I must confess.
I can’t rest easy.
I’ve been writing an ongoing Jewish Times feature on the first JCC Hall of fame inductees, and one really important person isn’t on the first list.
I’m sorry, I can’t live with it. So please, JCC nomination committee and all of those who have worked so hard on this, don’t be offended. I really mean no offense.
But I really think that an exception should be made and Henrietta Szold’s should be added to the list of June 12 inductees.
The nomination committee had the daunting task of cutting down a list of 220 names, and they managed to get it down to 11. This had to be difficult in itself. But sometimes I think we can be so close to a situation and so passionate about reaching a goal, that we might overlook the obvious. Indeed, the selection committee gave six months of their time and effort to put this together, and the list they produced is stellar.
Yet, I can’t help but think that this like Cooperstown’s first induction not including George Herman “Babe” Ruth as one of its inductees. It never would have happened. Shoshana S. Cardin, herself, one of the 11 deserving inductees, said that her only real regrets were that there weren’t more women inductees (she’s the only one) and that Henrietta Szold wasn’t included.
So with a polite prod to my friends at the JCC, I’m asking that Henrietta Szold be made an exception and given her proper place. The Hall doesn’t need any more credibility. Its first 11 choices are amazing. But I think this would be an exception you’d get little argument over, and I think it would be the honorable thing to do.
We have scientists and businessmen and Jewish leaders in our first 11, but this is a woman whose legacy is still very much alive. We’re talking about Hadassah, the largest Jewish organization in American history, created by Henrietta Szold of Baltimore. Every time a Hadassah member goes to a school to teach teens about breast cancer or testicular cancer screening and awareness as part of its Check It Out program, it is testimony to the legacy of this great lady. She’s still saving lives.
There’s so much more. It’s about Zionism, Hadassah Hospital, the love of other Jews, community service, the strength of Jewish women, the saving of Jewish lives from the Nazis.
This woman is a hero of our people, and if you went around the world and asked people to put together a Jewish Hall of Fame from anyone, anywhere in the Jewish world, Henrietta Szold would most probably be an automatic pick.
So, without being overly dramatic here, I know the list of first-year inductees was supposed to be 10, but it’s 11.
The list should be 12.
I know there will be those who say if we make it 12, then there’s someone out there who should make it 13.
Folks, this is Henrietta Szold for crying out loud.
Let’s not make this about red tape, politics or hurt feelings.
Just put her name on the list.
Everyone will be okay with it, I promise.
Henrietta Szold should be in our first group of inductees.
It’s the right thing to do.

Excerpted from Tom Segev’s book “The Seventh Million”:

“Henrietta Szold, who headed the Jewish Agency’s social work division, also frequently protested about the sick and needy among the immigrants.  From time to time Szold demanded that such “cases” be returned to Nazi Germany so that they would not be a burden on the yishuv.”

Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame?