אוסף ד"ר חיים (מרדכי) יסקי

Dr. Haim Yasky (1896) was an ophthalmologist. He was the first Director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He was killed in the Hadassah Convoy massacre during the War of Independence. He photographed people, events and scenes from the Land of Israel, from the time of his arrival (1919) until his death on April 13, 1948. In this collection there are personal and family photographs as well as pictures from his work in Hadassah in Haifa and Jerusalem, a picnic with the architect Mendelsohn in the home of Haim Weizman in Rehovot, the Tel Aviv port and others. Haim Yasky was born on November 28, 1896 to Yisrael and Tzila nee Beakonsky, in Kishinev in Bessarabia. His father was a wheat exporter. He grew up in a Zionist home, learning to speak Hebrew at a young age. His Zionistic activities started when he was in 11th grade, when he joined an illegal Zionist High School group. Yasky was one of the organizers of the Maccabi Organization that functioned until the days of the Communist Revolution under the name "AZA". He served as the Head of the Sea Department. He completed his high school studies in 1914 and one year later he was accepted to study medicine at the University of Odessa. In November 1915 he was arrested because of his Zionist activist, but was released a few months later. He continued his medical studies as well as his underground Zionist activities. He participated in the Revolution as a member of the Odessa Militia. After the Revolution the Macabbi Organization came out in the open. The founding meeting of the Russian Maccabi, of which he was a founding father, met in Yasky's apartment. Haim Yasky married Fanny Gorodsky (8/8/1897) in 1917. In 1927 their son, Dov, was born. He joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought on the Romanian front. As a result of the capture of Southern Russian by the White Army and with the encouragement of Meir Dizengoff, who visited Odessa, he began thinking about moving to Israel. With only a few weeks left to receive his medical degree, he nonetheless picked up and on 19/12/1919 he embarked at the Jaffa Port with his wife Fanny on the Ruslan ship, along with a number of prominent figures from the Yishuv, for example Yosef Klauzner, the poetess Rachel and others. The temporary certificate from the University of Odessa was not recognized by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine, so he worked as a guard and afterwards as a sanitation inspector in the Tel Aviv municipality. His wife Fanny taught private English and French lessons. He travelled to Geneva, in 1920 to complete his medical certificate and to specialize in eye diseases. In 1921, one year later, he returned to Israel and joined the Hadassah Eye Clinic in Haifa. Six months later he was appointed as assistant to the head of the clinic and also worked dressing eye wounds in schools in Haifa. In 1824 he was appointed as substitute Head of the Eye Department in the Hadassah branch in Tel-Aviv. During this period he was also a 'wandering doctor' who researched trachoma in the towns. In 1925 Haim Yasky travelled to a few European cities to study more about eye diseases and public medicine. Upon his return he continued to serve as a wandering doctor until 1927 when he was appointed to be the substitute Head of the Eye Department at Hadassah in Jerusalem. Between the years 1928-1931 he served as the administrative director of the Hadassah Medical Organization and after a crisis he led the hospital to stability. He travelled to the United States in 1932 and as a result of his trip an idea began to take shape to establish a University Hospital in conjunction with the Hebrew University. Dr. Yasky served as a Coordinator of the Committee for the Establishment of the Medical Center on Mount Scopus. The agreement between the Hadassah Organization in the United States and the Hebrew University was signed in 1936. With the completion of the building of the hospital (1936) the para-medical faculty opened mainly for development and research and training programs. With the outbreak of the war, the hospital adapted itself to the war effort. During the War of Independence (1948) the road to Mount Scopus passed through Sheik Jarrah, the Arab neighborhood, that was guarded by the British Army. Dr. Yasky continued as the Head of the Hadassah Medical Organization until the day of his death, when he was killed in the Hadassah convoy. Haim Yasky was 51 when he was killed. He was buried in the Sanhedria Cemetary in Jerusalem. Fanny Gorodsky Yasky, his wife, passed away In Jerusalem in 1981. Their son, Dov, married Tamar Tamrin, from Kibbutz Beit Harod (1925). Their daughter Iris, the grand-daughter of Haim Yasky, brought these photographs to the Yad Ben-Zvi Archive. The Hadassah Convoy On April 13, 1948, at 9:00 in the morning a convoy of doctors, lecturers, nurses and a few civilians, left the Medical Center on Solel Street (today Hahavatzelet), after the British promised that the road was open and safe. At 9:45, at a curve in the road in Sheik Jarrah neighborhood, the leading vehicle they drove onto a mine on a mine and the convoy was attacked by armed Arabs. 5 vehicles managed to escape, however one armored escort, an ambulance and two buses were trapped and gunned down even though they flew a white flag. Bullets, fired by our troops in the city and on Mount Scopus, as well as an armored vehicle sent to the place, were unable to help them. The British forces who were there refused to help despite pleas for assistance. In the afternoon the Arabs managed to set the two buses on fire with all the passengers inside. Rescue efforts of the Palmach were unsuccessful and 78 of the people in the convoy were killed. Dr. Yasky, the CEO of Hadassah Hospital, Professor Leonid Dolzinsky and Dr. Moshe Ben-David (see YBZ.0772 and YBZ.1036),who were members of the planning committee for the medical school, unfortunately could not participate in its opening. اقرأ أكثر