Hadassah and Purim Katan

Today is Purim Katan, the 14th of Adar I. I just read an article about the crisis taking place at the Hadassah hospitals here in Jerusalem:

The strike at the Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem is expected to continue on Friday and workers are threatening further action as of Sunday.

A meeting on Thursday evening between representatives of the Histadrut labor union, the employees and the Hadassah board of trustees ended with no results.

The Histadrut subsequently announced that Hadassah employees will continue to operate on a Shabbat schedule on Friday as well.

The workers are demanding that their January salaries be paid in full by Sunday, or they will take further strike actions.

The Hadassah strike began at both Hadassah Ein-Kerem and Hadassah Mount Scopus medical centers, as a backlash against the Finance Ministry for stalling in negotiations to expand the hospital's budget. The budget cuts have been hurting patients, according to the staff, and the staff is reeling after a month on half-pay.

The ongoing strike at has already driven several senior members of both Hadassah Ein Kerem and Hadassah Mount Scopus to quit, fed up over the hospital's inability to compensate for missing wages and frustrated over the tedious negotiations.

This week, protests erupted outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, with demonstrators demanding that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yael German intervene to end the strike.

It is quite unfortunate to see these great institutions on their knees. I was wondering what the mother organization, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, had to say about the situation. While browsing their web site, I found the following:

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc. is excited to announce the creation of an annual Hadassah Shabbat to be held on the Shabbat preceding Purim. Shabbat Zachor holds particular importance as Hadassah was founded during Purim and was Esther's Hebrew name. Hadassah is encouraging rabbis and congregations to become part of the first Hadassah Shabbat Zachor on March 14 and 15, 2014.

Hadassah Shabbat will celebrate Parshat Zachor, reminding us how evil can be transformed into good, focusing on the victory of Israel over Amalek and of Esther and Vashti over oppression and discrimination. As an organization of over 330,000 women across the country, Hadassah will read Parshat Zachor as a reclaiming of Vashti as a force against discrimination.

Sorry ladies, but our Rabbis, who lived close to the time of the Megillah, have a much different description of Vashti. Even though it is Purim Katan today, and on Purim there is a side of "venahafoch hu", I must condemn such a distortion. For those interested in Judaism's traditional view of Vashti, Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller wrote a very nice article about The Villainy of Vashti. It is no wonder that an organization that turns a villian into a hero, which is a symptom of spiritual bankuptcy, has financial problems.

Hadassah Ein Karem Accused of Abuse

The other day I found a pamphlet in the Beit Midrash where I learn entitled "Blood Libel 2009" (volume 2), published by "The Association for Curbing the Harassment of the ultra-Orthodox Community". The pamphlet defends the mother accused of starving her child, and purports to document various abuses that were allegedly committed by the staff at the Hadassah Ein Karem University Hospital.

The pamphlet accuses the hospital of using patients as guinea pigs in experiments without their knowledge, performing tests that the patient did not need, neglect, euthanasia, etc.

With regards to the stories presented, they are probably in the category of Lashon Hara which one is forbidden to believe, but on the other hand one is obligated to be wary/concerned that they may be true.

Hadasah's claim that the mother accused of starving her child suffers from "Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome", is apparently also in this category of Lashon Hara. However, if you ask me the claim doesn't make sense, as the lady four other children bli ayin hara who seem to be just fine.

It seems to me that everybody is a loser in this case. Hadassah will probably suffer financially, as many people will avoid going there. "The Association for Curbing the Harassment of the Ultra-Orthodox Community" claims to have received 467 complaints that have been sent to a well known lawyer abroad, who is considering suing Hadassah in the International Court in Hague. If the ultra-Orthodox community boycotts Haddasah, where will they go? How many people can Bikur Cholim and Sha'arei Tzedek take care of?

On a personal note, my own experience with Haddasah Ein Kerem has been mostly good. Once I brought my son to a doctor there who checked him and refused to receive payment. What a Tzaddik! Another time I brought my father there for tests. With the help of an askan was able to do all the tests he needed in one day. (I blogged about that experience here.) The fact that my father payed in dollars must have helped.

A not so good experience happened when me and my wife were newlyweds. My wife needed to have a tooth pulled, and we heard that you can get it done at Haddasah at a relatively low price. What happened was that a dental student worked on her, while an experienced dentist supervised. My wife said that several times during the procedure the doctor told the student, "hafuch, hafuch" i.e. do the opposite of what you are doing. That is not the best feeling for the patient being worked on! In the end the tooth was removed. I imagine that student is a professor by now.

The So Called "Child Starving" Mother Case

This should be interesting:

Deputy Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman instructed the Health Ministry ombudsman for dealing with complaints about medical professionals, Prof. Chaim Hershko, to conduct a broad investigation into the affair of the haredi mother suspected of starving her child, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday. The probe is to examine alleged shortcomings in the medical system's conduct in the case, including of medical officials and those around the mother's psychiatric assessments.

Perhaps we'll get to know the truth. Personally, I do not buy the Hospital/Police/Israeli MSM version.

BTW, check out this blog (in Hebrew) that has lots of info on the case.