Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. Minneapolis Chapter and Upper Midwest Region.

Hadassah was founded in New York in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, a Jewish scholar, editor, and Zionist. The organization grew out of a meeting of twelve members of the Daughters of Zion Study Circle on the Jewish holiday of Purim, and quickly expanded into a nationwide organization. The major projects of Hadassah were medical and educational aid to Palestine and subsequently to the Jewish state of Israel. The Youth Aliyah program, initiated by Szold in 1934, expanded the organization's work to include the rescue and transportation of children to Palestine from Germany and other Nazi-controlled parts of Europe.

Shortly after Szold founded Hadassah in New York, six young Minneapolis Jewish women pledged themselves to raise funds for war relief and medical equipment and personnel in Palestine. The group, initially called the "Self-Denial Club," wasn't officially chartered as the Minneapolis Chapter of Hadassah until 1924.

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