Connections & Intersections: Henrietta, Emma, Golda, Oren, ReadM and Me

Henrietta Szold Medal (back view) image courtesy of Hadassah.

Photo courtesy of Hadassah.

What do you do when you attend a virtual Hadassah session and take notes that get hidden under a pile of papers? What do you do when, once in a while, you get a nudge from your brain as to how to connect several topics, yet the link isn’t quite ripe yet? What do you do when the pieces start coming together, bit by bit?

By George, “Putting it together, bit by bit, piece by piece is a wonderful feeling.” (Nod to Stephen Sondheim’s 1984 musical Sunday in the Park With George and Barbra Streisand, yes another Hadassah connection. Streisand is honorary chairman of Hadassah International’s International Research Institute on Women.)

A few months ago, I listened in on National Hadassah’s online book club, which featured bestselling author Francine Klagsbrun and her new book, Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream. It seems that Henrietta, Klagsbrun said, lacked confidence and did not see herself as a creative person. Yet, in 1888, way before she founded Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Henrietta opened a much-needed English-language night school for Russian Jewish immigrants in Baltimore.

I started thinking about other women of the time period who had a similar grand impact. I wondered if Henrietta ever met Emma Lazarus, since both of these Jewish women cared about and were associated with helping Russian Jewish immigrants, and the timing of their lives did intersect. Henrietta was born in December 1860 and died in February 1945. Emma was born in July 1849 and died in November 1887.

However, in my research for this blog, I couldn’t find any proof of the women ever meeting. I did discover, though, that Henrietta’s entries about Emma’s accomplishments appeared in The Jewish Encyclopedia as early as 1906.

You probably know that Emma, inspired by the Statue of Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles,” wrote a famous poem titled The New Colossus. In 1903, posthumously, the poem was cast in bronze and secured to the base of the iconic statue. To this day, the Statue of Liberty stands tall and proud in New York Harbor.

Intertwining with the themes of immigrants and mothers, Golda Meir enters my mind. Not born until 1898, Golda could not have met Emma, yet she could have met Henrietta. After all, Golda flew over many oceans and traversed many seas. She, like Henrietta, spent time in both the US and Palestine. Interestingly, they were also both honored by the same artist, Gerta Ries Wiener. Each of their portraits appears on a trapezoidal coin with a relevant quote on the flip side.

For Golda, the engraving reads, “Let all of us–united–fight poverty and disease and illiteracy.” For Henrietta, the engraving reads, “Make mine eyes look towards the future.” Below that famous quote is an image of Henrietta surrounded by a group of children. It is these quotes and The New Colossus that carry us forward in time to Oren Farhi, the ReadM.app and me.

My four grandparents were immigrants. Traveling by ship, they left the countries of their birth to come to America. Of the four, three lived to see the establishment of the State of Israel.

Of those three, I know of two who flew by plane to Eretz Yisroel (the land of Israel). Of the three women I talked about earlier–Emma, Henrietta and Golda– only one, Golda, lived to see the establishment of the State of Israel and, of course, to become its Prime Minister. It is an Israeli man named Oren Farhi, who is a bridge to Henrietta, Emma and Golda through Israel, immigration and fighting illiteracy in future generations.

Oren grew up in Lod, Israel. He lived near Henrietta Szold Street and frequented this street many times because it was on the path to his dentist, his mom’s jewelry shop, his friend’s home and an urgent care center. While still residing in Lod, Oren served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Oren married Adi Erez. Eventually, he, Adi and their young children immigrated to America. After flying over Ellis Island and waving to the Statue of Liberty, their next steps were finding a place to live and enrolling the children in school. Those tasks came with some complications, academic and emotional because, for them, unlike Henrietta, Emma and Golda, Hebrew was their native language. Learning English was a struggle, and both Oren and Adi were not pleased with their children’s school environment. So they relocated and, using their ingenuity and skills, they created ReadM.app to help their children practice reading English. This “new child,”  born in America, would be a “citizen” of their new country.

According to the ReadM website, the “web software packages have over a million installs.”  It is described as a “revolutionary application designed to transform the way we learn to read. Powered by advanced AI and cutting-edge technology, ReadM provides real-time, personalized feedback as you read, helping to build confidence and fluency in readers of all ages and abilities.”

Oren and Adi put their heart into this app and, today, their children are involved in the business, too. It is a pleasure for me to work as an advisor to them and be one of their “sparks.”

I am a second-generation American, who has one grandmother’s English language notebook and the other grandmother’s high school diploma; a college student who wrote an entrance essay about why I wanted to become a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL); a member of Hadassah’s Educators Council; and the daughter of a  92-year-old, first-generation mom who has a wish to travel to Haifa.

So, we have crossed centuries and oceans. We have explored connections across the lands of Palestine, Israel and America through the common denominator of contributions on behalf of and by immigrants and educators. We know about the importance of fortifying the next generations.

Let’s use the tools we have today to continue to care, as Emma did, for those “yearning to breathe free.” Let’s stay committed to making a meaningful difference in people’s lives as Henrietta and Golda did. And let’s honor the new generations for the gifts they have already shared with the world and those yet to be revealed.