Mothering the nation: The Hadassah organization's social welfare project in the Yishuv and Israel, 1912--1960

In the pre-state era before Israel's establishment in 1948, when most Zionist organizations concentrated on political lobbying and land development to advance the Zionist cause, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, adopted a radically different---and at the time, controversial---strategy: it sought to improve living conditions in the Yishuv (Jewish community of Palestine) through providing hands-on social services to the local population. Beginning with setting up a nursing station in Palestine in 1913, Hadassah methodically laid the groundwork for the medical and social welfare systems of the future Jewish state.;This thesis argues that Hadassah's early work in Palestine is best understood as an offshoot of the maternalist politics and "child-saving" agenda of the Progressive reform movement in the United States. Hadassah tied the maternalist agenda to the Zionist goal of a Jewish state by formulating a distinct ideology called here "Zionist maternalism." The core of Zionist maternalism was the idea that Jewish women had a specific responsibility for social welfare in the Yishuv.;Hadassah's formidable contribution to the Zionist statebuilding project is assessed through an examination of the American field-tested projects which Hadassah transplanted to the Yishuv: pasteurized milk depots, maternal education, health care and health education in the schools, school lunches, nutrition education, organized playgrounds, model flats and domestic science education. The analysis of archival materials, including publicity brochures, newsletters and correspondence shows how Hadassah set up and administered these projects, and also how, through a carefully crafted publicity campaign, the organization persuaded many American Jewish women to support its innovative social welfare agenda. Hadassah's vital role in supporting the Youth Aliyah child rescue and education program from 1935 through the 1950s is also assessed in the context of the American organization's maternalist ideology and social welfare mandate.;This study demonstrates that, through their participation in Hadassah, American Jewish women played a decisive role in the development of the social welfare infrastructure which made Israeli statehood possible in 1948. Ultimately, Hadassah took a leading role in shaping the political culture of Israel as a social welfare state.