A Message from Hadassah President

Together in 2025, we made a lifechanging impact.

In the United States, 2025 began with an act of terror fueled by antisemitism in New Orleans: the worst car-ramming in US history. Hadassah members jumped into action to help injured survivors, including a 24-year-old IDF reservist who was hospitalized. They sat by his bedside and encouraged him to continue his recovery at the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus.

By its formal inauguration in October, the center had treated more than 2,000 patients, including that reservist, Yehonatan Ben Tzur. At the ribbon-cutting, President Chaim Herzog thanked Hadassah medical staff and supporters for helping Israeli soldiers and civilians heal.

Time and again in 2025, I was deeply moved by the Hadassah hospital patients who shared with me their gratitude and awed me with their resilience, like Yehonatan, who can walk again.
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I was proud to represent Hadassah in the halls of power in 2025: from Capitol Hill and the Knesset to the UN: speaking out for urgent action against antisemitism, anti-Zionism and Hamas’s sexual violence, speaking up for women and for Israel. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the UN finally listed Hamas as a party responsible for sexual violence in conflict.
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I was energized by our members’ and supporters’ commitment to Hadassah, which so many say has transformed their own lives. We owe so much of our impact to our volunteer leaders and advocates, and to the Hadassah staff in our US and Israel offices, Hadassah hospitals and youth villages.
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Every day, I am honored to do this work together and beyond grateful for our donors, whose support makes it all possible.

Together, We Can, Do and Will Make a Difference,

Carol Ann Schwartz
Hadassah National President

Looking back on 2025, I am proud of how Hadassah has united people around a mission that remains as vital today as it was at our founding: strengthening Israel through healing, hope and opportunity. As Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, we are powered by women and supporters whose generosity, advocacy and leadership advance world-class medical care and research in Israel, support youth development and strengthen the US-Israel connection.
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In a year marked by crisis for Israel and the global Jewish community, our mission took on even greater significance. It reflects the practical Zionism that inspired Henrietta Szold to mobilize American Jewish women to provide essential care in Israel for people of all faiths. Today, Hadassah hospitals rank among the world’s best, delivering pioneering medicine and research while serving humanity.

At the Hadassah Medical Organization, that commitment was reflected in groundbreaking achievements, including Israel’s first total artificial heart transplant, innovative epilepsy surgery and pioneering spinal surgery that helped a previously paralyzed patient to walk again. Hadassah researchers advanced promising work in areas including ALS, suicide prevention, diabetes and obesity treatment, with potential impact far beyond Israel. These milestones underscore Hadassah’s role as a global medical leader.
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Throughout 2025, Hadassah members and leaders worked with Congress, the White House, and interfaith and international partners to support Israel, combat antisemitism and demonstrate the impact of our movement grounded in education, advocacy and purpose.

Hope, not fear, fueled our lifechanging work in 2025, which you will read about in this report.

When I began my Hadassah leadership role in January 2025, I knew there was no place I would rather be as a Jewish woman and a Zionist. By year’s end, that conviction had only deepened. Every day, I saw this organization transform commitment into action and philanthropy into meaningful impact for Israel, the Jewish people and the world.

Ellen Finkelstein
CEO