Washington State Jewish Pioneers

Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, Seattle, Washington

Congregation Ezra Bessaroth   In 1904, Nessim Alhadeff and a group of Sephardic Jews from Rhodes founded Congregation Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle. Originally, they organized as Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe Rhodes, which was shortened to Ezra Bessaroth in 1909. By then, the congregation included 35 Orthodox men. High

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Sephardic Congregation Ahavath Achim: Seattle, Washington, 1909-1940

Congregation Ahavath Achim, 1909-1940   Congregation Ahavath Ahim was founded in 1909 by Sephardic immigrants to Seattle from Rhodes, Tekirdag, Marmara, and Istanbul. They met for religious services at a house on Washington Street. For High Holidays, they rented rooms at the Washington Hall building at 14th

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The Toklas Family: Pioneer Jewish Merchants of Washington State & More

The Toklas Family Values Codes I – E – L – P   Jacob William Toklas Jacob William Toklas (a.k.a. “J.W.”) was born in 1844 to Simon Wolff Toklas and Amalie Malchen (née Gnadenfeld) in Kempen, Posen (Prussia). His brother, Marcus Toklas, was the San Francisco merchant who founded

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Henry Levi Leavitt: Jewish Pioneer in Hoquiam, Washington

Henry Levi Leavitt Values Codes I – E – P   Henry Levi Leavitt was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1868.   Hoquiam, Washington In 1897, after the Alaskan Gold Rush, Henry Leavitt decided to join the miners out West. On the way to the Klondike region,

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Bikur Holim Free School to the Seattle Hebrew Academy, 1899-Present

Bikur Holim Free School to the Seattle Hebrew Academy, 1899-Present   In 1894, the Bikur Holim Free School was established as a European-style cheder to instruct children in Torah, Talmud, and other classical Jewish subjects. There were two locations: the Seattle Central Building in downtown Seattle, at

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Charles A. Greenberg: Jewish Merchant Pioneer of Republic, Washington

Charles A. Greenberg Values Codes I – E – L – P   Charles Greenberg was born Chaim Avrum Minalow in Belz, Bessarabia, in 1858. He had three siblings. He was educated in Russia and spoke five languages: Yiddish, Romanian, Polish, Russian, and German. Greenberg worked for

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