Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath, abbreviated as BCMH, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5145 South Morgan Street, in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is the oldest synagogue in Washington state; and practises Ashkenazi traditions.

History

The congregation was founded in 1891. The Bikur Cholim synagogue at 104 17th Avenue S., its third location, was designed by B. Marcus Priteca, was constructed between 1909 and 1915. It was used in an unfinished state beginning in 1910 and was sold to the city of Seattle in 1969. The former synagogue building has housed the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute since 1969.

Bikur Cholim moved to Seward Park in the early 1960s. Congregations Bikur Cholim and Machzikay Hadath merged in 1971. On January 22, 1972, the new Congregation Bikur Cholim—Machzikay Hadath dedicated its new constructed Seward Park building.

In an antisemitic incident in September 2009, the synagogue was defaced with Nazi graffiti.

In 2015, the synagogue commenced building a new Youth Center as part of its campus.

Ben Bridge of Ben Bridge Jeweler's at one point was the President of Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath.

Leadership

The rabbi of Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath has been Rabbi Yaakov Tanenbaum, since Fall 2016. Moshe Kletenik served as rabbi from 1994 until June 2013.

Gallery

• 
  Former Machzikay Hadath synagogue at 152 26th Avenue, in 2011
• 
  Former Bikur Cholim synagogue at 104 17th Avenue S., now the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute

See also

• Bikur cholim