English occupation forces and became the core of the military after Israeli independence in 1948. Ruth was only 4 feet, 6 inches tall and this is apparently the primary reason why she was trained as a sniper. Before she ever went into combat during the 1948 War, the house she was staying in was hit by mortar fire from the Arab army attacking Jerusalem in June, 1948. Ruth was badly wounded, temporarily paralyzed, and nearly lost both her feet. She spent the rest of the 1948 War recovering from her wounds.

Ruth never finished High School due to WW2 and the Shoah. But she would go on to study early childhood education after the 1948 War and then to France to earn a degree in psychology at the Sorbonne. In 1956 she immigrated to New York City. She earned a Masters Degree in Sociology and a Doctorate, then trained as a sex therapist. She launched her radio show, Sexually Speaking, in 1980.