Ms. Rhoda Smolow, President, Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America

Dear Ms. Smolow and National Board and Executive Committee members,

It pained us to learn that at a meeting last week of the board of the Jewish National Fund in Israel (Keren Kayemet Le’Yisrael, or KKL), Hadassah’s representative abstained from voting on whether to allocate 38 million New Israeli Shekels to buy land in the West Bank, beyond Israel’s sovereign borders. Had Hadassah voted no, the money would not have been allocated.

For us, Hadassah’s vote was personal. We grew up in Young Judaea, at a time when Hadassah was the youth movement’s sole supporter. It was there that we came to love Israel. For many of us, it was there that we decided to devote our lives, in one way or another, to Israel (some of us by moving to Israel, raising families and creating careers here; others, by remaining committed Jews and Zionists in America). From the start, our devotion came with an awareness that there is much about Israel that can and must be improved, and that to be committed to Israel means to be willing to change it for the better. We grew up believing that this was the ethos of Hadassah, too.

We believe that using JNF money to buy private lands in the West Bank will not make Israel better. We worry that doing so will inflame antagonism in the territories. Also, we believe that it will further alienate many American Jews, especially young American Jews, from Israel and from Zionism itself, which too many see as inseparable from the dispossession of land from Palestinians.

Hadassah does so much good in Israel, providing health care (to all Israel’s citizens, Jews, Muslims, Druze and Christians alike), education, guidance for youth in need, and so much more. We understand why the organization is reticent to take a strong stand about an issue as controversial as what should be done on the West Bank. Maybe this is the reason why your representative abstained, instead of voting for or against. But abstaining in this case was not a neutral act; it served in fact to support those who wish to press the JNF-KKL into the service of an agenda that, according to polls, most of the country opposes. Hadassah should work to see that the Jewish National Fund of Israel continues to do its important work in ways that all Israelis applaud. In this case, that would have meant voting against the allocation of funds to buy West Bank lands, instead of abstaining.

After Israel’s upcoming elections, the JNF-KKL board will meet to decide finally whether, in fact, to use the money allocated last week to purchase lands in the West Bank. We hope that, at that meeting, the Hadassah representative will oppose this use of the Jewish People’s money.

Hadassah’s mission statement says that the organization aims to inspire “a passion for and commitment to the land, the people, and the future of Israel.” Hadassah did this for us, and it changed our lives forever. We implore you to use your position on the JNF-KKL board, to continue to fulfill that important mission.