Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (Roxbury, Mass.)

In 1913, the Roxbury Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association began collecting donations to provide a haven for the chronically ill. These charitable ladies recognized that the new Jewish immigrants, crowded into Boston's West End and North End neighborhoods, lacked basic medical care. Many of these Jewish newcomers found upon their arrival that few Jewish doctors practiced in the Boston area. Furthermore, communication between doctor and patient was difficult since many Jews spoke no English, and very few doctors spoke Yiddish. Moreover, many local doctors did not understand the particular social problems, religious traditions, and behavior patterns of the new immigrants. Finally, many Orthodox Jews refused to stay in hospitals where they could not eat kosher food and observe the Sabbath. Hence, the ladies of the Bikur Cholim, many of them immigrants, began a grassroots movement to build a medical institution for Jews who were suffering from illness and disease and who had no place to go.

Charted as an official organization in 1915, the Roxbury Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association carried on the Jewish tradition of benevolence by visiting the sick, poor, and elderly. They provided medicine, money, prayer, and support to those who lacked medical care. The ladies met regularly at the YMCA on the corner of Seaver Street and Humboldt Avenue, across from Franklin Park. Here they developed their plans for a medical institution to serve the needs of the Jewish community. On April 16, 1928, the Association voted to establish and maintain a home for incurables. Later that same year, in October, the Association realized its goal of a Jewish hospital by purchasing the former Beth Israel Hospital at 59 Townsend Street for $25,000, with a $10,000 down payment and a $15,000 mortgage. Payments were to be $900 per year at a 6% interest rate. Also in 1928, the Association joined the Federated Jewish Charities.

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