(DOWNLOAD) "Playgrounds and Penny Lunches in Palestine: American Social Welfare in the Yishuv (Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America) (Organization Overview)" by American Jewish History # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Playgrounds and Penny Lunches in Palestine: American Social Welfare in the Yishuv (Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America) (Organization Overview)
- Author : American Jewish History
- Release Date : January 01, 2004
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,History,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 300 KB
Description
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, was founded in 1912 in New York City in order to give Jewish women a frontline role in the Zionist movement. Under the leadership of Henrietta Szold, the fledgling organization adopted a controversial new approach to Zionist work: it sought to improve living conditions in the Yishuv in Palestine by providing hands-on health services to local women and children, beginning with maternity and infant care. In 1913, Hadassah launched its first venture in Palestine by sending two public health nurses to Jerusalem. Some Zionist leaders, however, condemned this as mere charity-work. They criticized Hadassah for "Diaper Zionism," which diverted attention and resources from what they regarded as the more productive, nation-building work of advancing the Zionist cause through political lobbying in the Diaspora and land development in Palestine. (1) This accusation may provide a clue as to why Hadassah's Zionist state-building role has been largely ignored in histories of Zionism: Hadassah focused on developing social welfare in Palestine because it modelled itself not on other Zionist organizations but rather on the women's benevolent societies and female-led settlement houses that flourished in the United States during the Progressive era. Szold told Hadassah's founding members that, for their first project, she desired to establish in Palestine a system of "district visiting nursing patterned after Lillian Wald's project on the East Side of New York." (2) The evolution of Hadassah's interests over the years to encompass child welfare, health, and sanitarian reform was typical of women's activism at the time. Women's voluntary organizations and activists opened settlement houses and hospitals, sent public health nurses into the community, educated immigrants, helped young women in trouble, and organized school lunch programs and children's playgrounds. (3) Over the years, Hadassah exported this roster of American field-tested Progressive-style social programs to Palestine.
 "Playgrounds and Penny Lunches in Palestine: American Social Welfare in the Yishuv (Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America) (Organization Overview)" by American Jewish History # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}