(RNS) The recession has forced Hadassah, the national Jewish women’s organization, to cancel its 2009 convention in New Orleans, a local Hadassah officer said.
The organization’s national convention, once scheduled for mid-July
2009 typically would have attracted 1,500 to 1,800 women, said national Vice President Roselle Ungar.
But the group has canceled the meeting. “We’ve been going through a process very aggressively to adjust domestic spending,” Ungar said. “It was felt that during these times holding a big convention was not an appropriate use of our funds.”

Instead, the group hopes to bring to New Orleans its smaller national business meeting, which likely will bring at least 250 women, and perhaps several hundred more, she said.
However, a final decision to hold the smaller meeting here hasn’t been made yet, she said.
The group supports various health and educational projects in Israel, among other goals.
Hadassah announced the belt-tightening move around Dec. 1, about two weeks before the group came to fear it may have lost $90 million it invested with Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff, who allegedly has confessed to running a giant Ponzi scheme.
By Bruce Nolan
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