The Beginning of Health Services in Eretz Israel, 1838–1946

The First Jewish Hospitals in Eretz Israel

Prior to 1838, there was not one hospital, clinic, or certified doctor, Jewish or gentile, serving the Jewish Yishuv of Eretz Israel. The only medical services at the time—after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule—were those provided by traditional healers, amateur druggists, experts in medicinal herbs, and sellers of talismans and incantations. The primary reason for the absence of certified medical services was the character of the ultra Orthodox religious establishment in Eretz Israel: communal and spiritual leaders were concerned by the “harmful” influence of Jewish doctors trained at “secular” university medical schools, and whom the powers-that-be within the Yishuv feared were liable to bring with them modern ways that would disrupt the religious life of the Jewish community in Eretz Israel.

The opposition of community heads stood firm until 1838 when the British Mission established the first medical institution in the country, in Jerusalem—a facility that provided free medical care to sick members of the Jewish community. Fear of the modernism that might be brought by Jewish doctors paled by comparison to alarm over the possible impact on the Jewish community of medical services at the hands of a Christian missionary body. Consequently, community leaders withdrew their opposition to the establishment of Jewish medical institutions. Thus, in 1854, the first Jewish clinic was founded in Jerusalem with the support of Jewish philanthropist Moshe Montefiore.