Archives West Finding Aid

The Jewish organization, Chevra Bikur Cholim, (Hebrew for "society for visiting the sick"), incorporated in Seattle in 1891 with the purpose of caring for the sick and providing proper burial. Within a decade it evolved into a religious congregation. Before incorporating, the chevra held Simchas Torah (Rejoicing with the Torah) services in 1889 in Red Man's Hall on 2nd Avenue and Seneca Street. Burial grounds were purchased at Oak Lake, circa 1890. Bikur Cholim's first synagogue was a remodeled private residence, at 14th Avenue and Washington Street. It became the center of religious and social activity for orthodox Jewry. Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath began with the founding of Chevra Bikur Cholim in 1891. The congregation moved to Seward Park in the early 1960s, and merged with Congregation Machzikay Hadath in 1971. On January 22, 1972, Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath celebrated the official opening of its newly constructed Seward Park building with the bar mitzvah of a fourth generation member of the original Bikur Cholim. Today, Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath is the largest Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogue in the greater Seattle area, with nearly 300 member families.