A Hadassah delegation visited Marc Chagall in France in 1959, hoping to elicit a work of art for the Hadassah Medical Organization complex under construction in Ein Kerem. Fearing a negative response from the renowned artist, then-President Miriam Freund-Rosenthal wanted to keep the request modest—perhaps two stained-glass windows to adorn the synagogue proposed for the hospital campus.

The meeting wasn’t recorded, but, according to legend, Chagall interrupted the request in mid-sentence: “What took you so long?” he asked. “I’ve been waiting my whole life to serve the Jewish people!” The outcome was the extraordinary set of 12 windows—representing the original tribes of Israel—that makes Hadassah Medical Center a place of pilgrimage and a tourist attraction, in addition to being the flagship of Israeli medicine.

The opening of the Ein Kerem campus in 1961 was a landmark event, for Hadassah and for a young nation, but there was tragedy in its backstory. Our original campus on Mount Scopus was cut off behind the Jordanian lines during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. A few weeks before the armistice lines were drawn, a convoy of medical vehicles en route to our hospital was attacked by terrorists, killing 78 patients, medical personnel and escorts. For the next 13 years, Hadassah operated out of a constellation of satellite buildings in central Jerusalem. After the Six Day War in 1967, we regained and ultimately renovated the Mount Scopus campus.

Earlier this month, all Israel marked the two-year anniversary of the devastating October 7 attacks that took more than 1,200 lives. And in the Abbell Synagogue on our Ein Kerem campus—with the Chagall windows as backdrop—we honored the memory of all the lives lost as each name was read and El Maleh Rachamim was recited.

The windows are charged with symbolism, one piece of which is Hadassah’s role in the building and healing of Israel. As they have always been, since October 7, 2023, our institutions have been integral to saving lives, treating soldiers as well as civilian victims of the conflict. We expanded our services, accelerating the phased opening of two projects—the new Gandel Rehabilitation Center on Mount Scopus and our renovated Round Building in Ein Kerem—to meet the surge in demand. This, even as our staff was hard pressed because so many serve as military reservists, with hundreds called up for duty at one time or another during the war. Forensic experts from our medical center and from the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine identified the remains of many of the October 7 victims. And our Youth Aliyah villages used their excess capacity to shelter Israelis evacuated from border regions.

Israel, of course, is a small nation, where the average citizen has no more than one or two degrees of separation from any other. In addition to all of the other ways our Hadassah family worked to serve and heal over the past two years, many of our staff members went to funerals and made shiva calls for friends or family members who lost their lives in the war.

Through the recent conflict our hospitals also continued to function as bridges to peace, places where Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze staff, patients and families interact 365 days a year in an atmosphere of shared purpose and respect.

Hadassah has also renewed its purpose in America. With Israel under attack and antisemitism surging everywhere, Jewish women have felt not only a heightened need to be active in the face of adversity but also for connection.

Our work is as relevant to Jewish welfare and Israel’s survival today as it has been at any time. And we need to spread our net wider. One in 10 American Jewish women belongs to the Hadassah family. This means that, on average, every one of us knows nine women who are not yet in the tent. Imagine what we could accomplish if each of us brought in just one or two more.

In the spirit of a new year, which we pray will also bring a new era of peace, let us rededicate ourselves to the mission that has made such a difference since Henrietta Szold called the first Hadassah meeting to order.

Our work saves lives. Our door is always open. And our windows are awesome!