Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold

Henrietta Szold is among the most influential American Jewish women who ever lived. She founded Hadassah in 1912, a Jewish women’s service organization, that inspired hundreds of thousands of Jewish women to invest their energies in a cause that transcended their own personal lives. She became a major force in the early twentieth century in Palestine: she established its health care system, treating Jews and Arabs equally, shaped its education system and initiated social services that prevail today. In a crowning achievement, Szold helped organize Youth Aliyah, which successfully rescued thousands of Jewish children from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe during the 1930s and transported them to Palestine.