Barbara: Wednesday
Posted on | December 3, 2008 | No Comments
I was back at Hadassah Hospital last night for some family. The ophthalmologist I needed to see for something was unexpectedly busy. He had to rush to the emergency room where the neurosurgeon was working on the teen who had a cinder block thrown at his head. A Jewish teen, by the way. The conflict in Hebron goes on over whether or not the purchase of a house there by a Jew from the US was legal or not. Like everything in Hebron, this immediately incites violence. And the irony? The word Hebron, al halil in Arabic, comes from the word for “friend” named for Abraham, “the great friend” who is buried in Hebron. Both Hebron Jews and Arabs are hot-headed.
This morning I went to a conference on Chronic Diseases for Children at Hadassah’s Mount Scopus hospital. Several hundred medical professionals from different fields and from all different ethnic backgrounds were there. There was a particularly interesting lecture about the dilemmas of child adoption.
Today in Jerusalem, our new mayor Nir Barkat takes office. He’s a person of good character, intelligence and vision and I wish him the best in helping to solve the complex problems of our very special city.
