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Article Excerpt
Most Zionists who settled in Palestine during the period of the British Mandate (1922-1948) emigrated from Europe and western Asia, few from America. Yet, as Michael Brown points out, several individuals from the minimal number who came from the United States rose to key positions in the Yishuv. He cites Golda Meir, Judah Magnes, and Henrietta Szold. (1) For reasons that will soon become evident, Bessie Gotsfeld ought to be added. Today Gotsfeld's name is familiar to only one section of American Jewry, Amit Women, yet her work was instrumental in creating Israeli society and culture. Her activities were in many ways parallel to those of the more famous Szold, who, paradoxically, was both her partner and her nemesis. The two women not only helped to forge Israeli society but also enhanced the lives of their American followers, boosting their self-confidence, strengthening their Judaism, and deepening their attachment to Zion.
For many years, the name Bessie Goldstein Gotsfeld was synonymous with the Mizrachi Women's Organization of America (MWOA), the Zionist organization for American Orthodox women. Gotsfeld (1888-1962), a native of Galicia who arrived in New York in 1905, and her stepmother, Adela Goldstein, were principal founders of MWOA in 1925. Goldstein was the organization's president during its early years, but Gotsfeld was, from the beginning, its driving force. To insure the proper administration of new projects, Goldstein settled in Palestine in 1931. She assumed the title "Palestinian Representative of MWOA," and was legally bound to execute organizational policy. From that time forward, she micromanaged every MWOA activity in Palestine, as well as most policies promulgated by the central office in New York.
MWOA's first undertaking in Palestine was Bet Zeirot Mizrachi (BZM) in Jerusalem, a vocational secondary school that opened in 1933. BZM was intended originally for poor girls from the Old Yishuv. Some enrolled, but, in the wake of Nazi persecution, German girls from Orthodox homes joined them. During World War II and immediately thereafter, the school accommodated European refugees and local residents, and by the early 1950s, most students were refugees from Arab countries. Other schools followed, as well as houses for young working women, day nurseries, social and cultural centers, and two large children's farm villages. Today MWOA's successor organization, Amir Women, is the leading foreign supporter of technical and commercial education and social services for Orthodox youth in Israel. (2)
In 1912, Henrietta Szold (1860-1945) founded Hadassah, America's general female Zionist organization. Eight years later she arrived in Palestine, opened medical services for women and children, and founded a nursing school. She later became an official of the Yishuv's Presidium and National Council, managing the Yishuv's educational and social organs. In old age, she assumed even greater responsibility, directing Youth Aliyah in Palestine. In the latter capacity, Szold frequently came in contact with Bessie Gotsfeld. (3)
At times the relationship between the two women was amiable, as when Szold observed a BZM graduation ceremony, where, as Gotsfeld proudly announced to her membership, the older woman was "greatly impressed." (4) On other occasions, the two women were at loggerheads. Gotsfeld resented Hadassah's wealth and prestige, as well as the affiliation of many Orthodox women with both organizations. When Szold became director of Youth Aliyah, she became the focus of Gotsfeid's disaffection. Like most Orthodox leaders, Gotsfeld advocated an increase of immigration certificates for religiously observant girls. When they were not forthcoming, she blamed Szold. However, when they did arrive she took credit for them. (5)
Szold, in turn, had her own grievances. She complained that the constant demands by all Orthodox groups, particularly MWOA, soaked up a disproportionate amount of her time. She chafed at Mizrachi claims to services it did not finance, and at accusations that Hadassah was instrumental in introducing an "irreligious element" into Palestine. (6) In private correspondence, she grumbled over "the constant complaints and worriments of Mrs. Gotsfeld," and described BZM's demands for additional funding as "obtrusive." (7)
In face-to-face meetings with the formidable Miss Szold, as she was universally known, Gotsfeld was courteous but never obsequious, ever aware of the power of the woman who controlled a large part of BZM's enrollment by granting potential students hard-won certificates and subventing their maintenance. Yet, beneath the respect on the surface for the accomplished older woman, lingering distrust lurked. Gotsfeld took offense at Hadassah's primacy in Youth Aliyah and demanded the same status for MWOA. After lengthy altercations, parity was achieved in 1943, not only for MWOA but also for Pioneer Women, the American women's organization that supported Labor Zionism. (8)
The year 1943 was also the point when approximately a thousand Jewish refugee children from Poland who had traversed a continent and gathered in Teheran finally reached Palestine. (9) Placement of the "Children of Teheran" became a source of controversy between Orthodox groups and the Youth Aliyah organization, but, in this instance, not between Szold and Gotsfeld. Other Orthodox groups wrote position papers in which they demanded control of all orphaned children and of all children whose parents' whereabouts were unknown. (10) Gotsfeld did not enter the fray but instead prepared places for scores of children. Their presence, augmented by the arrival of more child refugees, altered the profile of the student population in every respect and expanded the school's mission. Gotsfeld made room for pre-teenaged children, boys as well as girls, in the two urban schools, now greatly expanded. Under her supervision, MWOA ventured into the countryside and established agricultural youth villages near Petah Tikvah and Raanana. As a result, by the time World War Two ended, MWOA's program had extended far beyond its original goal of providing vocational education for adolescent girls.
Despite differences in background and affiliation, there are striking similarities in Szold's and Gotsfeld's life and work, manifest in the areas of aesthetics, education, and family situation. They also shared values and standards rooted in American social norms.
One such trait was a singular sensitivity to beauty. In childhood, Baltimore-born Szold delighted in the family garden. In parched Palestine she longed for the multicolored flora of Maryland. Easing the strain of hard work at her Youth Aliyah office was a honeysuckle vine; after a long day at the office she would frequently bring home some of its blossoms. Whether moving about in Jerusalem or traveling to other parts of the land, she carried a large botany book. (11)
Gotsfeld, though raised in Przemsyl, a mid-sized city in Galicia, enjoyed summer vacations at her grandparents' rural home. There, the young girl would lie on her back for hours, gazing at the gnarled oaks, the colorful leaves and flowers, the birds, and the blue sky. (12) From immersion in nature flowed a distinct aesthetic that would govern her personal style and the conduct of her work. Flowers and fruit adorned her Tel Aviv apartment, and she saw to it that fine linen, attractive dishware, and flesh blossoms graced tables where BZM students took their Sabbath meals. Artistic values also governed the buildings she commissioned. When planning urban schools, farm villages, and houses of worship, she employed architects trained in new European techniques, insisting that a handsome environment encourages learning. The second Bet Zeirot Mizrachi, completed in Tel Aviv in 1938, was, by common consent, a showcase, as was Kfar Batya, the postwar village she planned and built. (13)
A second parallel between the two women emerges when their family circumstances are examined. Both Szold and Gotsfeld were the oldest children in large families, perhaps a natural breeding ground for leadership. Although Gotsfeld was blessed with a loving and supportive husband...
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