The Rise and Fall of the American Jewish Hospital

Abstract

American Jewish hospitals were founded, starting in 1854, to serve indigent Jews, to respond to anti-Semitism by creating opportunities for graduate medical education (GME) and medical practice, to provide culturally sensitive care to observant Jews, and to fulfill a religious commitment to healing. Jewish hospitals were governed, administered, staffed, and philanthropically supported predominantly by Jewish communities.In this essay, the author describes the origins of American Jewish hospitals, the purposes they were designed to serve, and why they are disappearing. He estimates that approximately 113 Jewish hospitals were founded in the history of the United States and that there are now about 22 left, some of which are Jewish in name only. Jewish hospitals have been disappearing as a result of the economic pressures facing all community hospitals, a decline in anti-Semitism, open access to GME positions and hospital privileges, the general acceptance of Jews in the American mainstream, and a loss of Jewish community philanthropy.