Twenty years in the work, Labors of Love , The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold, explores the pioneering American Jewish humanitarian, one of the founders in 1912 of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization - – the main force behind it whose vision shaped it as well as becoming its president - and the running of Youth Aliyah, which rescued 11,000 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe.

Ginzberg, Peabody Award-Winning Director; Winner of the NAACP Image Award of 2022 for Best Documentary, discusses with Victoria Wilson and Foster Hirsch, Szold’s large, transformative life and work, as well as the filmmaker’s own personal quest in the making of the film.

“My mother hoped I would be inspired by Szold.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Under Szold’s guidance Hadassah became the largest woman’s volunteer organization in America as well as the largest Zionist institution in the world. Its growth and status empowered women as a group that enabled middle class women to become leaders, thinkers.

Abby Ginzburg, Wilson and Hirsch explore Szold’s life-long work helping all of the people of Palestine - Jew, Christian, Muslem - and giving the women of Hadassah a spiritual dimension to their lives as she worked to create a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.

In every endeavor Szold headed, whether establishing education and social services in pre-state Israel or rescuing from the Nazis, and reshaping, the lives of thousands of children, she set her eyes on the future in spite of fears and self- criticism. Long after her death Szold’s vision remains part of all that she created.

“Come with me, even though you may tire, the road will be worth it.”

‍ ‍ -Henrietta Szold

Join us and watch the fifteenth event in the Talk of the Town series of conversations with Victoria Wilson and Foster Hirsch that takes place monthly at 3 West 51 Street in New York City.