Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation In an anti-Semitic incident in September 2009, the synagogue was defaced with Nazi graffiti. Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (SBH) is a Sephardic congregation with a synagogue in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The name "Bikur Holim" (which can be transliterated various ways into English) means visiting or comforting the sick, an important mitzvah. The first official name of the congregation was Spanish Hebrew Society and Congregation Bikur Holim, shortened to "Sephardic Bikur Holim" ("Sephardic" to avoid confusion with Seattle's similarly named Ashkenazic congregation). For a time in the 1930s, after amalgamation with another congregation,
University of Religions and Denominations religions and other Islamic sects and denominations. This resulted in the establishment of a research institute which eventually became the University of Religions and Denominations. The institute began its activities with a group of students from Qom Seminary in a small building, with meager resources and facilities. At first, there was a special four-year academic course in three fields: Abrahamic Religions, Non- Abrahamic Religions and Islamic Sects. During their studies, the students also learned English, Sanskrit and Hebrew languages. After about ten years of hard work and endeavor, training of elite students, and meeting the legal requirements governing the universities,