On Tuesday, March 10, over 200 members of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate directly to federal lawmakers for a variety of issues relating to the Jewish community.
Participants, which included a contingent from Baltimore, traveled from all over to discuss antisemitism, women’s and public health, the importance of strong U.S.-Israel relations and more.
Harriet Rubinson is the vice president of advocacy for the Hadassah Greater Baltimore region, and she said that it was an effective and uplifting day.
“We had very helpful and productive conversations with them about our priorities, especially the specific bills that they might be facing in the legislature, and what our priorities are [with] crossing party lines,” she said. “It was a really powerful day for all of the folks who participated.”
Some of the bills that the group supports are the United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act, the Pray Safe Act and the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons Act.
Hadassah is a large organization, with one in 10 Jewish American women belonging, and it is a diverse one, too. There are members from all over the political spectrum. However, Hadassah is apolitical in the sense that it supports causes — not politicians. Those in attendance gathered together to support causes across the aisle.
“I think in the divisive environment that we have, especially in Washington, D.C., right now, it’s really important to have personal relationships and try to understand and talk to one another and find common ground,” Rubinson said. “You can’t necessarily get 100% of what you want, but you can get what you want together. And so I think it’s important in this environment that we went to Washington last week to promote our cross-cutting issues regardless of political party.”
Nancy Braverman, the co-president of Hadassah Greater Baltimore, said that gathering a group of women from across the country was, in part, a sobering reminder of the need for government action on behalf of the Jewish community right now.
“We were just in Washington with the president of the region [that covers Detroit], and [recently attacked Temple Israel] is her neighborhood synagogue. We had been with her the day before, so it was really timely, and it really reinforced the fact that we need that legislation,” Braverman said.
Barbara Deitch is the other co-president of the Greater Baltimore Region, and this was her first time traveling to D.C. with Hadassah to advocate on Capitol Hill. She said that it was “enlightening” to participate so directly in the democratic process.
“I feel like we were really being heard, and we were able to talk about our important issues. I think as we talked to each of the staff members, we each had our own important things. I know I brought up a lot about antisemitism, and so I made sure that I was able to speak to that at the meetings,” Deitch said.
Rubinson said that Hadassah’s numbers are important, but the fact that the group moves together in lockstep really means that they can accomplish a lot.
“There’s more power in advocacy when we work together,” she said. “That’s one of the lessons.”
The group was largely segmented by their home regions so that they could primarily meet with staff members of congressmembers from their states. The Baltimore contingent met with the teams of Rep. Johnny Olszewski of Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District, Rep. April McClain Delaney of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland’s 4th Congressional District and Rep. Kelly Morrison of Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District.
Rubinson and others with the Hadassah Greater Baltimore chapter also advocate constantly on the state level in Annapolis.
“One of the messages that both the Maryland elected officials and the U.S. elected officials that we speak to send us is that it’s important for them to hear from us. They want to hear from us, and they need to hear from us. It’s kind of a no-brainer, but I think people feel powerless. They do have power, and their power is their voice,” Rubinson said.
Moving forward, Hadassah said it will continue to advocate for Jews, Israelis and women in America. Deitch added that this was an encouraging example of what can be done with a little bit of teamwork and effort.
“Everything that we asked of them was [received] very positively. So it was a good experience in that way,” she said.
