Moshe Wallach
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Moshe (Moritz) Wallach (; 28 December 1866 – 8 April 1957) was a
German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
and pioneering medical practitioner in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. He was the founder of Shaarei Zedek Hospital on Jaffa Road, which he directed for 45 years. He introduced modern medicine to the impoverished and disease-plagued citizenry, accepting patients of all religions and offering free medical care to indigents. He was so closely identified with the hospital that it became known as "Wallach's Hospital".Rossoff (2001), p. 489. A strictly Torah-observant Jew, he was also an activist in the Agudath Israel Orthodox Jewish movement. He was buried in the small cemetery adjacent to the hospital.


Biography

Moshe Wallach was one of seven children (subscription) born to Joseph Wallach (1841–1921), a textile merchant originally from
Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Euskirchen (district), district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating ba ...
, and Marianne Levy of Münstereifel. His parents moved to Cologne following their marriage in 1863. Joseph Wallach was a founder of Adass Jeshurun, the Cologne Orthodox community, which he later served as president. In his youth, Wallach attended the and a Jewish school run by the Cologne Orthodox community. He studied medicine at the
University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
and
University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...
, and received his
Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...
degree in 1889. In 1890 he was chosen by the
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
-based Jewish Conference for the Support of the Jews in Palestine to
emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
and carry out its plans to open a modern Jewish hospital in Jerusalem.Mizrahi, Rabbi Moshe. "Profile: Dr. Moshe Wallach, z"l, Found of Shaare Zedek Hospital". ''
Hamodia ''Hamodia'' ( – "''the Informer''") is a Jewish daily newspaper, published in Hebrew language, Hebrew-language in Jerusalem and English language, English-language in the United States, as well as weekly English-language editions in England and I ...
'' Magazine, April 23, 2015, pp. 10-11.
Wallach first opened a clinic and pharmacy in the
Armenian Quarter The Armenian Quarter (, ; , ''Harat al-Arman''; , ''Ha-Rova ha-Armeni'') is one of the four sectors of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Located in the southwestern corner of the Old City, it can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa G ...
of the Old City.Porush (1963), p. 24. He also worked in the Bikur Holim Hospital as a women's and children's physician,
ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...
, and surgeon specializing in neck surgery. He was the first to perform tracheotomies in Jerusalem, and performed many ritual circumcisions. In 1896 Wallach returned to Europe to raise funds for the new hospital, collecting donations in Germany and Holland. (translated from the German) Upon his return to Jerusalem, he purchased a 10-dunam (2.5 acre) plot of land located outside the Old City Walls on what would become Jaffa Road. He registered the land in his own name with the help of the German consul in Jerusalem, Dr. Paul von Tischendorf, who also helped him procure building materials from Germany. Shaare Zedek Hospital opened on January 27, 1902 with 20 beds, an outpatient clinic, and a
pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
.Porush (1952), p. 19. With most of the hospital's patients living in the Old City, a 20-minute donkey ride away, and a dearth of in-house staff, Wallach often made house calls to determine whether a case actually warranted hospitalization. If transporting to the hospital would be dangerous, he performed
curettage Curettage ( or ), in medical procedures, is the use of a curette (French, meaning "scoop" Mosby's Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Mosby-Year Book 1994, p. 422) to remove tissue by scraping or scooping. Curettages ...
; otherwise, he accompanied the patient on a stretcher back to the hospital surgery. In addition to departments for
internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...
,
maternity A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestatio ...
and children, Wallach later opened an
infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
department which was the only one in Jerusalem to treat
polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
. During the milk shortages of World War I, Wallach bought several milk cows and built a cowshed and grazing field for them behind the hospital. The herd was gradually increased to 40 cows and became a source of revenue, especially for kosher-certified milk sales for
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
. Wallach, who for several decades was the only in-house physician at Shaare Zedek, ran the hospital as a strictly Orthodox institution. He insisted on strict Sabbath observance and a high level of
kashrut (also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...
in the hospital, and personally supervised the milking of the cows. He arranged for an electric generator to service the hospital so that it would not have to rely on electricity provided by the power station, where Jews worked on
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
. He set aside part of the field adjacent to the hospital to the growing of wheat for '' shemura matzo'' and supervised the baking of
matzo Matzo is a spelling variant for matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover ...
s for Passover. For
Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...
, he erected a by
sukkah A or succah (; ; plural, ' or ' or ', often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic ...
in the hospital courtyard to accommodate both eating and sleeping. The language of the hospital was
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
or
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
; Wallach refused to speak in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
, the language of
Torah study Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the ''mi ...
, in a secular institution. Before the rise of
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, Wallach ordered all hospital correspondence to be conducted in German; afterwards he allowed letters to be written in Rashi script, a Hebrew typeface.


Schwester Selma

Wallach opened the hospital with two trained nurses, Schwester (Nurse) Stybel and Schwester Van Gelder. Van Gelder returned to her native Holland early on, being dissatisfied with the "primitive conditions" that existed at Shaare Zedek. Stybel fled to Germany with the outbreak of World War I; when she returned, she organized a strike against the conditions at the hospital. Wallach did not respond to her demands, and when she was unable to find other work and asked for her job back, he made her head of the laundry. "A true nurse never abandons her patients", he told her. In dire need of a head nurse, Wallach traveled to Europe in 1916. He was impressed with the similar organizational structure of the Jewish Hospital in Hamburg, and asked the head nurse there if she could spare one of her staff. The 32-year-old Selma Mayer (1884–1984), who in 1913 had been one of the first Jewish nurses to receive a German State Diploma, was recommended and agreed to travel. She arrived at Shaare Zedek in December 1916 and worked and lived at the hospital for the next 68 years, until her death at the age of 100. Schwester Selma was Wallach's right-hand person in the running of the hospital. She accompanied him on house calls and stood in for him as hospital director when he was away. She applied the German system to running the wards and cultivated a spirit of warm, personalized patient care that became the modus operandi for the hospital to this day.


Jerusalem personality

Wallach became a well-known and respected personality in Jerusalem. He was invited to every political and diplomatic reception that took place during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods. The British Governor of Jerusalem
Ronald Storrs Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (19 November 1881 – 1 November 1955) was an official in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Foreign Office. He served as Oriental Secretary in Cairo, Military Governor of Jerusalem, Governor of Britis ...
was a personal friend of Wallach's; he expedited the doctor's request for the annual delivery of
matzo Matzo is a spelling variant for matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover ...
s to the hospital for the
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
holiday. Wallach was also close to leaders of the
Old Yishuv The Old Yishuv (, ''haYishuv haYashan'') were the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah waves, and the consolidation of the new Yishuv by the end of World War I. Unlike the new Yis ...
, including Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. He was a personal friend of Jacob Israël de Haan, a political spokesman for the Haredi community in Jerusalem who was assassinated in 1924 just outside Shaare Zedek Hospital as he was returning to the hospital synagogue for evening prayers. Wallach was the personal physician of many Torah leaders of the Old Yishuv, among them Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini, whom he treated in
Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Rav of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, the first Dushinsky
Rebbe A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...
,Rossoff (2005), p. 386. and Rabbi Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, who lived in the Ruchama neighborhood (today Mekor Baruch). He also treated King
Abdullah I of Jordan Abdullah I (Abdullah bin Hussein; 2 February 188220 July 1951) was the ruler of Jordan and its predecessor state Transjordan from 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 1946, when h ...
. Wallach also treated the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn Yosef Yitzchak (Joseph Isaac) Schneersohn (; 21 June 1880 – 28 January 1950) was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. He is also known as the Frierdiker Rebbe (Yiddish for "Pr ...
. The Rebbe had suffered a kidney attack, and Wallach was aboard and treated him and cared for him until he regained his strength. Soon after, Wallach approached Rabbi Schneersohn to request a manner of penance (" kapparah"). When asked for what, he replied that his presence caused the Rabbi's illness, given that God would not have allowed such an important leader needed by all Jews to become seriously ill without a doctor nearby. The Rebbe recounted this incident to his son-in-law, Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson Menachem Mendel Schneerson ( – June 12, 1994; Anno Mundi, AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe, was an American Orthodox rabbi and the most rec ...
, who in turn recounted it in a public talk in 1987, as an example of true humility and contriteness.


Personal

Wallach was a dedicated physician and a demanding and exacting employer. He was known to shout at nurses and patients alike who did not follow his instructions to the letter. His first pharmacist quit because he was unable to tolerate Wallach's behavior. However, Wallach also had a sense of humor. Once he was leaving the hospital late at night when he encountered a woman waiting by the locked gate. She did not know who he was, but begged him to let her in for a few minutes to see her husband, who had had an operation the previous day. "Quick, before that crazy man Wallach comes", she said. Dr. Wallach let her in, and received her profuse thanks when she came out again. "What is your name?" she asked. "You are such a kind person". "I am the crazy man Wallach", he replied.Rossoff (2001), pp. 485–486. Despite his outer gruffness, Wallach had a kind heart. He adopted a young Syrian girl named Bolissa who had been brought to the hospital by her father and was subsequently abandoned there. He personally assisted poverty-stricken immigrants to find housing and jobs, and did not charge indigent patients. Before World War I, he intervened with Jamal Pasha, Ottoman leader in Palestine, on behalf of Jews who had been conscripted into the Turkish army or who were in danger of being expelled from the country. He also helped members of his extended family in Germany
immigrate Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-t ...
to Palestine after the rise of
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
in the 1930s. Wallach was scrupulous in his own
mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew language, Hebrew word (; , ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment Divine law, from God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of disc ...
observance. He engaged a teacher to study
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
with him and spent much time learning with Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, leader of the Old Yishuv. Whenever he traveled on house calls, he brought along a
Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of ...
to recite on the road.Porush (1952), p. 26. Wallach never married. A wealthy German donor to the hospital, Yehoshua Hearn, wanted him to return to Germany to marry his daughter, but after consultation with Rabbi Sonnenfeld, Wallach determined that he would not leave the land for any reason. Later, when the girl agreed to travel to Palestine, Wallach arranged a ''
shidduch The ''Shidduch'' (, pl. ''shidduchim'' , Aramaic ''shidduchin)'' is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage. The practice In the past and until t ...
'' between her and his brother Ludwig, who worked as a clerk at Shaare Zedek Hospital. Wallach resided in rooms in the hospital until his final day.


Final years and legacy

Wallach retired at the age of 80. He was succeeded as director of Shaare Zedek by Dr. Falk Schlesinger, another German-Jewish physician. Wallach was feted on several occasions, beginning with a seventy-fifth birthday celebration at a hotel, which was attended by British Mandate health officials. Before his eightieth birthday, a
Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...
was commissioned in his honor. Upon its completion three years later, Wallach donated it to the hospital synagogue. Two banquets were held in honor of his eighty-fifth birthday – one in the hospital, attended by the
Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
Chief Rabbi of Israel The Chief Rabbinate of Israel (, ''Ha-Rabbanut Ha-Rashit Li-Yisra'el'') is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. It was established in 1921 under the British Mandate, and today operates on the basis of the C ...
, Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, the Minister of Health, representatives of the Doctors Union, and representatives of the Old and New Yishuvs; and the second in the office of the Jerusalem mayor, Shlomo Zalman Shragai, who bestowed a commendation on Dr. Wallach for his years of public service.Porush (1952), p. 32. In honor of his ninetieth birthday, Wallach was awarded an honorary degree from the medical faculty of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
. The city of Jerusalem also named him a ''Yakir Yerushalayim'' (Worthy of Jerusalem); however, Wallach died the day before the presentation ceremony took place. Wallach died on April 8, 1957, at the age of 90. He was buried in the small cemetery adjacent to the hospital, on land he had given to the
burial society A burial society is a type of benefit/ friendly society. These groups historically existed in England and elsewhere, and were constituted for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions for the funeral expenses of the husband, wife or chi ...
of the
Perushim The ''perushim'' () were Jewish disciples of the Vilna Gaon, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, who left Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century to settle in the Land of Israel, which was then part of Ottoman Syria. They were from the section o ...
and
Ashkenazim Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
of Jerusalem to use as a temporary burial ground during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
. After the war, most of the 200 graves in this cemetery were relocated to permanent cemeteries, but a handful of graves remained, including that of Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, the first Dushinsky Rebbe, who died in Shaare Zedek Hospital in 1948.Rossoff (2005), p. 386. Per his request, Wallach was buried beside the Dushinsky Rebbe, whom he considered his mentor.Rossoff (2005), p. 383. According to Schwester Selma, over half of Jerusalem attended Wallach's funeral. He was eulogized by ''Who's Who in Israel'' as the Israeli medical profession's "spiritual leader for two generations". The Jerusalem municipality named the small street west of Shaare Zedek Hospital "Moshe Wallach Street" in his honor.
Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...
Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...
paid tribute to Wallach in a 1995 address in the
United States Capitol rotunda The United States Capitol building features a central rotunda below the Capitol dome. Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". The rotunda is connected by corridors leading so ...
inaugurating the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations. In a speech titled "My Jerusalem", Rabin began:
"Jerusalem has a thousand faces – and each one of us has his own Jerusalem. My Jerusalem is Dr. Moshe Wallach of Germany, the doctor of the sick of Israel and Jerusalem, who built Sha'arei Zedek hospital and had his home in its courtyard so as to be close to his patients day and night. I was born in his hospital. I am a Jerusalemite".


References


Sources

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External links


Photos: Meeting of Jerusalem municipality with Dr. Moshe Wallach, Shaare Zedek's First Director and Chief Medical Officer, and Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, 1952
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallach, Moshe 20th-century Israeli physicians Mohalim German Orthodox Jews Orthodox Jews from Ottoman Palestine University of Würzburg alumni Physicians from Cologne Physicians from Jerusalem 1866 births 1957 deaths Jewish physicians Shaare Zedek Medical Center