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Presidents' Message
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Betty Denebeim |
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As we retell the story of Purim, I am reminded of Henrietta Szold and her travels to Palestine in the early 1900s; how she unknowingly set herself on a path to become Israel’s 20th century Esther. Early on she saved many lives from illness and disease by establishing and supporting the Hadassah Medical Organization. Later, she met every boat delivering childrenand adults escaping the war and the holocaust to be sure they got the care they needed. She spent the rest of her life working to improve the medical care facilities and the day-to-day health of many Israelis. I find inspiration in the letters she writes in 1909 during her visit to Palestine where she is contemplating what needs to be done and how it could be accomplished. |
We last heard from Henrietta Szold and her mother after they had left Palestine, in a letter to her sisters written onboard ship heading from Alexandria to Trieste on November 28 and 29, 1909. Henrietta had written on the 28th about the “fertility of the land” in Palestine, and she continued: “The casual observer, of course, will see only stony ground and stony hills. It is true; Palestine farming in the first place is far from easy. The neglect of 2000 years must be made good, the mis-management of the present [Turkish] government must be counteracted, the lack of water must (and can) be remedied. It is hard work and the colonists have worked tremendously hard but once the thing will be set going, the last will indeed blossom like a rose, from the very stones are the wealth of the soil.”
Henrietta continued on the 29th. “So far as the products of agriculture are concerned, the colonists have done well. The fields and orange groves look well kept and well worked. But the administration! That is a long chapter and I shrink from opening it.”
Henrietta Szold’s administrative brilliance led her to write with disdain of the existing administrative control in the Yishuv. After returning to New York and founding Hadassah in 1912, she devoted most of her time to the administration of the quickly growing organization, based in the Hadassah office in New York. She moved to Jerusalem in 1920, planning to manage the Hadassah Medical Organization until Hadassah was able to hire a long-term medically-trained professional as director. However, the need for help in the overall administration in Palestine still called to her 10 years after her first visit; in addition to her work with Hadassah, for the rest of her life she was an indispensable member of the Vaad Leumi, the governing council of the Jewish community in Palestine. [Taken from Hadassah Archives]
Happy Purim to all who use the qualities of Esther and Henrietta Szold to work for Hadassah!
Betty Denebeim
President
