Several pioneering Jewish women created separate female Zionist organizations -but it was Henrietta Szold who united them into one: Hadassah, named for the biblical Queen Esther.

The organization quickly became known for its initiatives to help expecting and new mothers, combat rampant eye disease and provide nutritious meals to schoolchildren. Yet, its independence was eventually challenged by the men of the Zionist Organization of America.

“The men’s organization had a different view of Zionism,” said Francine Klagsbrun, author of “Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream,” published by Yale University Press.

“To them, a Zionism of health care and social work was not Zionism. It was not Zionism as they saw it – nation-building, creating settlements. They looked down on her and on Hadassah. They didn’t respect what she was doing or understand how tremendously important it was. Hadassah created these initial hospitals and health care in Palestine that did not exist before.”

“Inch by inch,” she said, “[the men] tried to take over much of what Hadassah did – fundraising, allocation of funds. The women pushed hard against this with Henrietta’s backing… In the end, the women succeeded.”

Multiple February anniversaries highlight Szold’s enduring legacy: the February 13 anniversary of her death in 1945 and the February 24 founding of Hadassah in 1912 – as well as Israel’s Family Day, held annually on the Hebrew anniversary of Szold’s death, the 30th of Shvat, which this year falls on February 17.

In Israel, Szold is memorialized as the ultimate “mother” in part because, in her later years, she devoted herself to rescuing Jewish children menaced by Nazism through the Youth Aliyah.

“It was the most important project she ever did in her life,” Klagsbrun said.

Klagsbrun addresses criticism that Szold was too accepting of British limits on Jewish immigration, and might have saved more lives had she pushed harder. Yet the author notes the warmth that Szold brought to the project. She greeted each child personally when they arrived and urged them not to forget the good parts of German culture – kindnesses that lingered in their minds long after her death.

“She became known as a mother in Israel,” Klagsbrun said. “She never married, never had children. She became the mother of thousands of these children who were rescued. There’s a letter I didn’t include, didn’t mention. It’s a lovely Hebrew letter from a boy who asked, ‘Can I call you mother? Mine died.’ … It’s what she became, a mother figure – maybe a grandmother figure – to some of them.”

Zionist who backed a binational state

Unlike many Zionist thinkers, Szold once backed a binational state for Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine.

Klagsbrun argues that Szold’s early support for binationalism reflected the realities of her time – and that she would recalibrate her thinking in today’s political landscape.

“Her attitude was that Jews and Arabs could live together peacefully,” Klagsbrun told The Times of Israel.

Over a century after the founding of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, the pro-Israel group is advocating on behalf of sexual assault victims........

© The Times of Israel