‘Sitting in that seat saved my life, but I couldn’t stop thinking of what was happening in Europe’
The black-and-white photo is one of the iconic images of Israeli history. Sitting on the dais in the amphitheater are the president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Judah Magnes, and director of Hadassah Medical Organization Haim Yassky. Standing and speaking is Zionist luminary Henrietta Szold. She had recently turned 80 and was honored throughout the Jewish world. Also seated in front is Shulamith Cantor, née Frieda Jedid Halevi, granddaughter of the hacham bashi of Beirut. A Lebanon-trained nurse, she’d stowed away to pre-state Israel, where she headed both the first nursing school and the nursing service at Hadassah Hospital, and later became the equivalent of surgeon- general of the new State of Israel. But as mesmerizing as all of these famous personalities are, I am fascinated by the face of one young women, sitting among the rows of student nurses in caps. She looks desolate.
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