Hadassah Opens Up New World to Its Aides, Mrs. Shulman Holds

When Mrs. Herman Shulman, the national secretary of Hadassah, was but a young girl, a student at Hunter College, the World War—the war which was to make the world safe for democracy—enlisted the enthusiasm of her youthful heart. The girl, loyal to every shining ideal, interrupted her studies to undertake a rigorous course in nursing. To serve humanity seemed to her more important than to study the humanities, and as so many other young and eager spirits she hoped that out of the turmoil of the war a world would arise reborn and dedicated to true social justice.

Mrs. Shulman as well as all her fellow enthusiasts suffered a rude awakening in the years of peace-less peace that followed the great upheaval, but her belief in the ultimate triumph of the democratic ideal has never been abandoned, and now she feels that it well may be that in Palestine this ideal will come to true fruition.

GIVES BEST IN HER

A splendid worker for the great cause of Hadassah, Mrs. Shulman is—as she herself puts it—”desperately eager” to give to it the best she can. And how fine her best is may be judged by the fact that, though she became a member of the organization only about seven years ago, she has already served outstandingly on the board of Hadassah and at the last convention was elected national secretary. But, despite all the energy and time she devotes to her Hadassah work, she herself feels that in this voluntary service for health and child welfare in Palestine, the Hadassah women receive as much as they give.

WHAT HADASSAH DOES

“You always speak about what we are doing for Hadassah,” she says, “but ask once what Hadassah is doing for us, how it enriches our life, broadens our outlook, opens up doors to new interests and endows us with new intellectual and spiritual possessions.

“Just as an example: I have a colleague who is in charge of the Hadassah publications. In order to fit herself thoroughly for this particular work she has become an expert in everything relating to paper, print, lay-out, binding, etc., and if she were today to take charge of some publishing or printing business she would come to it with sound technical knowledge.

LEARNED DIETETICS

“Another woman who worked at the menus for the school luncheons we provide for the Palestinian children felt that to do her job thoroughly she ought to know more about food values, calories, and vitamins and consequently took a course in dietetics.

“Through the work for the Mount Scopus Hospital we have become deeply cognizant of and interested in questions of architecture of which we otherwise would never have had an inkling. The wonderful medical research work that is already started in Palestine and which will make it in the near future a world center of scientific progress has made many of us familiar with the vast field of modern science and has brought near to us the newest achievements in medicine and surgery.

“Granted, we give to Hadassah our loyalty, our enthusiasm, our willing service, but Hadassah repays us a thousand-fold. Not only in the knowledge that we help in the upbuilding of the Homeland and provide for the refugees of all countries and especially of Germany an educational health service of tremendous value, but also in the actual enrichment and growth of our own personality. A growth that in turn enables us to do more and better work than ever before.”

Thus Mrs. Shulman, who is fortunate in having a husband who is sympathetically interested in the work she is doing and proud of the success she has achieved. Her two young children, too, are intensely Hadassah-conscious and always on the lookout for anything that can be done for the children in Palestine. Born an Austrian—and who does not know of the charm of Austrian women—Mrs. Shulman is a true American in her practical efficiency and a true Jewess in her devotion to a high ideal.