Hadassah secures $23m for Jerusalem hospital and US-Israel programs at Miami Gala

Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organisation of America, secured $23 million in pledges at its 2025 Founders Dinner in Miami, a fundraising milestone set to strengthen medical services in Jerusalem and support programs in both Israel and the United States.

The pledges, announced late Wednesday, include multi-million-dollar commitments from philanthropists Ernest and Evelyn Rady, Eva Cantor and Jane Winer. Together, their contributions amounted to $18 million of the total raised.

The Radys pledged $10 million to expand paediatric programmes and facilities at the Hadassah Medical Organisation (HMO) in Jerusalem. Their latest gift builds on a previous major donation that funded the Rady Mother and Child Centre, which opened on the Mount Scopus campus in 2018.

Cantor contributed $5 million to establish the Eva and Mark Cantor Neurorehabilitation Department at Hadassah’s new Gandel Rehabilitation Centre. The eight-storey, 323,000-square-foot facility has already begun serving patients, including dozens of soldiers critically injured in the war. Winer, meanwhile, pledged $3 million to create a dedicated in vitro fertilisation operating room at the medical centre.

Other significant contributions included $650,000 from Jacquie Bayley to create the Bayley Family Limb Centre at the Gandel facility. This centre will specialise in osteointegration treatments for patients who have lost arms or legs. Additional pledges were earmarked for an orthopaedic unit, a patient welcome centre, medical research initiatives, nursing development and Evolve Hadassah: The Next Generation, a leadership programme designed to cultivate the movement’s future leaders.

Hadassah’s long-standing Youth Aliyah programme, which has graduated more than 300,000 students from 80 countries since 1934, also received fresh support.

Carol Ann Schwartz, Hadassah’s national president, hailed the outpouring of generosity. “The overwhelming generosity shown at this year’s Founders Dinner demonstrates our members’ and supporters’ passion for Hadassah’s work and our mission to help heal the world,” she said.

The evening also marked one of Ellen Finkelstein’s first major appearances since becoming CEO in January. “Seeing so many people stand to share their personal stories and connections to Hadassah as they announced their gifts was extraordinary,” she said. “I am grateful to those with long histories who continue to support this organisation, and I am honoured to welcome the newcomers who attended the Founders Dinner for the first time.”

The gala featured a dialogue between Finkelstein and Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, along with remarks from Schwartz, HMO chair Dalia Itzik and director general Yoram Weiss. The night concluded with a deeply moving presentation from an Israel Defence Forces officer who was critically wounded in the war and treated at the Gandel Rehabilitation Centre. He credited the facility’s surgeons, nurses and psychologists with saving his leg and aiding his recovery from trauma.

Opened in early 2024 to meet wartime demand, the Gandel Rehabilitation Centre has already treated 1,000 patients, including 72 wounded soldiers. Built at a cost of $133 million, the facility remains incomplete and requires an additional $25 million to finish construction and outfitting. Once fully operational, it will treat 10,000 patients annually, offering 140 inpatient beds and an outpatient clinic capable of serving 250 patients each day.

With nearly 300,000 members, donors and supporters, Hadassah remains the largest Jewish women’s organisation in the United States. Its hospitals in Jerusalem treat more than one million patients every year, irrespective of race, religion or nationality. The institution’s long-standing reputation for coexistence through medicine earned it a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2005.