Wij-Articles-The Story of Marian Greenberg by Shira Koren-Final Edit-Dec24-10
The Story of Marian Greenberg:1 The Forgotten Hadassah Activist1 The Story of Marian Greenberg:1 The Forgotten Hadassah Activist2 Shira Koren, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Abstract Marian Greenberg devoted the majority of her life, nearly sixty years, to volunteer work at Hadassah, where she worked closely with Henrietta Szold. She was the first chairperson of Youth Aliyah, the organization that saved thousands of Jewish adolescents from the Holocaust, and undertook other management roles, committing herself fully to Hadassah and to the State of Israel. Yet, while Szold received immense credit for her management of Hadassah and Youth Aliyah, Greenberg and other volunteers have been all but forgotten from history. Interestingly, in her books, correspondences and other writings, Greenberg herself ignores her own role in the projects she was involved in, and instead gives all the credit to Szold. This article tries to do justice to Greenberg's legacy by exploring her life's projects and by suggesting why she was overlooked. This explanation may also be applicable for the other female Hadassah volunteers who worked with Szold but were forgotten from history Hadassah and Youth Aliyah – Background Information Most Jews in Israel and in the United States of America have heard of Henrietta Szold, the founder and chair of Hadassah, the American Women's Zionist organization. But if Israelis or American Jews were asked who Marian Greenberg was, very few would recognize her name or be familiar with her work. In 1912 Henrietta Szold, the organization's first president, and the Daughters of Zion, a women's study group, established Hadassah in New York City.
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