Hadassah says it lost $90 million in Madoff scandal
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, announced that it had lost $90 million with Bernard Madoff.
“We are currently in the process of investigating the exact amounts and their impact, but it appears that at the time of his arrest, Hadassah had approximately $90 million invested with his firm,” the organization said Wednesday in a statement. “Falling victim to this unprecedented fraud will require us to make necessary adjustments, but it has not in the slightest affected our commitment to our core Zionist mission. These are indeed turbulent times, but the key pillars of Hadassah remain as strong as ever.”
Madoff was one of more than two dozen firms with which its funds were invested, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
This takes a sizable chunk out of Hadassah's endowment, which was believed to be worth around $500 million.
Hadassah was already facing tough times because of the current economic downfall, adopting cuts in its operating budget and expecting additional reductions in the coming months. The details of the yet-to-be-determined cuts are likely to become more clear following a board meeting in January.
“Now the Madoff situation compounds accelerates the matter,” said a source close to the situation.
A Hadassah spokesman said the losses connected to Madoff will Not affect the construction of a new tower at its main campus in Ein-Kerem in Israel.
The $210 million Hadassah Medical Center the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower was started with a $75 million gift from Detroit Piston’s owner William Davidson.
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Responding to Judy Kamm’s comment about nurse’s salaries being reduced: Tower donations were solicited specifically for the Tower, therefore Hadassah cannot use this money for operating expenses. The nurses’ salaries were cut before the Madoff shanda, in response to the downturn in the world economy. Saying that, the nurses have my sympathy. I agree with Judy that their hard work and nurturing spirit make Hadassah’s hospitals the best in the world.
We confront this week’s horrific news with a sense of shame and fear for our people. We who have extended our total selves to save, nourish, and protect human lives find this story incomprehensible and not acceptable. With a deep commitment to Tikkun Olam, we extend our Rachmanoot to those who have been hurt by this horror and pledge our total effort to replace this dark sorrow with brightest joy, hopefully, in the immediate future. We stand bolstered by Tikvah and our belief that “L’SHANNAH HABAHAH B’YERUSHALAYIM!”
Binnie Stein, Woodmere, New York, USA
In 2007 my wife and I were traveling in Israel. She was mugged and badly injured, after dark in a poor neighborhood in East Jerusalem, and we got the full inside tour of Hadassah Hospital (Ein Kerem) for two weeks. The care she received was excellent, her recovery spectacular. We were incredibly impressed with Hadassah Hospital, which serves a remarkable variety of patients, local and foreign (we met patients from all over the eastern Mediterranean region.) It was overcrowded; it needs more space. The staff was overworked - isn’t that true in almost every hospital? The kindness, enthusiasm, generosity of the staff, the volunteers, and everyone else there was outstanding and far superior to the level we have typically encountered in US hospitals.
This hospital is a wonderful institution; those who support it should be proud. It is dreadful for the staff to suffer, and I hope increased support will be forthcoming. Anyone who wants further praise for it can easily find us on the internet.
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Judy Kamm
12/18/08 12:17 PM
Two of our daughters are nurses at the Hadassah Hospitals in Yerushalym. One is a midwife at the Mt.Scopus branch while the other is in the Intensive Care/baby unit at Ein Kerem.
Both are hard working mothers of large families.
Both were notified that their salaries will be cut with the ensuing new year because of the looses Hadassah Medical Center incurred as a result of the economic crises, further complicated by the Madoff scandal.
The hard working nursing staff should not have to suffer salary loss because Hadassah;s operating budget is cut over investment fraud..
Wouldn’t it serve the patients better if the building fund would take time off with it’s schedule for, let’s say six months, rather than squeeze the salaries of these most dedicated nurses???
Is this the ‘zionist mission’ Hadassah is commited to?
Judy Kam
Kiryat Arba/Hebron