Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, New Bedford Chapter records

The organization was likely founded in 1925 with its first President, Mrs. Fisher (Evelyn Abramson) and several other local women. The object and purposes of the New Bedford chapter of Hadassah were to provide medical relief and to minister to the physical and spiritual well-being of needy persons in the State of Israel; to encourage and support medical education in the State of Israel through the establishment and support of a school or schools for the education and training of physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, medical, dental, and laboratory technicians; to assist in the rescue and immigration to the State of Israel of Jewish children and youth from areas where Jewish life and institutions are threatened; to foster the ethics and ideals of Judaism among its members and among Jewish youth through a program of Jewish education designed to encourage and to provide materials and facilities for religious studies and Jewish history; and to help strengthen American democracy through study programs.