Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with 330,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Center, a leading research hospital in Israel renowned for its inclusion of and treatment for all religions and races in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US-Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.
In 2012, Hadassah opened the doors to its newest project, the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower, a cutting-edge facility with 500 beds and 20 operating theaters, as well as five below-ground floors for protection from terrorist attacks.
Hadassah is the true Hebrew name of the Biblical Esther, and as such, has become a popular name for girls. This variant of Esther, however, is not used as a given name in Israel, since Hadassah is commonly referred to by the name Esther in the bible. The name may also refer to:
The Book of Esther, also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" (Megillah), is a book in the third section (Ketuvim, "Writings") of the Jewish Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and in the Christian Old Testament. It relates the story of a Jewish girl in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people. The story forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim, during which it is read aloud twice: once in the evening and again the following morning. Along with the Song of Songs, Esther is one of only two books in the Bible that do not explicitly mention God.
Traditionally, unlike other Tanakh scrolls, a scroll of Esther is given only one roller, fixed to its left-hand side, rather than the customary two rollers (one fixed to the right-hand side as well as the one fixed to the left-hand side).
The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian capital of Susa (Shushan) in the third year of the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus. The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to Xerxes (both deriving from the Persian Khshayārsha), and Ahasuerus is usually identified in modern sources as Xerxes I, who ruled between 486 and 465 BCE, as it is to this monarch that events described in Esther is thought to fit the most closely.
hear the haunting theronade
like a chant through a timeless abyss
or the cries from the wolves from the
long lost woods
moon-less nights caress her
in shades of a nocturnal beauty
she dances on cemetary ground
be-witched by the wistful tunes of thy dark
enslaving eyes of a whistful darkness
calls me as a silent prayer
she is the one of nocturnal beauty
force me to become her slave
take - me on your journey
she was a woman in black lace
dancing like a raven around the mountain side
and the music of her wistful songs
or laughter, or cries
and out of the skies above me
a creature - a face turned down unto me
closer and closer - then so near
and when she again raised
she caressed me and lead us into a lustful dance
in circles bigger and bigger
higher up - into the moonless skies