Samis Foundation:
Samuel Israel

Sam was born and grew up on the Island of Rhodes. He spent his youth in the Jewish quarter, the densely populated area located in the eastern section of the walled “Old City” built by the Knights of St. John and known as “la Juderia.” It remained a virtual Medieval town, noted for its intricate labyrinth of narrow, winding cobblestone streets and alleys, overhanging balconies, and tents and canopies that shaded commercial areas where merchants showed their wares. Among the network of twisting alleys and busy commercial streets were traditional fountains, Byzantine and medieval Gothic churches, mosques, picturesque shops, homes, and other buildings decorated with oriental motifs. Most dwellings, including the Israel family home, were whitewashed mud brick structures.

Sam grew up in a family whose life was an integral part of their community, distinguished by Sephardic religious practices, traditions, customs, and language.  Their culture—an ancient and rich tapestry unique to the island, developed over the centuries after the 1492 Jewish expulsions from Spain birthed the Sepharad diaspora—was an intrinsic part of daily life, instilled by parents in their children as it had been for generations.  The language of the Israel home and other Rhodeslis was Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language rooted in a fifteenth-century Castilian dialect and flavored with multiple cultural influences from the Eastern Mediterranean, reflected in Hebrew, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic, Italian, and Turkish words and expressions.  In the cosmopolitan community of Rhodes, Sam Israel became fluent in four languages--his native Ladino, as well as Italian, Greek, and Turkish—and he even learned a little French.  From about 1906 to 1912, Sam attended the Alliance Israélite Universelle School for boys through his bar mitzvah, age 13. 

After immigrating to Seattle, Sam opened Wing Foot Shoe Renewing at 1609 3rd Avenue, the fourth family shoe repair shop. Sam’s success in the shoe repair business enabled him to help his brothers in the trade, as well as to begin making investments that would become the hallmark of his career.  Eddie Hasson recounts this story he heard from Sam :  “He lived at home with his parents.  He walked from 18th and Spruce to where his shop was every day. He wasn't a big spender.  So, he started buying properties, and he told me that the reason why he bought properties was because of the experience of his parents, who lost pretty much all their savings when they left the Isle of Rhodes.”  The lesson lasted a lifetime.  In 1980, Sam reflected, “For that reason, I didn't keep any money, didn't believe in keeping any money, has no value.  And bought real estate, the most secure thing that I could think of.  I own no stocks; no partnerships with anybody but my brothers; no share of stocks of any kind; no savings accounts.”  He counseled his nephew Eddie, “The last thing you should keep is money.  But property and land will always be valuable.” 

The energy that Sam devoted to his shoe shops was mirrored in his hobbies—hiking, skiing, bodybuilding, fishing, and photography.  In September 1924, Sam’s brother Morris (age 24) married Gentil Levy (age 19) at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth.  By this time, Sam had become an avid—and talented—amateur photographer.  Sam’s photograph of the wedding party on the steps of the synagogue later became widely circulated (including appearing on various websites, such as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Rhodes Jewish Museum, and the University of Washington), although he has never been credited.

In 1958, Sam purchased breeding stock registered Hereford cattle from the W. E. Boeing estate in Falls City, Washington.  By November 1961, the Samis Hereford Ranch counts more than 100 head, including 16 bulls and 3 milk cows.  The venture proved unprofitable and lasted less than a decade.  In December 1967, Sam announced a dispersal sale of 250 head of registered Hereford cattle by Samis Hereford Ranch, to be held at the Central Washington Livestock Market in Quincy, Washington.  It marked the end of Sam’s nine-year venture into the business of registered cattle breeding. 

For years, Sam dreamed of going to Israel. In September 1973, Sam purchased airfare to Israel, with return via Athens and Rhodes, then Rhodes to Athens to NY, and NY to Spokane. Planned departure was October 11 with arrival in Tel Aviv the following day. However, the trip was delayed by the 1973 Yom Kippur War, October 6-25. Finally, he left around November 1 and returned three weeks later. It was a landmark in Sam’s life, perhaps, as Eddie Hasson says, “the highlight of his life.” Sam had always been doing mitzvot, but after the Israel-Rhodes trip, his charitable works were more elaborate, more numerous and frequent, and more generous, ultimately culminating in the creation of the Samis Foundation six years after the fateful journey. Sam couldn’t stop raving about how wonderful the country was and saying, “we have to do things to help them.” Sam assembled a slide show and began going to grade schools, high schools, church groups, and civic organizations in Grant County to talk about Israel. “He called it ‘on the circuit promoting Israel,’” recalls Eddie. “He would start the slideshow with a tape recorder and play his favorite song that began, “When Israel went out of Egypt”—it’s in Hebrew and my brother Robert sings it—and he ended the show with the sunset over Mandraki Harbor in Rhodes.”

KING-TV reporter Jack Hamman interviewed Sam in late 1984. During the interview, Sam shared some of his personal views. “I’m 87 years old, next month I’ll be 88 years old. When I get up in the morning, I feel it’s a gift of God, that I’m living that day, and I’m not out to make money, or to hurt anybody. Now, what’s gonna happen to me now? Some of these mornings I may not wake up. Every morning I thank God for it, it’s a gift from God. One morning you’ll read, and I’m not going to wake up. If they catch me in the morning, early in the morning, that I’m dead, before sunset, I’ll be six feet underground. They’ll take my body, and they’ll wash it with soap and water, and they will wrap my body with a piece of white cloth. That is a bed sheet, we call it “mortaja” [shroud] in Spanish. With the white sheet, the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor, white sheet. We come naked and we go naked, that’s the book, that’s the way we live. Money don’t mean nothing, can’t take it with us, we believe in our books and we practice.”