Hadassah (Savannah, Ga.) Records

Hadassah is an international Jewish women’s organization formed in New York City by the Zionist leader Henrietta Szold in 1909. Envisioned as a women’s Zionist organization that would carry out practical projects, it was started with the relatively simple act of sending two nurses to provide health care for the people of Jerusalem. From these beginnings, it grew into the world’s largest women’s voluntary organization and a major provider of medical services and training in the State of Israel.

The Savannah Chapter of Hadassah was chartered on 29 April, 1918 by the Federation of American Zionists but it was not until eight years later, on 28 January, 1926, that Savannah was “put on the Hadassah Map.” It has existed there continuously since then. Officers were elected at that first meeting, with Mrs. Ida Wilensky serving as the first president. The activities of the group have always revolved around fund-raising, primarily through solicitation of annual monetary donations. The group was divided by age into a Senior Group and a Junior Group from the beginning, with the former coordinating the bulk of the traditional fund-raising.

The Junior Hadassah Group evolved into the Business and Professional (B and P) Group of Hadassah in the 1950s. Although still considered a subset of the larger Savannah Chapter of Hadassah, it became an active organization in its own right in 1965. The B and P group changed their name to Shalom Hadassah in 1968. The group disbanded on 20 May, 2001. They seem to have concerned themselves primarily with non-traditional fund-raising outside of the purview of the Senior Group. This led to a string of cookie sales, and later, annual theatrical productions advertised as “Hadassah Presents.”

Members of both groups participated in regional conferences and national conventions throughout the years.