No one should face a hospital stay hungry.
From a small snack to a full Shabbos, cooked in our Williamsburg kitchen and waiting in the Kosher room down the hall, for patients and their families. Free, with no questions asked.
A taste of home, where it’s needed most.
A hospital is cold and unfamiliar. A warm plate of food from home changes the whole day, for the patient and for the husband, wife or parent who hasn’t left their side.
Satmar Bikur Cholim cooks fresh in its own Williamsburg kitchen, and private volunteers bring the food a few times a week to the Kosher rooms inside each hospital, where patients and their families help themselves. There are no forms and no questions. Any Jew who needs a meal gets one, free of charge.
Satmar Bikur Cholim, Kosher Rooms Division.
Since 1952, Satmar Bikur Cholim has brought the warmth of a home kitchen to New York’s hospitals. Today its Kosher Rooms Division, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, stocks and sustains the Kosher rooms of 12 New York hospitals and select medical centers, where patients and the families at their side find fresh kosher food at any hour.
Read our story- 1952
A home kitchen
Rebbetzin Alte Feiga Teitelbaum ע״ה founds Satmar Bikur Cholim, cooking at home for Jewish patients in New York’s hospitals.
- Then
Bedford Avenue
The work grows into a larger commercial kitchen on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.
- Beyond
Many communities
Bikur Cholim takes root in Boro Park, Monsey, Monroe, Flatbush and beyond, each community with its own local organization.
- Today
The Kosher Rooms Division
In Williamsburg, the work of the hospital Kosher rooms is carried by the Kosher Rooms Division, in the spirit the Rebbetzin began with.
Care you can taste.
What our Division for Kosher Rooms provides, in every hospital we serve.
01Grab-and-go, hot & cold
Everything from small snacks to full meals, every day: dairy, blintzes, eggplant parmigiana and all kinds of hot and cold dishes.
Learn more↗02Cakes, cookies & cut fruit
Many kinds of cakes and cookies, and a variety of fresh-cut fruit, on the shelves around the clock.
Learn more↗
03A full Shabbos menu
A complete Shabbos menu in the Kosher rooms, for patients and the families staying with them.
Learn more↗
04Yom Tov meals & necessities
Beautiful Yom Tov meals, with the necessities that each Yom Tov calls for.
Learn more↗
05Out-of-state families
An apartment, food, laundry and everything needed for their stay, and often clothing and tuition for the children.
Learn more↗
06Delivered by volunteers
Private volunteers deliver a few times a week, with the biggest runs on Thursday night and Erev Yom Tov.
Learn more↗From our pots to the Kosher room down the hall.
Tap through a week. The rooms never run empty between deliveries.
Yom Tov doesn’t stop at the hospital door.
A full Shabbos menu waits in the Kosher rooms every week. On Yom Tov, beautiful Yom Tov meals and the necessities for that Yom Tov.
Our Yom Tov program
12 New York hospitals.
Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Columbia, Memorial Sloan Kettering, NYU Langone, Montefiore and more.
Feed a hospital. Feed them all.
Pick a meal, a day, a Shabbos or a whole week. Your name or dedication is printed on every package you sponsor.
Let a meal carry a name.
Every package we deliver carries a printed label. Mark a yahrzeit, a recovery or a simcha with meals for people who need them.
In loving memory
For a yahrzeit or Yizkor: add a name to a gift of any amount, in memory of a loved one. The name is printed on the labels.
Dedicate in memoryIn honor of
For a refuah shleimah, a birthday or a simcha: honor someone by feeding patients and their families.
Dedicate in honorReal labels from our kitchen
Every meal carries a label with the donor’s dedication
Tap a label to see it up close
When my father was at Mount Sinai for three weeks, I never once had to worry about food. Even at 2 a.m. there was soup and challah waiting in the Kosher room, as if someone at home had made it for us.
Chaya R., daughter of a patient at Mount Sinai
We came from Montreal for my son’s surgery at Sloan Kettering and didn’t know a soul. The Kosher room was stocked with everything, even for Shabbos. It made a frightening week feel a little like home.
Moshe L., father of a patient, from out of state
I’ve driven the Thursday night run for six years. Seeing a husband walk into the Kosher room at midnight and find a full Shabbos menu waiting is why I keep coming back.
Yossi K., volunteer driver
Frequently asked questions.
Short answers about the Kosher rooms, the hospitals we serve and how to give.
What is a Kosher room?
A Kosher room is a room inside a hospital, stocked with free kosher food for Jewish patients and the family members staying with them: snacks, drinks, cakes, fruit and meals, plus a full Shabbos menu and Yom Tov meals. Satmar Bikur Cholim keeps the Kosher rooms of 12 New York hospitals and select medical centers stocked every day.
Which hospitals does Satmar Bikur Cholim serve?
Twelve hospitals across New York: Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West, NewYork-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell, NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia (Milstein), Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, NYU Langone, NYU Langone Orthopedic (Joint Diseases), Montefiore Medical Center, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, North Shore University Hospital and Staten Island University Hospital.
How can I sponsor meals?
Sponsor online on our Sponsor & Give page: $36 sponsors one meal, $50 a patient’s meals for a full day, $1,000 one hospital for a day, $4,000 or $7,000 a Shabbos, $10,000 all hospitals for one day, and $30,000 all hospitals for a full week. You can also give by Zelle, by check to Ladies Bikur Cholim D’Satmor, 183 Wilson St PMB 429, Brooklyn, NY 11211, or through donor funds such as OJC, The Donors’ Fund, Pledger and Matbia.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. Ladies Bikur Cholim D’Satmor is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 11-6081323. Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law, and every gift is receipted by email.
How did the Kosher Rooms Division begin?
Satmar Bikur Cholim was founded in 1952 by Rebbetzin Alte Feiga Teitelbaum in a home kitchen, and grew into a larger commercial kitchen on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The work of Bikur Cholim continues today in many communities, including Boro Park, Monsey, Monroe and Flatbush, each with its own local organization. In Williamsburg, the work devoted to hospital Kosher rooms is carried by the Kosher Rooms Division.
Someone opens the fridge and finds home.
Every gift becomes food on the shelves of a hospital’s Kosher room.