In her piece for The Times of Israel Blog, Randi Cohen Coblenz, a member of Hadassah’s Northern Virginia Chapter, remembers what she learned about Hadassah by studying an old Hadassah cookbook that belonged to her grandmother, also a Hadassah member. She and her sisters found the worn but well-loved cookbook, which was published by Hadassah’s Danbury Connecticut Chapter, in their family’s book collection. As she thumbed through it, she was excited by some things but upset about others. She was pleased to find recipes submitted by celebrated American women such as Kate Smith, Metropolitan Opera star Geraldine Farrar, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady Bess Truman and local celebrities. While she loved the recipes, she was distressed that the women were identified only by their relationships to their spouses. Cohen Coblenz is proud that Hadassah has been a leader in the fight for women’s empowerment and women’s health equity. She is pleased that women are now recognized as individuals, not just as their husbands' wives. Cookbooks are culinary time capsules, she says. This one is a reflection of the ties that bound together the members of a Hadassah chapter – a group of remarkable women who raised money to create a new nation, Israel, and the hospitals of the Hadassah Medical Organization.
Randi Cohen Coblenz is a member of the HADASSAH WRITERS’ CIRCLE, a program of Hadassah’s Media & Public Relations Office that offers Hadassah’s volunteer leaders, members and professional staff a way to share their thoughts and feeling about Hadassah’s work in the United States and Israel.