Hadassah Holds Inspiring Installation of Officers at LA’s Museum of Tolerance

Pictured left to right: Stacey R. Dorenfeld, President, HSC Northern Region; Dr. Deborah Villanueva, Chair, Hadassah Long Beach/Orange County Evolve; Esti Diamond, Evolve Chair, HSC. Photo courtesy of the author.

“It’s not the years in your life, but the life in your years,” Hadassah’s founder Henrietta Szold (1860-1945) once said. And on December 8, at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance, Hadassah National Board Member and Speaker’s Bureau Chair Stephanie Z. Bonder shared those words as she began her installation of Hadassah Southern California (HSC)’s 2025 board of directors.

It was an auspicious occasion in an auspicious setting. The Museum of Tolerance, a Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum, has its message and its charms and we enjoyed both. We participated in a docent tour of the museum and heard an interesting talk about aging from guest speaker Shayna Gothard Kaufmann, PhD, author of Embracing the Middle.

Installing Officer Bonder was an engaging speaker who, as she installed each of us, delivered an inspiring and pertinent message, moving us with a relevant story about our place on the board and within Hadassah. It was personalized and filled with reference to and reverence for our work in this world.

There were almost 60 volunteers and staff members in attendance. We hailed from the Valleys and the Desert to San Diego, Orange County and all across Los Angeles. Scott Abrams, aide to US Representative Brad Sherman (CA-32) presented each new board member with a personalized Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the US Congress. I’m framing mine and hanging it up on my wall.

In these troubled times, it’s wonderful and heartwarming to know that a philanthropic Zionist organization such as Hadassah is so well regarded. I am so proud of my Hadassah sisterhood and the small part I play within it.

Audrey Levine will be our president again this coming year. In her acceptance speech, she shared how proud and honored she is to be a participant in “healing the daughter of my people” (the words are from the prophet Jeremiah that Szold chose as Hadassah’s motto).

I will be returning as publicity and communications chair. There are many of us who repeat our HSC roles with honor and purpose, and there are the new recruits who help us grow our ranks as well as spread Hadassah’s message of tolerance and equity in the worldwide fight against terrorism and antisemitism.

Hadassah operates the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO), two world-class research hospitals in Jerusalem that are on the cutting edge of science and medical technologies, treating all people regardless of race, creed or religion.

Hadassah also cares for “at-risk” youth at  its two youth villages: Hadassah Neurim and Hadassah Meir Shfeyah.

Most recently, Hadassah opened the state-of-the art Gandel Rehabilitation Center, helping the wounded soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces and terror victims who come from all walks of life.

As we left the Museum of Tolerance that afternoon, each of us was joyful. In the elevator, the chatter was about the installations and upcoming fundraisers for each Hadassah group across the region and about supporting the children at Hadassah’s Youth Villages and those from the kibbutzim who have suffered so much as a result of the October 7 massacre.

We are excited about the upcoming “Bonding with a Purpose” overnight retreat we are having in Palm Springs this coming February. At Hadassah, we continue to be inspired to do good works, helping our people and our world to prosper and to heal.

Ronnie 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, to celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and to share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts.  Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 450 columns in the Times of Israel Blog and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.