Rabbi Steve Cohen Congregation B’nai B’rith, Santa Barbara CA August 12, 2011

It might not surprise you to learn that when in 1912 Henrietta Szold and a few of her high-powered New York City Jewish women friends first determined to form an independent national organization of women Zionists, they were severely criticized, by the male Zionist leadership. The Federation of American Zionists already existed; why did they need a separate women’s organization? In fact, if they would come under the umbrella of the Zionist Federation, their newborn women’s group would receive additional funding from the Federation. But Miss Szold…as everyone called her… rejected that offer, preferring independence. An organization run entirely by women. Her goals were two-fold: first, to improve the lives of the people—Jews and Arabs-- living in the land of Palestine. And second, to transform the lives of American Jewish women. Who was this woman? And what is this organization that she founded, and which is now entering its one hundredth year? In that year 1912, Henrietta Szold was 52 years old, and already famous and enormously well-respected. While still a teenager she had written a weekly column for the New York Jewish Messenger. While she was in her twenties, she had established the first English language instruction Night School for immigrants in Baltimore. At age 28, she was the first woman on the publication committee of the Jewish Publication Society…and became the Society’s Executive secretary, a position of national responsibility and influence. She lectured, and wrote, and was asked for advice and support by many Jewish leaders in this country in the 1890’s. At age 38 she was the first woman on the Executive Committee of the Zionist Federation of America. And in 1901 she became the first woman student at the Jewish Theological Seminary…on the condition that she not try to become a rabbi. In 1909 her life began again. At age 49, her heart was broken by the man she loved, and Miss Szold traveled to Palestine with her mother Sophie. On the trip, these two women traveled by horse-drawn cart throughout Palestine, witnessing firsthand the poverty, the dirt and the disease found everywhere in the agricultural settlements and in the cities. Upon their return, Henrietta’s mother said to her: “This is what you should do. Practical work in Palestine.” And with that word of command and inspiration from her elderly mother, Henrietta gathered together a group of forty women, calling themselves “daughters of Zion” and they announced their intention to form a large national organization of women Zionists. They took their motto from the Biblical prophet Jeremiah: “To heal the daughter of my people.” In these few words, the motto pointed to their two purposes: first, to provide medical care in Palestine. And second, to energize and mobilize the Jewish women of North America. Times were changing. Women were finding their public voice, and acquiring the right to vote in one state after another. California in 1911. Illlinois in 1913. Hadassah began as another, particularly successful, movement to give women a voice. The women of Hadassah modeled their first project on the groundbreaking work being done by the great Jewish American woman, Lillian Wald. In her Henry Street Settlement, Wald pioneered the concept of visiting nurses, who would live in a neighborhood, become close to the people in the district and teach them about sanitation, good food and health 2 practices, and offer personalized health care. Miss Szold felt that this model of district nurses would work well in Palestine, and would give her women’s organization a logical and powerful focus for their efforts. After less than a year, she had received a pledge from Nathan Strauss, owner of Macy’s, to pay for the first four months’ salary, if Hadassah would commit to take over after that. And in January 1913, ten months after their first meeting, two nurses traveled with Strauss to Palestine, where they set up an office in Jerusalem and began seeing patients. They saw about 5,000 patients in their first year. Not a bad start! Hadassah’s work continued slowly at first, adding a physician, and three midwives in 1915, and then after the First World War Hadassah took a huge leap forward, sending the American Zionist Medical Unit, a group of 45 doctors and nurses, and 400 tons of supplies…which completely reshaped the landscape of medical care in Palestine. For the first time, medical care was not simply emergency medicine, but a full program of public health, with a focus on women and children, and the care was available to everyone, Jew and Arab alike. This radical indifference to the religion or ethnic background of the patient has characterized Hadassah’s work from the very beginning. Then in 1920, at age 59, Henrietta Szold….born and bred in Baltimore, with all of her friends and family here in the States….picked up and moved to Palestine, where she took over as director of the American Zionist Medical Unit, renamed the Hadassah Medical Unit. A few years later, in 1927, she was named to a three-person Zionist executive committee overseeing Jewish communal life in Palestine, and in 1931 she organized from scratch the structure for a national system of social work. Are you tired yet? She was not. She was 71 years old….a legend, a powerful speaker, an organizational genius, and a potent fundraiser. In her seventies, Henrietta Szold took charge of the Youth Aliyah program, and traveled three times to Nazi Germany, where she worked with Jewish communities in Germany to arrange for Jewish children to be brought to Palestine. Through her efforts, funded by Hadassah, 33,000 children escaped from Nazi Germany to Palestine. When she died in 1945, thousands of those children attended her funeral. That year, 1945, was the year that the Santa Barbara Chapter of Hadassah was founded, by about ten women in the living room of Frances Sanders…matriarch of the Sanders family. Hadassah nationally had been a powerful force during World War, selling a total of $200 million dollars of war bonds, and Frances established this chapter in memory of her nephew Gerald Swatzberg, one of three local Jewish boys who had died in the war. Since those ten women gathered in the Sanders living room, each of them chipping in 25 cents,…among them Viola Girsh and Sophie Friedman, the local chapter of Hadassah here in Santa Barbara has blossomed and grown, in parallel to Hadassah’s phenomenal growth on the world stage. Hadassah worldwide is now the largest Jewish organization…of any kind…in the world, with over 300,000 members. What has been accomplished beggars the imagination. Remember, this is a volunteer organization….not a governmental body and not a for-profit corporation. With hard work, and love, and discipline, the Jewish women of the United States have made Hadassah successful beyond Henrietta Szold’s wildest imaginings. Two hospitals…and I urge you, if you travel to Israel, visit the Hadassah hospital, the most significant Medical Center in the Middle East…it will fill you with pride. Five medical schools, nursing schools, outpatient 3 clinics, residential villages for disadvantaged youth, counseling centers, the list goes on and on and on. All beginning with two visiting nurses, funded by a small group of determined women. And in keeping with Henrietta Szold’s deeply held conviction, all of it is for the benefit of everyone….Jew and Arab. And what about here in Santa Barbara? I have been receiving phone calls, emails and packets of materials from various members of Hadassah for the past several weeks ….ever since the word got out that I would be speaking about Hadassah. God help me if I fail to mention some key detail or personality of Hadassah’s sixty-six years in this town since 1945. As I mentioned, Hadassah’s mission, since its inception was two-fold. First to bring quality medical care to Palestine/Israel. But second, it was to breathe life into the community of American Jewish women. This was the second and equally important meaning of the motto “To heal the daughter of my people.” In this town, Hadassah has done just that; in sixty-six years, Hadassah has been the lifeblood of the community of Jewish women. The Santa Barbara chapter of Hadassah is strong and vibrant, and I would like to take a moment now to ask the current members of the Hadassah Board to stand….so that we can all thank you for carrying on Henrietta Szold’s visionary work, and so that anyone who might be interested in joining can see who to approach. Please stand. And now I would like to ask any past presidents of the Santa Barbara chapter of Hadassah to stand….so that we can thank all of you. It has been fascinating for me to go back over old Hadassah directories, and yearbooks and concert programs…just to see the history of our community pass before my eyes. So many of the leading women of our community have been presidents or officers…and now I really will get into trouble if I start listing some but not others. But perhaps it will be OK if I single out Natalie Myerson, who is according to my sources the third longest-standing lifetime member of Hadassah in California. One of the most eye-opening pieces of my research for this sermon was looking over program booklets for the annual musical concerts that Hadassah presented at the Lobero theater in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. That period is sometimes thought of as a quiet and low-profile time in SB Jewish history. But consider that this building was built by the Jews of SB in those quiet days, and those concerts were magnificent fundraising events, with top notch musicians, and volunteer participation by dozens of women, and ads taken by all every kind of business in Santa Barbara. Compared to today’s glossy program books, the production was simple and heimish. But the coordination of human time and energy was impressive by any standards. This, I believe, has for one hundred years been Hadassah’s trademark, here in Santa Barbara, around the country, and in Israel: a human touch. A woman’s touch. Combined with Henrietta Szold’s fierce passion for discipline and doing things right. It’s a powerful combination. It’s why we are here tonight. Thank you Hadassah….may you go from strength to strength. Shabbat Shalom.