Dr. Louis I. Harris, former Health Commissioner of New York City, addressed a joint meeting of the Rodeph Sholom Sisterhood and the West Side Hadassah yesterday afternoon at the Rodeph Sholom community house, 7 West Eighty-Third street. Dr. Harris’ subject was “Impressions of the New Palestine,” and outlined his reactions to activities in the health field observed during his visit to Palestine in 1933 as chairman of the Medical Reference Board of Hadassah.
The speaker paid tribute to “the almost superhuman work that has already been done by the women of Hadassah” for Jew and Arab alike, and stressed the importance of a greater budget to support this “laboratory of experimentation in the humanities.”
“The women who feel they merely give money,” said Dr. Harris, “do not begin to understand how capably that money is used, and how potent it is to create refuge where, on the basis of peaceful understanding with the Arab, the Jew may look to the future. This is especially timely in view of the hymns of hate now reverberating from many quarters.”
In conclusion Dr. Harris urged concentration of effort upon the fundamentals of civilized life, such as improvements in sewerage, water supply, sanitation, and provision of milk to lower the infant mortality rate.
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.
