Finding My Why Through Hadassah

Somewhere along my Hadassah leadership journey, I realized that Hadassah is truly my happy place. I once heard a speaker talk about passion. He said, “If you want to know what your passion is, pay attention to what you are doing when you feel most alive.”

When I heard that, I started reflecting on my own life: Which are the moments when I feel energized, fulfilled and completely myself? It always comes back to Hadassah.

Whether I’m at a board meeting, organizing a program or attending a fundraiser, I am happy. I feel part of something bigger than myself. I feel proud of what we are accomplishing. And I feel surrounded by women who understand why this work matters.

That feeling of purpose is what anchors me. It is why I lead and why I keep leaning in. I believe in the power of having a place where we as women can raise our voices, put our skills to work and lift each other while lifting the world. When women step forward in Hadassah, we help accelerate medical innovation in Israel through our support of the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO)’s two hospitals in Jerusalem. The whole world benefits because HMO shares its discoveries with the world. Why? Because its medical professionals believe that life-saving innovation should never stop at a border!

At Hadassah, we advocate for the health and well-being of women. We demand equity in medicine, so women are seen, heard and properly cared for.

We advocate for a strong US-Israel relationship because partnership and stability are essential to Israel’s future and to global progress.

We fight for women’s rights, both in the US and in Israel. We educate, we empower, we care — and we show up wherever we are needed.

When I see the reach of our mission, I feel both humbled and energized. What we do matters — to patients fighting cancer and chronic illness and to women searching for opportunity. It matters to every person who believes that health care, dignity and hope should be universal.

My “why” is to turn purpose into real impact and change lives through leadership. I want to be part of shaping what happens next.

Leading in Hadassah allows me to live my values. There is no other place I would rather invest my heart, my time and my energy.

A few years ago, I was at an event where Film Producer Adam Leipzig said, “Successful people in any field always focus on the people they serve rather than how they are served themselves.” He went on to say, “A successful person who is happy makes it a point to make other people happy.” That went straight to my heart.

When we support clinical trials at Hadassah’s two world-class hospitals that lead to new cancer therapies, mothers get to watch their children grow up. When our doctors perform groundbreaking surgeries restoring eyesight, a grandmother gets to see her grandchild’s face for the very first time. When we advocate for policies ensuring women are included in medical research, future generations of women receive care that finally reflects their biology and honors their dignity.

When Hadassah responds to crises in Israel with blood drives, protective equipment, trauma support and mental health care, families can take one more breath of relief on the hardest days of their lives.

These are lives changed. Hope delivered. Futures rewritten. That is why we serve. That is why we lead. And that is why our “why” matters so deeply.

Released Hostage Eli Sharabi spent 491 days in captivity, underground in filthy, unbearable conditions with his legs shackled. After his release, he learned that his wife and daughters had been murdered.

Released Hostage Keith Siegel, held for more than a year, witnessed brutal sexual assaults of fellow hostages and experienced constant beatings and psychological torment.

Released Hostage Alon Ohel was bound in chains for nearly two years with no treatment for shrapnel injuries.

Released Hostage Avinatan Or, who is 6’5”, was chained inside a cage so small he could barely move, an enclosure only slightly longer than the thin mattress beneath him. Before that, he was held behind bars in a cell where turning around was nearly impossible.

Reading the accounts of the hostages who have come home is incredibly painful. But sometimes the hardest things to do are the most important. It is incomprehensible how anyone could be so cruel. It is equally incomprehensible how these remarkable human beings, true heroes, could survive what they experienced. I am in awe of those who have returned alive.

The stories of what they endured are unimaginable. Yet, seeing their reunions with loved ones and the smiles that somehow light their faces makes it just a little easier to breathe.

As difficult as these stories are to hear, it is just as important that we never forget what they endured and how they found the strength to persevere.

One of those hostages, 23-year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose hand was blown off on October 7 and who survived 11 months of captivity before being murdered by Hamas terrorists, is remembered for offering this message to his fellow captives: “He who has the ‘why’ will find the ‘how’.” Those words, paraphrased from Friedrich Nietzsche, became a lifeline.

Eli Sharabi describes how Hersh’s belief in purpose gave strength, not only to himself, but to those surviving alongside him.

Purpose gives us strength. Strength gives us direction. Direction drives our chosen mission.

Everyone needs to find their “why.” That “why” is your power. That “why” is your momentum forward.

Purpose is what sustains you when the work is hard and the world feels heavy. When you are grounded in your “why,” you find the strength to keep showing up.

In Hadassah, I have found a place where women lead with courage, conviction and heart and where service is measured in lives changed. That is my “why.” And that is why I lead.

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Michelle is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested in writing? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.