New Hospital Corner Stone Laid in Zion

Impressive ceremonies today marked the laying of the cornerstone of the new Rothschild-Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital on Mt. Scopus.

Members of the Palestine Administration, leaders of the world Zionist movement and local dignitaries participated. The speakers included Acting High Commissioner John Hathorn Hall; Dr. Judah Magnes, president of the University; Dr. Nahum Sokolow, president of the World Zionist Organization and of the Jewish Agency for Palestine; M. M. Ussishkin president of the Jewish National Fund; Miss Henrietta Szold, first president of Hadassah, the American women’s Zionist organization, and Haim Yassky.

In a speech praising the organizations and individuals involved in giving Jerusalem one of the outstanding medical institutions in the Near East and a center for scientific medical research, the Acting High Commissioner announced the impending capital grant by the government toward the cost of construction of the medical center.

RECALLS TEMPLE DESTRUCTION

Dr. Sokolow, in a short address, paid tribute to the work of Hadassah and recalled the days in 1918 when an American medical unit sponsored by the Hadassah, arrived in London en route to Palestine to cope with the then serious condition here.

Mr. Ussishkin, the head of the Jewish National Fund, which holds title to the land on which the medical center is being erected, pointed out that 1,865 years ago, the generals of the legions of Rome directed from the very site of the hospital, the military operations leading to the destruction of the Temple.

Following the open-air ceremonies, the five speakers retired to the offices of Chancellor Magnes in the University and from there took part in an international broadcast to the United States where, in Washington, the Hadassah is holding its twentieth annual convention. Julian Meltzer, staff correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, introduced the participants in the broadcast to the radio audience.