Jewish American Heritage Month: Showcasing Our Impact

“Looking back at the changes in American Jewish life which I myself witnessed, I would put the growth and influence of Hadassah high on the list,” wrote Golda Meir in her preface for It Takes a Dream: The Story of Hadassah by Marlin Levin.

This July, we’ll be reveling in our country’s independence — and landmark 250th anniversary. During Jewish American Heritage Month in May, we illuminate some of the ways Hadassah women — strong and proud — have made dynamic contributions to our country, through philanthropy, activism and leadership. As the nation’s largest Jewish women’s organization in 2026, we continue to build on that legacy.

• In 1952, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited a Hadassah group in Poughkeepsie, NY, praising Hadassah for doing “so much good work both here and in Israel.... It is always a pleasure to meet with its members.” In 1949, she accepted Hadassah’s first Henrietta Szold Award (for her humanitarian service) at a reception at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
• Hadassah led a 2025 letter signed by 27 organizations urging Congress to protect funding for women’s health research, stressing that “ongoing women’s health research funding is essential to ensuring that the progress we have made in improving women’s health outcomes over the past 30 years does not regress.”
• Following Hadassah On The Hill: Day of Impact in March 2026, during which Hadassah leaders met directly with members of Congress to advocate for Hadassah’s key policy priorities, a number of lawmakers have taken measures to accelerate US-Israel defense partnerships and demand more funding and protections for Jewish institutions from hate-motivated attacks.
• In 1918, via telegram, Hadassah urged President Woodrow Wilson to support women’s suffrage, pointing out that women in Israel were already able to vote. Within a year, American women had the right to vote and hold office. During the 1996 presidential campaign, in response to a declining Jewish vote, Hadassah launched a nonpartisan campaign to get members to register to vote.
• Members from around the country brought their signs to Washington, DC, for the March for Women's Lives in 1989 and again in 1992 and in 2004, when Hadassah National President June Walker, z"l, addressed over 1 million people in support of a woman’s right to make her own choice as it regards her body. In 2019, members across the country held pro-choice rallies on National Day of Action. And in 2024, Hadassah signed amicus briefs in two Supreme Court reproductive rights cases, and continues to speak out at the state and national levels.
• Hadassah played a leadership role in the bipartisan effort that led Congress to pass the Never Again Education Act, signed into law in 2020. And after months of tireless advocacy by Hadassah members across the country, legislation adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism advanced in seven states in 2024. Also, Hadassah’s 2024 report, “From Fear to Resilience: Women Facing Antisemitism,” showed that two-thirds of surveyed women said antisemitism is affecting their lives, relationships and work.
• With 32 delegates, as part of the largest American delegation in the history of the World Zionist Congress (WZC), Hadassah helped shape the direction and leadership of Zionism at the 39th WZC in 2025. Earlier in the year, Hadassah launched the campaign Vote Your Values, encouraging Jewish Americans to vote in WZC elections.
• Hadassah was a strong advocate for the National Institutes of Health — part of the US Department of Health and Human Services — to recognize women’s medicine as distinct from men’s medicine and create a women’s division. In 1991, the Office of Women’s Health was created. In 1995, Hadassah went to Washington, DC, to help push legislation for gender equity in medicine, a response to doctors hesitating to perform angiograms on women because of the risk tied to women’s narrower blood vessels.
• In conjunction with Brandeis University in 1997, Hadassah established the Hadassah International Research Institute on Jewish Women at Brandeis University (now Hadassah-Brandeis Institute), the first university-based research institute devoted to the study of Jewish women.
• In 2025, Hadassah co-hosted the inaugural National Conference of Women Changemakers, in partnership with the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, bringing together leaders across different religions and backgrounds to combat hate, including antisemitism.
• A longtime supporter of Young Judaea, Hadassah became the sole sponsor in 1967 to help foster a strong commitment to Jewish life among American youth and young adults (through 2012, after which Hadassah continued to support the now-independent organization).

It’s difficult to argue with Hadassah’s forward-thinking founder, Henrietta Szold, who said it best: “I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say that progress is impossible.”