Hadassah

Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, in 1912. It is the largest Jewish organization in America. Szold visited Palestine in 1909 and returned to the United States determined to address the need for medical care in the region. From the beginning, Hadassah has focused on both health care and the young. The organization has built two medical centers in Israel as well as schools of medicine and nursing and has supported other health care and education programs. The group also supports youth, public health, and advocacy groups in the United States. Despite the fallout from having been defrauded in 2008 and concerns about the paucity of members under 40, Hadassah's 300,000 members remain committed to the vision of their organization's founder.

Before that first visit to Palestine, Henrietta Szold was already a dedicated Zionist and an experienced activist. Before she was 30, Szold had organized a night school where Jewish immigrant laborers from eastern Europe and Russia were taught English and vocational skills. It was among the first of such schools in the United States.

When her mother suggested that practical philanthropy was the proper response to Szold's concern over the absence of modern health care in Palestine, Szold took the idea back to her study group at home. They agreed to raise funds for nurses to visit the districts of Palestine. In February 1912, at a meeting in New York City, the Hadassah Chapter of the Daughters of Zion was born. Less than a year later, the first two nurses supported by Hadassah sailed for Palestine.

Communication between Hadassah and Palestine was cut off during World War I, but Hadassah continued to grow. By 1916, it had almost 2,000 members. By 1918, when it was possible to send another medical team to Palestine, it sent 45 doctors, nurses, dentists, and sanitary workers with the mission of bringing American-style medical care to serve all, regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity.

By the mid-1930s, Szold was involved with the Youth Aliyah, an organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis. Between 1935 and 1938 alone, the Aliyah had settled 3,100 European Jewish youth, ages 15 to 18, in 35 youth villages and three technical schools in Palestine. In 1942, the U.S. State Department named Hadassah as one of the five largest contributors to overseas relief.

Hadassah has continued to expand internationally and domestically. The organization has funded two medical centers in Israel, along with schools of medicine and nursing and an array of health care, education, and youth programs. Academicians and senior government officials [Page 1012]from the United States, Britain, Australia, and Israel have even nominated the Hadassah Ein Kerem and Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospitals in Jerusalem for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. The hospitals have been praised for the equality they practice during treatment, the ethnic and religious diversity of its staff and patients, and their efforts to build peace. In the United States, Hadassah has supported such issues as public health, voting rights, immigration, and stem cell research.

Hadassah's effectiveness was threatened in 2008 when the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme was revealed. Introduced to Bernard Madoff Securities in 1988 through a $7 million gift from a French donor, Hadassah invested an additional $33 million with Madoff between 1988 and 1996. In the months following the Madoff scandal, Hadassah made sharp cuts in its contributions to the Israeli hospitals and domestic programs. The organization insisted the cuts were planned and that Hadassah, although affected by the economic downturn, was not in financial difficulties.

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