place

Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation

21st-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizationsGreek-Jewish culture in the United StatesJews and Judaism in SeattleOrthodox synagogues in Washington (state)Religious buildings and structures in Seattle
Sephardi Jewish culture in the United StatesTurkish-Jewish culture in the United States
Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim 02
Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim 02

Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (SBH) is a Sephardic congregation with a synagogue in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The name Bikur Holim (which can be transliterated various ways into English) means visiting or comforting the sick, an important mitzvah. The first official name of the congregation was Spanish Hebrew Society and Congregation Bikur Holim, shortened to "Sephardic Bikur Holim" ("Sephardic" to avoid confusion with Seattle's similarly named Ashkenazic congregation). For a time in the 1930s, after amalgamation with another congregation, it was known as Bikur Holim Ahavath Ahim Congregation.SBH is one of Seattle's two Sephardic congregations, the other being Congregation Ezra Bessaroth. With about 4,000 Sephardim, Seattle is in contention with Miami for having the nation's third largest Sephardic population, behind New York City and Los Angeles. According to Aviva Ben-Ur, the influence of the Sephardim within the Jewish community has arguably been greater in Seattle than anywhere else in the United States. At their relative peak, Sephardic Jews constituted about one-third of Seattle's Jewish population; today, they constitute about ten percent. (another source says 18 percent); the Sephardic community in New York at the time made up less than 1 percent of that city's far more numerous Jewish Community; today, thanks to an influx of Syrian, Persian and Bukharian Jews, Sephardim make up a far larger portion of that metropolitan area's Jewry. Although both Seattle Sephardic congregations are Orthodox, many less observant members and even secular Jews attend, because they identify strongly with being Sephardic.Roberta Noel Britt writes that the congregation got its name from its original synagogue in Seattle's Central District, the former synagogue of the (Ashkenazic) Bikur Cholim, now Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath, which was purchased in 1913. The congregation's own website says that the name was adopted from an identically named congregation in Tekirdağ, Turkey.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation
52nd Avenue South, Seattle

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address External links Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Sephardic Bikur Holim CongregationContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 47.543888888889 ° E -122.26666666667 °
placeShow on map

Address

Sephardic Bikur Holim

52nd Avenue South 6500
98118 Seattle
Washington, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q12068726)
linkOpenStreetMap (228018442)

Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim 02
Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim 02
Share experience

Nearby Places

South End, Seattle

The South End (Soufend) is a group of neighborhoods in the southeast of Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. The definition is a bit fluid, but has traditionally included the area south of the Central District, and east of Interstate 5: Rainier Valley, Columbia City, Rainier Beach, Seward Park, Mount Baker, and Beacon Hill. Sometimes its definition is extended to Skyway and Bryn Mawr in unincorporated King County, though these are not technically in the city. Other definitions have included northern parts of Renton and Tukwila, though most Seattleites, especially those from the South End, would consider this usage incorrect. Often the term "South End" is used colloquially to include neighboring portions of South King County, by people living in those areas, due to that area's location in reference to Seattle proper. The South End has traditionally been a diverse neighborhood with a mix of Caucasian, African American, Latino and Asian communities. It is currently going through a period of redevelopment and gentrification, and was a target of former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels's action agenda and Sound Transit's Link light rail. There is a high school sports rivalry between the South End's high schools Rainier Beach and Franklin and the Central District's Garfield. Today the neighborhood has a population of 84,180 and is 34% Asian, 27% White or Caucasian, 23% Black or African-American, 8% Hispanic and 5% other races or of mixed race. [1]