Yassky, Haim

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YASSKY, HAIM

YASSKY, HAIM (1896–1948), medical administrator in Palestine. Born in Kishinev, Bessarabia, Yassky took part in underground Zionist activities and in Jewish *self-defense in Odessa. He went to Palestine in 1919, just before his final medical examinations. After working as a sanitary inspector, he went to Geneva, completing his medical studies and specializing in ophthalmology. He joined the *Hadassah Medical Organization in 1921. In 1924 he successfully tackled the scourge of trachoma in Judea and earned wide recognition. Appointed director of Hadassah Medical Organization in 1931, he initiated the erection of the Rothschild-Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus (1939), a medical center that established high standards in the Middle East. He developed blueprints for the Jerusalem Medical School and for the immigrant medical service. Yassky was killed by Arabs in the massacre of April 13, 1948, while leading staff and colleagues in a convoy from the city to Mount Scopus. The Hadassah Hospital in Beersheba and the chair of social medicine at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School were named after him.

[Eli Davis]