"Don't shoot! I'm Dr. Churcher!" • Haifa – A Taste of the Past Customs and Other Oddities ○ Uri Sharon

At the western end of HaGefen Street in Haifa, a street splits towards the mountain and contains, among other things, two buildings with painted shutters.

I visited one of the houses more than 70 years ago. A Christian doctor lived in this house. My mother warned me that when we were at home and the doctor's name was mentioned - I should not dare to laugh. If I laughed - she would never take me to that place again. And I actually wanted to be in this house, because in the living room there was a large organ that made sounds that sounded special to the ears of a small child. Sounds that I had never heard before. And I wanted so much to tap the keys like any child who doesn't understand anything about music. Therefore, I promised not to laugh when they said the name of the Christian doctor - Doctor Churcher. Isn't that a funny name? It made me laugh!

And this house, or rather – the special people who were in it – is the story this time.
This story was written by Professor Nissim Levy, head of the History of Medicine course at the Technion's Faculty of Medicine. It was published in the magazine "Haifa", which is the journal of the Haifa History Association.

The house was built by a converted Jew from a religious family named David Yosef. He was born in 1835 and died at the age of 84. In his youth, while living in England, he converted to Christianity and became Brother Yosef, and preached among the Jews of London.
In 1896, Brother Joseph arrived in Haifa and bought a plot of land above the Templar neighborhood in the German colony, on which he built the two-three-story house. The intention was for the house to serve as a medical center for poor, sick Jews. Brother Joseph was looking for a doctor to run the place. Thus, the connection was made with Doctor Eliyahu Auerbach - the first Jewish doctor in Haifa at that time. And the year is 1911.

Dr. Auerbach asked Brother Joseph to rent the building and establish a public hospital there. Being a traditional Jew, Dr. Auerbach stipulated that there would be no Christian preaching in the hospital. Brother Joseph agreed, and thus an unusual collaboration was created between a Christian preacher and a traditional Jew.

Dr. Orbach was not only a doctor, but also an activist in absorbing thousands of new immigrants who arrived in Haifa in the early 1912s, and was also a biblical scholar and an outstanding athlete. Dr. Yaakov Sobowitz, a sports historian, said that Dr. Orbach was one of the founders of the Maccabi Haifa Sports Association in December XNUMX.
The hospital he managed was closed because Dr. Auerbach, as a German subject, returned to his country at the beginning of World War I to enlist in the army.

Brother Yosef also left the country during that period, but returned at the end of the war – this time as an official envoy of the London Missionary Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews.
Brother Joseph opened a clinic in his building, and when the doctor who ran the place moved to Jerusalem, the missionary society sent the Christian doctor, Dr. James Churcher, in her place, and the year was 1924. This doctor dedicated his entire professional life to faithful service for the residents of Haifa. This Englishman quickly adapted to the Levantine city to which he arrived. He learned to ride a horse, studied Arabic, and became familiar with the customs of the place.

Dr. Churcher's clinic treated many patients at all hours of the day – both Jews and Arabs, who suffered mainly from infectious diseases.
In the late 20s, three compassionate nurses joined the clinic, including the doctor's sister. Dr. Churcher's wife was appointed as the clinic's director.

In the Jewish-Arab conflict, the doctor maintained neutrality, as did the two other Christian doctors who worked in Haifa at the time. When the Arab Doctors' Association was established in Haifa in the 30s, an attempt was made to attract the three Christian doctors to the Arab side, but without success. Moreover, in order to demonstrate non-identification with one side or the other in the conflict, and in order to prevent friction between patients, Dr. Churcher divided his work over the years between two separate clinics: an Arab clinic on HaBurj Street, and a Jewish clinic in the Hadar-HaCarmel neighborhood, most likely on HaHaKhalutz Street.

During the War of Independence, the devoted Christian doctor showed great courage. During the battles in Haifa, he provided medical assistance to anyone in need. When he was called to a house in a neighborhood where a battle was taking place, he walked down the street and shouted loudly in English: "I am Dr. Churcher, I am Dr. Churcher. Do not shoot!", and behold, it was a miracle: the shooting from both sides stopped immediately.

In 1967, the doctor was on maternity leave, but when the Six-Day War broke out, he immediately returned to Haifa to provide medical assistance.

Dr. Churcher provided, as written, medical assistance to anyone in need, regardless of religion, sect, or economic status. Moreover, he distributed red health cards to his patients, which were similar in appearance to the Histadrut health insurance cards. It is possible that this similarity was not accidental, and the doctor intended to give his poor patients the feeling that they were no different from other people. Such was his understanding heart.

Professor Nissim Levy, the author of the story, added that when he himself was a young doctor at the Rothschild Hospital (now: Bnei Zion), and treated patients in the emergency room, patients arrived proudly waving their red registers and announcing that they were members of "Dr. Churcher's Health Insurance Fund."

The celebrated physician served the residents of Haifa for fifty-three years. He retired from his job in 1977 and moved to a nursing home in London, where he passed away in 1992, at the age of 93.