On 24 February 1912, 12 members of the Daughters of Zion Study Circle met at New York City under the leadership of Henrietta Szold. A constitution was drafted to expand the study group into a national organization called Hadassah (Hebrew for myrtle and the biblical name of Queen Esther) to foster Jewish education in America and to create public health nursing and nurses’ training in Palestine. Hadassah is now the largest women’s volunteer organization in the US, with 1,500 chapters rooted in healthcare delivery, education and vocational training, children’s villages and services and land reclamation in Israel.
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