Constitution and By-Laws of the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia

The Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia was one of the earliest Jewish hospitals in America and the first in Pennsylvania. The need for Jewish hospitals was confirmed by the fact that other local hospitals performed post-mortem autopsies prohibited by Jewish law, did not provide kosher food and were havens to missionaries. The Hospital’s founder and Director, Isaac Leeser, was among the first to call for the establishment of Jewish hospitals. Many prominent Philadelphia Jews were involved in the project, including Rebecca Gratz. Indeed, the meeting at which the Hospital was formally organized in 1865 was one of the largest public meetings of the Jews of Philadelphia up to that time. The Hospital merged with two newer institutions in 1951 to become the Albert Einstein Medical Center and remains the most important Jewish hospital in Philadelphia. See M.Whiteman, The Legacy of Isaac Leeser in: Jewish Life in Philadelphia (1983), pp. 37-8