Lesson 53 - A 3 a.m. Phone Call

Just like those we shared with Liat in shiur mispar chamishim ve-shalosh, many of life’s most poignant moments can occur in hospitals--the beginning of life, the end of life, good news, scary news, prayers, blessings, and hopefully . . . healing. In a country now known for its fine medical care, perhaps the most famous of Israel’s hospitals is called Hadassah--a hospital with a history . . . and a story.

The story begins with an extraordinary American woman named Henrietta Szold. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1860, Henrietta accomplished many remarkable things during her lifetime: she became the first female editor of the Jewish Publication Society; she enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (though, in the early 1900’s, she was not permitted to become a rabbi); she organized nighttime English language and American citizenship classes for immigrants newly arrived in America. But the accomplishment for which Henrietta is best-known is the founding of the women’s volunteer organization called Hadassah.

In 1909, Henrietta and her mother visited pre-state Israel; there they witnessed the starvation and disease that affected the people of the region. (At this time, Palestine was largely malarial swampland, yet to be reclaimed as a viable place to live.) Moved to find a way to help ease the suffering, Henrietta founded Hadassah in New York in 1912, along with a women’s study group called the Daughters of Zion. (The founding meeting of the group coincided with the Jewish holiday of Purim, so they adopted as its name Hadassah--the Hebrew name of the holiday’s biblical heroine, Esther.)

In 1913, Hadassah sent two nurses to Palestine. They set up a small public health station in Jerusalem to provide pasteurized milk to infants and new mothers and to treat trachoma, a dreaded eye disease rampant in the Middle East. By 1918, Hadassah had sent an entire medical unit, composed of 45 doctors, nurses, dentists and sanitary workers, to bring American-style medical care to serve all--regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity. The organization was central in the establishment of hospitals, community health centers, clinics, and medical training programs throughout Palestine (including hospitals in Tel Aviv and Haifa, the first Tipat Chalav mother and child clinic in Jerusalem, and Palestine’s first nursing and medical schools.)

In 1930’s, planning began for a new hospital in Jerusalem to replace the Rothschild hospital founded in 1888; the cornerst