Henrietta Szold's Ser~ the Following Three Profiles of American Ment." in That Article, the Author Informed the - Bility to the Public
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, ' ..' " ., , . , ,. , , '.' " _ ... ,~" .. ~. "'~--,."'-~ .."".,-' ,-'.-. Thursday, September 27, 11&2 THE JBWISI!I :POST Page Twenty-three THE. JEWISH POST Thursday, September 27, 19&2 and especially of a pioneer of public health. It . was extraordinary how well she understood health problems without herself having had a medical ·THREE ZIONISTRISHONIMIN AMERICA Henrietta education. Her concentration on her tasks was Szold the equivalent of study, research' and consulta movement. But these brave spirits, though promi for the Russian Jew who sought a haven in Amer tion. She did not go to Palestine with the Ameri nent locally, lacked the standing Ricb,ard Gottheil ica~ the quiet fervor with which she served youth . can Zionist Medical Unit in 1918 because respon- enjoyed in the overall American community. Aliyah, draining for it the last measure of her sibilities in connection with its organization kept As early as 1899, the North American Review, T was a source ·of personal regret to Henrietta _ strength, were of one piece. "Consistency and her chained to her desk in America. The formid the foremost intellectual periodical of that day, able logistics of this undertaking in time of war I Szold herself that her husy life, its cQmmand- constancy were the hallmarks of her life. .' < published Dr. Gottheil's essay "The Zionist Move completely cleared from her desk, she left f(}r the , , ing duties, her own compulsive sense of responsi- . In the second phase of Henrietta Szold's ser~ The following three profiles of American ment." In that article, the author Informed the - bility to the public. weal did not permit· her to . vice to the Jewish people, the pioneer development Jewish National Home. to grapple with the chal Zionist, Rishonim. w.ere subjects of ,addresses "American public of the Zionist credo and pro- ,write herautobiographr. This she. wa;nted to do of the Jewish Publication Society, we find again lenge of peace and reconst:r;uction. I r~call, when at "a meeting of the Brith Roshonim, and· the 'gram: He. wrote: . but more than once. she 'surrend.ered personal. in a pre-Zionist activity 'seeds .that flowered later she arrived in the spring 0:( 1919 in 'Jerusalem and series has heen published in pamphlet form. inclination to the demands of the hour. .Those in her Zionist service" Counterpoint to the Ameri- plunged into work. She' was tireless, thorough (.. ·ICHARD Gottheil at hirth was given the name "We ask but. little portron of the green and and always. human. All problems ·came to her Another pamphlet planne~ for early release ancient earth; only to sow and sing and reap whom she left behind, "her disciples and . co- . canization of the immigrant wa:;; the Judaizingo~ ,.'. R of Richard James Horatio Gottheil, but when desk. Relaxation .she knew only on the Sabbath , workers and their disciples, follow in the furrow the America:Q Jew through education. Books for (; he came of age, he used only his first name, dis-, will deal with Dr.. Harry"Friedenwald, 'who in the land of our birth. This refrain echoes day.. '. carding even the initials J. H. that do occasionally succeeded Prof. 'Gottheil; . as president of the the longings of those Jews who the world has that she imbedded into Zionist history, often' the People of the Book was more t'han a slogan in ' ZOA, then known as' the Federation of learned· to call Zionists. What strange forces wishing that they had before them a blueprint the .third and 'fourth decade .of Henrietta Szold's She was seconded in the health work by Alice' crop up in some printed ~atter., He was bQrn in Se!igsberg.. It would' be. consonant with Miss Manchester, England, on OGtober 13, 1862; eleven . American. Zionists; Dr.' Nachman' Syrkin, were awakening among God's chosen folk? , .of her life as she herself might have seen' it. life .. Jewish culture, an imp~rted plant heretofore founder of the American' Labor . Zionist ,What new spirit was. being infused into the Henrietta Szold made substantive and sub- in this country, 'shot under her dynamic dedica Szcild's own evaluation of her colleague to men years later,. in 187'3, he came to the United States; tion at this point the names of three other Ameri- he died in New' York, on May 22, 1936, at ,the Movement, .and Rabbi Meyer Berlin, the dead bones? No nation ought to give an ear stantialcontributions to the Zionist movement tion to literary work, deep roots into American .organizer of the Mizrachi Zionist Organiza- to thil) cry, of the little' people more readily than' over ,and' above the total load of work hours, which soiL The theme of education' never departed from . can· women, Zionist. pioneers whose memory is ; age of sixty-three. " . blessed - Alice Seligsberg, Jesse Sampter and . Who and what manner of man was 'Richard tion of America. '., . the American, for it was itself ,one of them at even before an age of automation would strike . Henrietta Szold's scheme of Zionist activity,,' This one as a phenomenal figure. She took pride . " , ' Nellie Strauss Mochenson. For Alice Seligs " a time not so far hack as to make it forget , Gottheil, elected in 1898 as the first President of berg the .moral life was humanity in action. the, Federation of· American Zionists (later . 1't' S orIgm.. .... " in the fact that her first Zionist address I . antedated the first Zionist Congress.' 'In She served in the Land of Israel first as to be known as the Zionist Organization of . Then he proceeds' to !;lxplain the history. director of the' medica] unit,' then as head of America)? He was of medium height, with. 1896, 'she addressed the Nation.al Council of ,:, - of the Zionist movement, what it stands for, Jew.ish Women in Baltimore on the high' the orphan rescue and rehabilitation. work of a beautifull mobile face, enhanced by a neatly and how far it is an expression of the wishes post-war Pales'tine, then as t.he executive of trimmed beard~asily distinguished by his . purpose of Zionism. She joined the Hovevei of the Jewish people. ' Zion upon her ~'eturn fr;om ,her first trip to . Jewish Child Care in the City of New York. 'handsome looks, demeanor and appearance as Later on,' und.er the title of "What· Is Henrietta Szold looked upon Alice Seligsberg; an aristocratic gentleman. ',' Europe in 1881, when she saw' with her own Zionism," he puoIished a powerful summary eyes the travail. and yet the. unbroken .spirit ,her disciple, as' upon a teacher from whom , The' year he assumed the American Zion-, ,of Zionist aims and pm'poses in' which he 'one learns much:. '. .... ist leadership, he was desiguated as the Chief ,?fher Jewishpeople. Nevertheless, Zionism reminds his antagonists that. "After break remained for a considerable length of time .' Jesse Sampter was spiritually an' off . of the Oriental Departmerit of the New York dowri of Ghetto walls,> to be, so to speak, ' spring of Henrietta Szold. Like. Miss Seligs . Public Library. He was already serving as an ancilla~~activity in her busy life. That brought into harmony with the modern it was a vita:ra:nd' focal point in her life her' berg, she came from a strongly assimilated a full professor at C.olumbia University. To spirit, they-western Jewry-hact made an environment. ,Crippled by a sever attack of my knowledge, at that time,he was the only development in later years clearly proved .. ·t . effort to save the Jewish religion at the 'This brief recall of Henrietta Szold's life polio in her childhood, she transmuted a Jew 'occupying so high an academic post at ~xpense'of nationality and race, not realiz- . musical talent into a delicate poetic, faculty. that world famous educational institution. is associated with the. tribute of the Brith . mg that these last two constitute its bul Rishonim who remembered her' and 'shared Through Hadassah's school of Zionism, Jesse." As to his Jewish background and environ" w~rk" Sampter transmitted to, a whole generation ment, he was the son of Dr. Gustave Gottheil, ... ,;" her' life. It is well to emphasize 'here the'· Professor Gottheil did not entireiy con period in which her central service was di- . of Hadassah workers and leaders the concept . "highlyregarded for, his learning;. his piety, that Zionism was a way of life and education an4 recognized as a gifted poet. In 1898, Dr.. fine his activities to the local scene. He' rected to tending the home fires-the period served with skill and. distinction as the head' of her Americanization work of the immi- was its sustenance. Frail and wan, she 'came ,Gustave Gottheil was Rabbi Emeritus of to the Land of Israel and served'there until Temple Enianu EI, then, as indeed today, of the American' delegation to the Second ...'\. grant and refugees from Russian persecu- World Zionist Congress, and' in the same ': tion .. Miss Szold only rarely referred to that her dying day with whatever strength she the citadel of American Reform Judaism. could command/and with t1,)e ·humilityof The same Zionist convention that elected capacity attended the Congresses held dur period of her ·life, but when she did it, was ing the years 1899, 1900, and 1903. It may not without emotion ..Eventhe remembrance gr~atness in anY' capacity where she was' ~', . Richard as President, chose Rabbi Gottheil .-,-, . be interesting to recall that the'peakof the of those nights When she ,travelled hy horse-. needed. She set by example and achievement as Vice-President. Thus son and father pro standards . of service and integration for vided the illustrious leadership American· span of Gottheil's Zionist work corresponded car from the residential section of Baltimore' exactly with that of Theodbr Herzl's inten to its poor man's district had a certain exal Yemenite children who at the time were the , Zionism enjoyed at the very' start.