By Amirav Davy, Special to JTNews
For decades Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath Synagogue members Gustav and Ruth Samter have hosted students at their Seward Park home.
The Samters will be honored at the BCMH 110th anniversary dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 16 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The past 10 years of the Orthodox congregation’s history will be remembered, highlighted by the recognition of the new members who have joined during that time. In addition to teaching students how to read the Torah and Megillot, Gustav Samter prominently served as a chazzan (cantor) and Baal Kore (Hebrew term for the person reading the Torah) for BCMH. He continues to serve the Jewish community by volunteering to lead Shabbat services at The Summit on First Hill.
By the end of the 19th century, there already was a vibrant Jewish community established in the Seattle area. Large waves of Eastern European Jewish immigration during the 1880s found their way to the Northwest, enhanced by the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1887. One of Seattle’s oldest congregations, Bikur Cholim, had its beginnings in a hotel basement shortly after the great fire of 1889, and was a full-fledged community by 1891.
However, just reaching Seattle was an arduous journey for the Samters. Both Samters were born in Germany, with Gustav originating from Hamburg and Ruth from Hausdorf. During 1939, Gustav’s father was taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for six months. He needed to raise money for a booked passage to another country to be released by the Nazis. As soon as Gustav’s father received the necessary funds from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (a beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Community Campaign), he traveled to Shanghai, China.
In 1940, Gustav and his mother joined his father in Shanghai, where they lived with about 20, 000 Jews during World War II. The Jews of Shanghai were stationed in a ghetto about the same size as Seward Park. The Samters lived in one room for eight years before making their way to the United States. Entire Yeshivot (places of Jewish learning) were transported to Shanghai, including the famous Mirrer Yeshiva, which Gustav attended while living in China.
Ruth’s family also made their way to Shanghai, leaving Germany in 1939. Gustav served as a chazzan for numerous congregations within the Shanghai quarters and met Ruth at a farewell party for friends getting married and leaving for the United States. Ruth once again saw Gustav at a High Holiday service he was conducting at their area of the ghetto. Both Ruth and Gustav immigrated to the United States during 1947 and remained in touch for the next two years from separate locations. During 1950, the Samters were married at the Machzikay Hadath Synagogue in the Central District under the auspices of Rabbi Baruch Shapiro.
As Jews began relocating from the Central District to Seward Park, the two largest Orthodox Ashkenazic synagogues, Bikur Cholim and Machzikay Hadath, merged in 1970. Since then, the Ashkenazic community of Seward Park has seen a significant increase in membership and facilities. BCMH also celebrated the completion of a new chapel for daily prayer services and a tahara facility for the preparation of the dead for funerals. A significant change during the past 10 years was the hiring of Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, who has served as the spiritual leader of the congregation since 1994. Recently, BCMH suspended the campaign for its building fund to make room for grades K—4 of the Seattle Hebrew Academy, after its facilities were damaged by the Nisqually Earthquake.
The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located at 1113 6th Ave. in downtown Seattle. For more information on the 110th anniversary dinner of Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, contact Connie Kanter at 206-723-6400.