The sum of $250,000 was raised here tonight for the establishment of the first medical school in Palestine at a dinner given in honor of Judge Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, for his services to Palestine. The dinner, which took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, was attended by more than 200 prominent personalities.
Declaring that the first medical school in Palestine “furnishes a common ground upon which Zionists and non-Zionists can stand united and together,” Judge Proskauer urged support of the $4,000,000 campaign now being conducted by the American Friends of the Hebrew University and the Hadassah for the establishment of the school. He voiced the hope that the present conflict in Palestine will soon be over, and emphasized that the building of an educational institution in Palestine such as the Hebrew University, of which the medical school is a part, is very much “in keeping with the tradition of American Jewry.”
Discussing the need for the training of medical students in Palestine, Judge Proskauer said: “The need is desperate. Fifteen thousand Jewish doctors in Germany have been destroyed; there remain but 1,000 of the 3,700 Jewish doctors in Poland. Not only for the 600,000 Jews in Palestine, but for the hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europe, in North Africa and of the nearer parts of Asia, it is from this medical school that we must create and maintain a reservoir, not of mere medical craftsmen, but of highly competent physicians. And we must do this also for the sake of the Arab and Christian brethren. There is a great leavening force in the making of this contribution by us to the common good.”
Tributes were paid to Judge Proskauer by Col. Harold Riegelman, who presided, Mr. Jacob Blaustein, Col. Frederick F. Greenman, and Mrs. Moses P. Epstein, national president of the Hadassah. Col. Riegelman reported that over $800,000 has already been raised in the medical school campaign and that all groups in American Jewry are responding generously. Mr. Blaustein emphasized that the proposed medical school “is a project on which all Jews–Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists–and yes, Arabs, can unite.” He emphasized that the school will be non-sectarian and will serve the entire Near East as a center of medical training and learning.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
