The Case for Change: A Challenge to the Jewish Agency

by Gil Troy Change is easy to endorse and hard to implement – if it’s easy, it means it’s not being done right. If it’s not systematic, it’s sloppy; if it’s cosmetic, it’s fleeting. Today, new directions must be forged, tough choices must be made, and new ways of doing business must be developed. Let’s be frank, most North American Jews that I know do not know what the Jewish Agency is or does. And a surprising number of Israelis I know say – with anger in their voices – that the Jewish Agency should become extinct like the dinosaur it is. Moreover, while most Jewish Agency employees I meet are extraordinary – idealistic, passionate – they work for a bureaucracy with a terrible reputation, with what seems to be a toxic corporate culture. When many people pass... Continue Reading

Hadassah and Mor-Yosef Reach 2 Year Deal

Hadassah (HWZOA) and Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef have reached an agreement whereby the latter will remain Director-General of the hospital through 2012, the period scheduled for the opening of the hospital’s new tower. In a message to the hospital staff  following Shabbat, Mor-Yosef said, “The last few months were very difficult for relations between the Hadassah University Medical Centers and HWZOA. To the joy of all of us, the HWZOA president and I reached a positive agreement on the issues of disagreement. I hope that from this crisis we will emerge strong and continue to advance the development of the hospitals to new heights. HWZOA is an impressive and important organization, and its contributions to the State of Israel are overwhelming.” Official details have yet to be released including... Continue Reading

Hadassah or Esther? Hospital Governance Needs Transparency

by Mayer Brezis and Sara Singer Hadassah’s Board of Directors will not renew the contract of hospital CEO, professor Mor-Yosef. No one knows why. As owner, Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) can do what it sees as right, and confidentiality in sensitive discussions can be necessary. Meanwhile, however, a sense of unfairness and bewilderment raise mistrust among hospital staff. Hadassah is not a private company with trade secrets like Coca Cola: as a public hospital serving over a half-million patients every year, largely through taxpayer funds, it bears greater accountability for transparency. Transparent governance is especially important in healthcare organizations from which the public demands accountability for quality and safety. People expect openness from nurses... Continue Reading

Israel’s Field Hospital in Haiti: Ethical Dilemmas

The Israeli Field Hospital in Haiti – Ethical Dilemmas in Early Disaster Response by Ofer Merin, M.D., Nachman Ash, M.D., Gad Levy, M.D., Mitchell J. Schwaber, M.D., and Yitshak Kreiss, M.D., M.H.A., M.P.A. Within 48 hours after the massive earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 12, the government of Israel dispatched a military task force consisting of 230 people: 109 support and rescue personnel from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command and 121 medical personnel from the IDF Medical Corps Field Hospital. The force’s primary mission was to establish a field hospital in Haiti. We landed in Port-au-Prince 15 hours after leaving Tel Aviv and began to deploy immediately. The first patients arrived at our gates and were admitted even before the hospital was fully... Continue Reading

Rothschild Foundation Funds Beit Ha’Nassi Repairs

Israel’s Cabinet is expected to approve today acceptance of a $500,000 grant from the Rothschild Foundation to carry our emergency repairs at Beit Ha’Nassi, the official residence of Israel’s President. This will cover approximately half the cost of needed structural repairs caused by years of neglect at the complex. The Ministry of Finance has issued the necessary sign-offs. Completed in 1971, with no infrastructure updates since, the complex suffers from – among other things – faulty wiring, serious mold issues, and a lack of adequate facilities for official receptions and press coverage. Last year, Peres was able to secure government approval for a $3 million grounds overhaul paid for by the Jewish National Fund prior to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Assuming approval,... Continue Reading

Jewish Agency Names New Director General

Alan Hoffmann, currently the Director General, Education Department – Jewish Agency for Israel, has been named Director General of the Jewish Agency. Alan succeeds Moshe Vigdor who has accepted the same position with the Council for Higher Education and the Education Ministry’s council on planning and budget. Over the past ten years, Alan has led the Jewish Agency’s Education Department in its mission to intensify the unique and multi-dimensional significance of Israel in connecting the next generation of Jews to their heritage, people and homeland. Since his Aliyah from South Africa in 1967, Alan’s professional life has been dedicated to promoting Jewish Education. Under his leadership, the department has developed such groundbreaking initiatives as MASA Israel Journey and MAKOM... Continue Reading

Hadassah in Israel: 7 on the Richter Scale

Hadassah’s problems here in Israel keep getting worse by the day. Now, in addition to board resignations, comes public acknowledgment of the women’s organization refusal to allow the hospital to set-up an additional, and independent, fund-raising arm. from The Jerusalem Post: Most Israelis on Hadassah board resign All but one of the Israeli members of the Hadassah Medical Organization board of directors have resigned over its decision last month not to renew the contract of HMO director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef beyond the end of 2010. This decision is being maintained at the insistence of its owner, the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America and its national president Nancy Falchuk, despite Mor-Yosef’s formal statement earlier this week that he would be willing... Continue Reading

MASHAV Plans Childrens Village in Haiti

The Israeli government has decided to continue its official assistance to Haiti as part of the global effort of reconstruction of the country. This will be coordinated through MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Israeli ambassador in Santo Domingo, Amos Radian, is in contact with the authorities in Haiti to find an appropriate site for building an Israeli Children’s Village and to obtain the necessary approval. The project plans include an elementary school that will operate in two shifts; a playground/sports field; and a medical center. The site could also be utilized for conducting evening adult education classes. A planned community center will work with youngsters on post trauma treatment and counseling, psychological... Continue Reading

Hadassah’s New PR Approach: Sue Those Who Disagree With Us

from today’s The Jerusalem Post: Mor-Yosef wants to remain Hadassah head Hadassah Medical Organization director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef – who was told two months ago by its owners, the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, that his contract will not be extended beyond December – has officially stated for the first time that he is ready to serve another two years and participate in the opening of the Ein Kerem branch’s monumental hospitalization tower that he has long planned and developed. In a letter sent on Monday to HWZOA national president Nancy Falchuk and HMO board chairman Yossi Nitzani, Mor-Yosef said he would like to continue in the post and that in the time since the board voted not to renew his contract and he subsequently announced he would leave... Continue Reading

Shas: Trojan Horse In the Zionist Establishment?

After sitting through three days of meetings with Diaspora leaders, one thing is clear. By and large, they do not realize the impact of allowing Shas, the Sephardic Haredi party, to come aboard as a member of the World Zionist Organization. from The Forward: Shas Breaks Old Taboo, Joins Zionists Israel’s largest ultra-Orthodox political party is eliciting outrage from those to its right and a mix of anxiety and applause from those to its left after breaking a 113-year-old taboo and joining the Zionist establishment. … The WZO accepted Shas’s request to join in late January, after the party met the requirement that its political platform incorporate principles from the WZO’s 2004 Jerusalem Program – essentially the mission statement of the Zionist movement – which includes... Continue Reading

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