The story of Satmar Bikur Cholim.
Founded in 1952 in a home kitchen. Today, its Kosher Rooms Division keeps the Kosher rooms of 12 New York hospitals and select medical centers stocked, day and night.
A Rebbetzin, a home kitchen, and three words.
In 1952, Rebbetzin Alte Feiga Teitelbaum ע״ה saw Jewish patients in New York’s hospitals, far from home and without food they could eat. She began to cook for them in a home kitchen, and carried the food to the hospitals herself.
When the first call reached her new office, it was answered with three words that became the motto of Satmar Bikur Cholim, and remain its spirit today.
״קען איך העלפן?״
Can I help you?
Seven decades of care.
From a single kitchen to the Kosher rooms of New York’s hospitals.
- 1952
A home kitchen
The Rebbetzin founds Satmar Bikur Cholim, bringing home-cooked kosher food to New York’s hospitals.
- Bedford Avenue
A kitchen that grew
As the work grows, it moves into a larger commercial kitchen on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.
- Many communities
Bikur Cholim takes root
The work of Bikur Cholim reaches Boro Park, Monsey, Monroe, Flatbush and beyond, each community served by its own local organization.
- Today
The Kosher Rooms Division
In Williamsburg, the work devoted to the hospital Kosher rooms is carried by the Kosher Rooms Division, in 12 New York hospitals and select medical centers.
What families find waiting.
Patients and the families at their side find kosher food at any hour, in the room set aside for it inside the hospital.
Fresh from our kitchen
Hot and cold dishes, cooked in Williamsburg and brought in by volunteers several times a week.
Open at every hour
Snacks, drinks, cakes and cut fruit on the shelves around the clock, through the longest nights.
Shabbos and Yom Tov
A complete Shabbos menu and Yom Tov meals, so a hospital stay never means a holy day without them.
Given with dignity
Free of charge, with no forms and no questions, in the spirit the Rebbetzin began with.
Carried forward by volunteers.
Cooks, bakers, drivers and office volunteers keep the Kosher rooms stocked, week after week, from our kitchen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
- Founded
- 1952
- New York hospitals
- 12
- Servings each week
- 10,000
- Open
- 24/7
Be part of the next chapter.
Sponsor a day in the Kosher rooms, or join the volunteers who keep them full.