Chapters, Regions, Co-ops and Junior Hadassah Records in the Hadassah Archives

"The objects and purposes of the chapter shall be to implement those provided for in the National Constitution, as follows: 1. To assist Israel in the absorption and integration of all Jews who need or want to go there. 2. To provide and promote in Israel, including Jerusalem, a broad program of health activities, social services and youth welfare work. 3. To foster Jewish education and ideals in America.” - Model Hadassah Constitution for Chapters, 1949

Throughout the century of Hadassah’s existence, it enrolled more women and raised more funds than any other national women's volunteer organization. Aspiring to become a national organization, Hadassah modeled its structure on the National Council of Jewish Women. Local chapters recruited women regardless of their age, class, marital status, or country of origin, immigrant status or ethnicity. Many of these women worked, most frequently as shop assistants, garment workers, teachers, secretaries and stenographers. Various groups within the chapters reflected particular interests of their members. The chapters featured daytime and evening meetings, study and sewing circles, and English and Yiddish language groups.

Adapting aspects of women’s public activities, the chapters focused on women’s health issues, self-education, public speaking and issues related to Zionism. At the sewing circles meetings, Zionist literature was read aloud in English and Yiddish. Hadassah’s approach to Zionism was distinctly non-ideological and was understood as a movement for renewing Jewish practical idealism. The chapters actively recruited non-Zionists and rejected Zionist policy of creating institutions only for Jews in Palestine.

By the time the United States entered World War I, Hadassah had thirty-four chapters and 2,100 members. Despite an ideological split in the organization’s leadership, between the pacifists and the impassioned supporters of the Allies, the chapters united in their mission to raise thousands of dollars to fund the American Zionist Medical Unit (AZMU), consisting of forty-five physicians, dentists, and nurses, and tons of supplies.

In 1920, Hadassah’s Central Committee authorized the creation of Junior Hadassah—an organization for girls of eighteen years of age and older, with a motto suggested by Henrietta Szold: “A joyful mother of children.” Junior Hadassah’s initial focus was the care of war orphans, a continuation of an underfunded effort of the American Zionist Medical Unit.

By the late 1920s Hadassah’s membership increased to over thirty-seven thousand, with dozens of new chapters created nationwide. New projects, such as the Hadassah School of Nursing, a school lunch program, an urban recreation program, health and day care centers, and a children’s village, drew in new members with opportunities of supporting practical work for Palestine.

During the decade of 1935-1945, Hadassah achieved the status of a large national organization as its membership expanded from over 38,000 to over 142,000 women. During that era, the chapters largely focused on Youth Aliyah—the effort to rescue Jewish children from continental Europe and relocate them to Palestine. Youth Aliyah became the most popular practical project undertaken by Hadassah. Etta Rosensohn, the National President of Hadassah from 1952 to 1953, described Hadassah’s work of that period as “one of the most effective movements in human rehabilitation to emerge from an era of unprecedented cruelty and destruction.” The Hadassah Archives feature the Records of Youth Aliyah (I-578/RG 1) as a separate record group.

Hadassah became more than a household word in many American Jewish families. The daughters of the Hadassah pioneers inherited the love of Zionism and Palestine and were enthusiastically joining the chapters their mothers helped create. Many of the national leaders of Hadassah were daughters of mothers who had been local chapter activists. Most of Hadassah's national presidents were initially presidents of local chapters, mothers or daughters of chapter presidents.

After the establishment of Israel on May 14, 1948, Hadassah followed the great exodus of Jews into suburbia with many new chapters appearing on Long Island from Levittown to Hollis Hills, in New Jersey from Princeton to Deal, and in Maryland from Silver Spring to Chevy Chase. The recruitment efforts of that time emphasized the close ties of Zionist ideas with American democratic values.

By the 1950s, Hadassah membership drives reached every state and region. Many stay-at-home mothers and housewives of different backgrounds, often far removed from Jewish tradition, saw their local Hadassah chapters as a much welcomed outlet for social interaction, participation in Jewish life on a global scale, and an opportunity to learn and acquire new skills. For many, joining a local chapter served as an introduction to ideas of social feminism.

The number of new chapters and individual membership of Hadassah continued to increase steadily during the 1960s and 1970s, with a particularly sharp increase after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. In 1973, Hadassah had over fifty chapters with over 1000 members in each, nine of those chapters had over 5000 members each. By 1977, Hadassah was 360,000 members strong.

The 1980s saw a significant decline in growth and a gradually aging membership. The marriage of practical Zionism and social feminism that attracted hundreds of thousands of new members in the previous decades did not appeal to the next generation of Jewish American women. The previously unfathomable levels of independence, education and career opportunities, in conjunction with a diminishing interest in Zionism, and with an increasing interest in radical modern Jewish feminism made many potential members view Hadassah as an archaic organization. Through the 1980s-2000s, Hadassah stepped up its efforts to attract young members with new series of educational programs, participation in international women’s conferences, and an increased identification with Israel.

References

Levin, M., and Kustanowitz, E. (1997). It takes a dream: The story of Hadassah. Jerusalem: Gefen Pub. House.

Simmons, E. B. (2006). Hadassah and the Zionist project. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.