The development of mother and infant Welfare Centers in Israel, 1854-1954

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

Volumn 55, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 398-425

  Shvarts, Shifra ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; FEMALE; FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT; HEALTH CENTER; HISTORY; HUMAN; ISRAEL;

FEMALE; FINANCIAL SUPPORT; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; ISRAEL; MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH CENTERS;

EID: 0034294899     PISSN: 00225045     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/55.4.398     Document Type: Review

References (71)

1. B. Neumann, Die Heilige Stadt und deren Bewohner [The Holy City and its Residents], ed. and trans., B. Z. Gath (1877; rprt. Jerusalem: Rabbi Kuk Institute, 1949), pp. 25-34; B. Z. Gath, The Jewish Community in Erctz Israel 1840-1881 (Jerusalem: The University Lovers Publisher, 1953), p. 19.
2. B. Neumann, Die Heilige Stadt und deren Bewohner [The Holy City and its Residents], ed. and trans., B. Z. Gath (1877; rprt. Jerusalem: Rabbi Kuk Institute, 1949), pp. 25-34; B. Z. Gath, The Jewish Community in Erctz Israel 1840-1881 (Jerusalem: The University Lovers Publisher, 1953), p. 19.
3. Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885), born in Italy, immigrated to England in 1744. Montefiore visited Palestine seven times, donated money to open schools for girls and workshops for boys, supported special educational programs for poor children and opened Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 55, October 2000 a clinic to provide medical services to the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 205.
4. M. Eliav, Under Imperial Austrian Protection, Selected Documents from the Archives of the Austrian Consulate in Jerusalem, 1849-1917 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 1985), document nos. 2, 26, 26-a, pp. 97-102.
5. Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) was the wife of James de Rothschild, head of the French branch of the Rothschild family, and mother of Alfonso (Meir) de Rothschild (1827-1905). Alfonso, together with his brother Gustav (1829-1911), head of the Governing Committee of the French Jewish Community, initiated Cohen's mission to Jewish Palestine. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), pp. 303-4.
6. N. M. Gelber, "Dr. Albert Cohen's visit in Jerusalem in the year 1854," Jerusalem, 1949, 2, 175-95; M- Eliav, (n. 3) document no. 25, pp. 97-98.
7. Neumann, (n. i) Die Heilige Stadt, p. 63.
8. N. D. Freiman, Jerusalem Memorial Book (Jerusalem: n.p., 1913), p. 24.
9. I. Yellin, To My Offspring (Jerusalem: n.p., 1941).
10. Ibid. See also M. Eliav, Erctz Israel and Its Yishuv in the 19th Century, 1777-1917 (Jerusalem: Keter, 1978), p. 168.
11. Ibid. See also M. Eliav, Erctz Israel and Its Yishuv in the 19th Century, 1777-1917 (Jerusalem: Keter, 1978), p. 168.
12. Karl Netter (1826-1882), a leader of French Jewry , was known for his philanthropy, especially among the Jewish community in Palestine. Netter was the founder and director (1870-1873) of Mikve Israel, the first agricultural school in Palestine. Netter, Halevanon, 1868, 6, 16. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 232.
13. Karl Netter (1826-1882), a leader of French Jewry , was known for his philanthropy, especially among the Jewish community in Palestine. Netter was the founder and director (1870-1873) of Mikve Israel, the first agricultural school in Palestine. Netter, Halevanon, 1868, 6, 16. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 232.
14. Dr. Bernard Neumann, born in Warsaw, a graduate of the Vienna School of Medicine, arrived in Jerusalem in 1847. From 1854 101862 he was chief physician and director of the Rothschild hospital in Jerusalem. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 233.
15. Neumann, (n. i) Die Heilige Stadt.
16. S. Zis (ed.), The Jubilee Book of The Eielyna de Rothschild Girls' School in Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Evelyna de Rothschild Girls' School, 1989), p. 10.
17. John Bunnell Davis (1780-1824) was an English physician who in 1816 established a dispensary for children in London. He showed an understanding of the causes of infant mortality and of the measures needed to reduce it. He distributed instructional pamphlets to mothers and organized a corps of teaching nurses who went to homes. G. Rosen, The History of Public Health (New York: MD Publications Inc., 1976), pp. 351-52.
18. Ibid., p. 352.
19. Mishna, Nida, XXIV.
20. Y. Joshua, Jerusalem - In Days of Old (Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, 1977), pp. 139-43.
21. Dr. Alexandra Belkind (1871-1943), born in Russia, studied medicine in Paris and Geneva, specialized in gynecology, and opened in 1905 the first women's clinic in Palestine. The Hebrew Medical Association Semi-annual Report, 1912-1914, LA-Lavon Institute-Labor Archives, Tel Aviv.
22. Ibid., reports B, C.
23. Eliav, (note 9) Eretz Israel, p. 168.
24. Ibid., pp. 167-83.
25. Harry Friedenwald (1864-1950), a Jewish ophthalmologist and a Zionist activist, participated in the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1925). He wrote Jews and Medicine (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1944). Rosen, (n. 14) History, pp. 357-65.
26. Harry Friedenwald (1864-1950), a Jewish ophthalmologist and a Zionist activist, participated in the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1925). He wrote Jews and Medicine (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1944). Rosen, (n. 14) History, pp. 357-65.
27. Nathan Straus (1848-1931) was a New York philanthropist whose family owned Macys Department Store. Interested in health problems, Straus established a system of milk stations in America. Beginning in 1920 he served as the chair of the American Jewish Congress and in 1922 he was elected as its president. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), P. 317.
28. H. Yaffe, Dor Maapilim [Brave Generation] (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1936), pp. 414-15; S. S. Kottek, "Pasteur Institute in Palestine," Korot, 1988, 7-8, 213-17.
29. H. Yaffe, Dor Maapilim [Brave Generation] (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1936), pp. 414-15; S. S. Kottek, "Pasteur Institute in Palestine," Korot, 1988, 7-8, 213-17.
30. Z. Shiloni, The Keren Kayeinet in Israel, 1897-1914 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1987). PP. 118-19.
31. M. Wassermann, "For mother and child: Hadassah in the Holy Land 1913-1993," Bull. N. Y. Acad. Med., 1993, 70, p. 253.
32. Rachel Landi's trip was funded by the Committee on Palestine Welfare of Chicago. Greater Newark Community Book, 1914; The Jewish Communal Register, 1917-1918, New York City, pp. 1359-69.
33. Rachel Landi's trip was funded by the Committee on Palestine Welfare of Chicago. Greater Newark Community Book, 1914; The Jewish Communal Register, 1917-1918, New York City, pp. 1359-69.
34. J. Baker, "Pediatric history: women and the invention of well child care," Pediatrics, 1994, 94, PP. 527-31; K. Buhler-Wilkerson, "Bringing care to the people: Lillian Wald's legacy to public health nursing," Am. J. Public Health, 1993, 83, 1778-86; Maccabean, 1913, 23, P. 59.
35. J. Baker, "Pediatric history: women and the invention of well child care," Pediatrics, 1994, 94, PP. 527-31; K. Buhler-Wilkerson, "Bringing care to the people: Lillian Wald's legacy to public health nursing," Am. J. Public Health, 1993, 83, 1778-86; Maccabean, 1913, 23, P. 59.
36. J. Baker, "Pediatric history: women and the invention of well child care," Pediatrics, 1994, 94, PP. 527-31; K. Buhler-Wilkerson, "Bringing care to the people: Lillian Wald's legacy to public health nursing," Am. J. Public Health, 1993, 83, 1778-86; Maccabean, 1913, 23, P. 59.
37. Dr. Yaakov Segal (1882-1935), born in Israel, studied medicine in France (1904). Between 1910 and 1914 he served as director general of the Rothschild hospital in Jerusalem. He also served as a medical officer in the French army during the First World War. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 237.
38. Dr. Abraham Albert Ticho (1883-1960), a Jewish physician, was born in Czechoslovakia, graduated from the Vienna School of Medicine, and specialized in ophthalmology. He immigrated to Palestine in 1912 and became the leader of the fight against trachoma in the country. In 1919 he became director of the ophthalmology department at the HadassahRothschild Hospital in Jerusalem and director general of the Ophthalmology Clinic, a private institution he established in 1919. Index Judaica (Jerusalem: n.p., 1976), p. 145.
39. Rose Kaplan joined a group of Jewish refugees from Palestine that settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where she established health services under the patronage of Hadassah. She died in 1917 in Alexandria. She was replaced by nurse Ida Hoffman of Beth Israel Hospital in New York. The Jewish Communal Register 1917-1918, pp. 1365-64
40. Dr. Helena Kagan (1889-1978), a Jewish physician, was a graduate of the Geneva School of Medicine and the first pediatrician in Palestine and founded the mother-child clinic in Jerusalem 1916. She also opened a clinic to serve Arab women in Jerusalem in 1923. Beginning in 1933 she worked as pediatrician at the Bikur Holim Hospital in Jerusalem. She received the Israel Prize for Medicine in 1975.
41. Hadassah Medical Organization, Third Report, September 1920-December 1921 (Jerusalem: Hadassah Medical Organization 1922), p. 73.
42. Protocols of the First National Meeting of the FHW, 23-24 March 1924, found in the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, file J 35/7.
43. Theodore Zlotzisti (1847-1943) was born in Germany, studied medicine in Berlin, directed the German Red Cross Mission in Turkey during World War I, and immigrated to Palestine in 1921. He directed the WIZO network of mother and infant welfare centers from 1929 to 1943. Information on the endeavors of FHW during this period is from the Federal Hebrew Women files in the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, File J 113/1346; see in particular a letter from Dr. Isaac Rubinow to H. Zold, 5 December 1921.
44. O. Greenberg and H. Herzog, Women's Volunteer Organization in a Nascent Society (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University), p. 34.
45. Hadassah Medical Organization, "Infant welfare work 1923," Hadassah Third Report (Jerusalem: Hadassah, 1923), pp. 2-3.
46. Ibid.
47. This goal arose out of solid health principles, but even more so it sprang from a rejection of Diaspora life by Zionists-an antithesis to the Zionist perception of the Diaspora Jew as epitomized in the image of the frail and pale Talmudic scholar. For a classic example, see the depiction in National Hebrew Poet Laureate Hayim Nachman Bialek's poem "The Talmud Student" translated from the Hebrew in Nathan and Marynn Ausubel, trans., A Treasury of Jewish Poetry (New York: Crown Publishers, 1957), pp. 86-92.
48. A. Bashan, "Educational institution for mothers," Haaretz, I January 1920, p. 3.
49. Hadassah Medical Organization, (n. 36) Third Report, pp. 12-13.
50. I conducted 13 interviews of women who were mothers of infants at that time. The interviews took place in Sheva Nursing Home in Beer Sheva between December 1996 and February 1997. All the interviewed subjects had immigrated to Israel in the early and mid-19205. For example, Beruria Ben Ephraim (1906-1998), a Jewish pioneer, immigrated to Palestine from Lithuania in 1924 at the age of 18, had her first child in 1926 and her second child in 1932. Interview conducted by author December 1996.
51. The idea of educating distressed mothers in proper health through sewing groups, lectures, and enrichment was not an original idea of the FHW, nor something thought up by Batsheba Kesselman. Sewing circles as a vehicle for education and "cultural" advancement of mothers by volunteer women existed in the United States and Europe, whether as a community initiative or as an activity launched by women's groups under the auspices of churches and various philanthropic institutions from the beginning of the twentieth century.
52. Hadassah Medical Organization, (n. 36) Third Report, pp. 12-13.
53. Untitled article in New Palestine, 16 September 1927, 8, n.p.
54. Hadassah Medical Organization, Twenty Years of Hadassah, 1918-1938 (Jerusalem: Hadassah Medical Organization, 1940), p. 36.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid., p. 20.
57. In 1948 WIZO moved its main office to Israel and is active today in fifty countries. About 250,000 women are members. WIZO supports schools, educational programs, and manages pre-school day care and kindergarten networks for working mothers in Israel. Greenberg and Herzog, (n. 35) Women's Volunteer Organization, p. 34.
58. Following the urgent need for nurses and teachers for its daycare centers, WIZO established its own schools and programs for training personnel to work with children, based on WIZO standards. In addition, WIZO trained nursemaids for the private sector.
59. B. Grunfelder, "The development of care in babies and infants in the last thirty years," Harefua [Medicine] 1945, 29, 11-14. Dr. Beno Grunfelder (1883-1955) was a pediatrician, director general of Hadassah Mother and Child Welfare stations in Jerusalem, and head of the pediatric department in Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem (1929-1955).
60. Yohann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827), teacher and social activist, developed theories about childcare and education in boarding schools. Pestalozzi said that boarding schools have to create a family atmosphere to replace the child's missing family. He thought that fulfilling the daily needs of the child would give him a sense of security that would help him in his life. Based on that background it would be easy to teach the child moral behavior.
61. Greenberg and Herzog, (n. 35) Women's Volunteer Organization, pp. 34-35. S. Shvarts, "Kupat Holim and Jewish health services during the British Mandate" in M. Wassermann and S. Kottek, eds., Health and Disease in the Holy Land (Lewiston: The Edwin Meilen Press, 1996), pp. 332-35.
62. Greenberg and Herzog, (n. 35) Women's Volunteer Organization, pp. 34-35. S. Shvarts, "Kupat Holim and Jewish health services during the British Mandate" in M. Wassermann and S. Kottek, eds., Health and Disease in the Holy Land (Lewiston: The Edwin Meilen Press, 1996), pp. 332-35.
63. Ibid., p. 312.
64. B. Chabas, ed., The Second Aliya Book (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1947), p. 186.
65. A. Luntz, Israel Calendar of 1911, p. 66.
66. Y. Kanievsky-Kanev, Social Security in Eretz Israel (Tel Aviv: Briuth Haoved, 1942) pp. 274-48. Kanievsky was one of the founders of Kupat Holim (1911). During the British Mandate period (1918-1948) he directed Kupat Holim social services. With the establishment of the State of Israel, Kanievsky was appointed to plan the national system of social services. Kanievsky was the leading figure in the legislation of insurance for mothers and the social security bill in Israel (1954). His reports on Kupat Holim health and social activity during the British Mandate period are the major source of information on that subject.
67. Ibid., pp. 310-12.
68. Ibid., p. 197.
69. Ibid., p. 195.
70. Implementation of the transfer of mother and infant welfare services to government auspices was delayed by four years due to more pressing problems. The War of Independence and the influx of mass immigration, which doubled the population, dictated investment of all energies to channeling existing resources, most of them nongovernmental organizations which operated facilities such as Tipat Halav, to meeting immediate needs, leaving reorganization efforts to a less pressured time.
71. L. G. Freed, K. Abu-Saad, C. Z. Margolis, "Reform of child immunization service delivery in Israel," J. Am. Med. Assoc., 1995, 273, pp. 1909-12.