Hadassah has given up on its white elephant Hilton-esque youth hostel in Jerusalem. The campus, dedicated in celebratory fashion less than three years ago, has been an albatross around Young Judaea’s neck from the beginning. It’s expensive to operate; the non-central location was anything but a hit with year students and the lack of a clear understanding of the needs of operating the property for the public (due to Israel hostel law) has proved to much to bear.

We’ve posed the following questions to Hadassah since February. They’ve refused to answer. We think they’re fair; you be the judge. [the questions have been slightly rewritten from the scenario originally envisioned].

• Now that Young Judaea is moving from the campus, how will Hadassah recognize the donors who contributed through “naming rights”.
• Since this was a capital campaign, there most likely are pledges outstanding. How is Hadassah addressing those pledges.
• As Hadassah/Young Judaea will no longer be using the campus, what is Hadassah’s policy if a donor requests their gift returned.

here’s the story from today’s The Jerusalem Post:

Young Judaea to move J’lem headquarters to Baka

The American Zionist youth movement Young Judaea has announced it will be leaving its large Judaean youth hostel in Jerusalem’s Givat Masua neighborhood in August, and will move to a new compound in the capital’s Baka neighborhood.

The new site will serve as the movement’s Israel headquarters.

The decision to leave Givat Masua comes on the heels of financial cutbacks within the organization, based both on the global financial crisis and the Bernard Madoff scandal, which cost the Hadassah movement – Young Judaea’s sole financial sponsor – some $90 million in losses.