Attractive bi-lingual Hebrew-English brochure for the completion of the Bikur Holim Hospital in Jerusalem. On the verso of the title-page is an English description with a Hebrew heading stating that is for the “Building fund of the General Bicur Cholim Hospital of Jerusalem or Anglo Palestine Co. Ltd. for the Building Fund Committee of the Bicur Cholim Hospital Jerusalem.” There is an approbation and an appeal from the Chief rabbi of Israel, R. Abraham Isaac ha-Kohen Kook, stressing the importance of the hospital. All of this is repeated, from left to right in English.

Bikur Cholim Hospital is a 200-bed general hospital in Jerusalem best known for its obstetrics and cardiac departments. The hospital also operates a modern neonatal intensive care unit, a pediatrics department, and bariatric and plastic surgery units. Bikur Holim treats some 60,000 patients annually. With 700 administrators, doctors, nurses, technicians and cleaners, it is one of Jerusalem's largest downtown employers. As of December 2012 the hospital has been taken over by Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Bikur Cholim first opened in a residential building in the Old City in 1826. In 1843, the hospital had only three rooms for patients. In 1854, a building was purchased which soon grew overcrowded. In 1864, another complex of buildings was acquired incorporating treatment rooms, a pharmacy, a hospice for the terminally ill and administrative offices. The Ashkenazi Perushim Hospital, as it was known, became the favorite charity of the British Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore, who described the facility in his diary in 1875. The general ward consisted of two rooms, each with eight beds. One room was reserved for men, and the other for women. In 1893, the hospital cared for 781 patients and treated 12,347 people in its out-patient clinics. By 1907, hospitalizations exceeded 1,000 per annum. A decision was reached to build a new hospital outside the walls of the Old City. The cornerstone of the new building was laid in 1912, but construction work was delayed by the outbreak of World War I. The building on Chancellor Avenue (now Strauss Street), just off Jaffa Road, was completed in 1925 and opened its doors to all residents of Jerusalem, Jews and non-Jews. The hospital in the Old City continued to treat the chronically ill until 1947.

Hebrew Description