Henrietta Szold, founder of the largest women's Zionist organization in the world, at age 18 began contributing columns in the New York Jewish Messenger , a weekly, under a pseudonym. She served as the Baltimore correspondent. While numerous biographies tell of her work as secretary of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and as pioneer Zionist in Palestine, leading up to the founding of the international Hadassah organization, no analysis has been conducted on her newspaper columns.
This study undertakes such an examination, using microfilm of the Jewish Messenger , both at the New York Public Library and the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. Writing down her opinions became so much fun as she produced her column for the New York Jewish Messenger., that she did another (The Baltimore Letter), published in a San Francisco newspaper--probably the Weekly Gleaner, also founded in 1857. But these she did not sign with her own name, afraid of being singled out and embarrassed, as she had been as a youngster. She signed them Sulamith, a name from the Bible, meaning "Mirror of the Age."
What did she write about? The American Jewish community had taken shape. Immigrants of the previous generation had established themselves economically, and during the break in immigration between 1860 and 1880, they consolidated their communal life. Synagogues rose up, philanthropy became concrete. In her first column in March 1878, she describes Jewish Baltimore extant organizations but complains about the dearth of the arts: "Our inherited charity and benevolence are well represented by our Orphan Asylum, our Benevolent Society, our Hospital, and other institutions." The organization of philanthropy was represented by the creation of a Young Men's Hebrew Association--just formed--and the growth of B'nai B'rith lodges, first in America and later internationally. Yet, she admonished: "the extensive fields of Hebrew lore, philosophy, poetry, and the noble language in which it is expressed, all have been allowed to remain barren."
She wrote, "While the services are woefully neglected on Friday eve, when there is usually a ball at one of our principal club houses, liberally patronized by the Jewish community, on Saturday mornings, however, our ministers deliver their sermons to large numbers." The source of trouble lay elsewhere, deep in American life. "Apparently, there are but two central ideas to which all else is subservient--business and pleasure, the fluctuation of prices or a round of dissipation" Mark Twain had called it the Gilded Age. "As one result, the very mention of Jewish literature in history is sufficient to blanch their faces and strike their faces with terror, " she wrote. She observed at the close of a talk at the local Y, "There was a general uproarious movement, as if the audience had been liberated from prison." Henrietta Szold held strong opinions about religion, government, and the role of women. Her columns broadened in content to comment on Jewish life at large. She took on anti-Semitic comments in a paper called the Standard; for example.
Also, she wrote of restrictive laws under which Jews lived in Russia, confined to certain areas, unable to own or farm land. Even in America, the year before saw a shocking incident at a resort hotel in Saratoga, New York, where the manager, Henry Hilton, refused to admit a rich and important Jew. Other hotels followed suit. She commented on all of it. Her stiff style improved, as she felt her way and found her voice. Her Messinger pieces became longer and more thoughtful. The journalism experience lasted for several years.
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