Up until 1910, Jewish residents could only receive advanced medical treatment in Tzfat at the Scottish Hospital, built by missionaries, whose staff preached Christianity to sick and injured Jews during their most vulnerable moments. This angered the Jewish leadership of Tzfat, but in 1910 the Rothschild family donated funds to open a Jewish hospital, located in the centre of the city on Jerusalem Street.
The Hadassah organization was established in 1912 in New York City to provide health care in Ottoman-occupied Jerusalem. After opening various facilities there, and elsewhere in Palestine, in 1919, Hadassah took over the operations of the former Rothschild hospital, and in 1926 Hadassah established the first tuberculosis treatment centre in Tzfat (Safed).
The hospital pioneered in anti-tuberculosis methods and eventually helped to bring the incidence rate in Israel down to six per 100,000, the lowest rate in the world. During Israel’s War of Independence, patients were evacuated under gunfire and the hospital served as an army surgical base, caring for more than 700 wounded. Later the hospital resumed its original function with an expansion to meet the needs of tubercular persons coming during the post-war mass immigration. In 1957, the 130-bed hospital was turned over to the Israel Health Ministry at a ceremony on October 3rd. The transfer ceremony included payment of 120,000 pounds by Hadassah into a pension fund for the 60 hospital employes who are entering government service via the transfer.
In 1973, thanks to the donation of the Seiff family of Manchester in memory of Rebecca Seiff, the hospital relocated to new facilities in Tzfat’s southern neighbourhood. The new hospital, known as the Seiff Hospital, still uses the old Hadassah buildings as a satellite for certain medical services. The small complex is idyllic, with gardens and old building in slow decline. You can see more pictures here.