By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

As late afternoon shadows creep across Lake Washington, Shirley Agranoff and Lucille Almeleh Spring light three candles and begin the traditional prayers of the Jewish Sabbath -- or Shabbat.

"May the Lord protect and defend you," Spring sings in a clear, lilting voice.

Those who have gathered for the weekly prayer service at the Kline Galland Home in Seward Park join in, while others who came for a friendly game of bingo sit quietly.

For 83 years, Kline Galland has provided Seattle Jews with a comfortable place to live, worship and socialize. The nursing home has become a cornerstone of Seward Park, a neighborhood as religiously and ethnically diverse as any in Seattle.

"I wanted to be with my own people. I feel a sense of belonging and it's comfortable," says Agranoff, in explaining why she chose to live at Kline Galland.

Aside from its wonderful waterfront, Microsoft mansions and 1950s brick ramblers, Seward Park's eclectic personality is subtly influenced by its Jewish residents.

For a lakeside neighborhood, Seward Park doesn't have the drama of Denny-Blaine or the quaintness of Madison Park with all its shops and restaurants. But if you want kosher food, you'll find it at the local QFC, Safeway, PCC and at Park Deli and International Biscuit Co., two neighborhood hangouts.

Where else in Seattle but Seward Park can you share the sidewalk with dozens of traditionally dressed Orthodox Jews on their way each Saturday to synagogue or a big family meal.

"It's a little bit like 'Fiddler on the Roof' when Sabbath comes," quips Kent Swigard, who with his wife, Nancy, lives and works in Seward Park.

The Swigards attend Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, the oldest synagogue in Washington state and one of three in Seward Park. (The other two are Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation and Congregation Ezra Bessaroth.)

About 90 percent of Seattle's Orthodox Jews live within a mile of the three synagogues, says Swigard, who maintains a mailing list that includes 460 Orthodox Jewish households. (He and his wife are realtors.)

Seward Park is also racially diverse. Asians and blacks comprise roughly 50 percent of residents -- more than twice the citywide average, according to the 1990 census.

The cultural cross-over can be enjoyed at neighborhood businesses such as Lee's, a popular Chinese restaurant on Genesee Street. A typical noontime crowd includes Yiddish-speaking Jews, blacks, whites and Asians -- all enjoying steamy bowls of chow mein and fragrant egg flower soup.

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The Jewish influence is a stabilizing force in Seward Park, says Rabbi Moshe Kletenik of Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath. Particularly on Sabbath, "you can feel a great sense of tranquility. All the people going out with families to synagogue and refraining from driving, and going with their families to visit homes, and down around the (Seward Park) loop.

"It adds to the spirit and peace of the Sabbath day."

Kletenik, who is vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America, also teaches a Jewish medical ethics course at Kline Galland. He takes members and youth from the synagogue to the home for frequent visits.

The home was started by Caroline Rosenberg Kline Galland, a German native who died in 1907 and donated the bulk of her estate to build a home for the aged.

Even before it opened there was a waiting list, despite such rules as "No person shall be permitted to interfere or find fault with the (home's) superintendent . . . "

There is still a waiting list but it's worth it, says Agranoff, who has lived at the state-licensed nursing home for 1-1/2 years. Agranoff immigrated from England and was raised in Chicago. After she married, she and her husband and three children lived in Ephrata, where they ran the Louis Hotel for 35 years.

She remembers one of the only other Jews in the area: Sam Israel, the self-made millionaire land owner who retired to Ephrata from Seattle. Israel bought many properties, including a lot where he erected a flag pole and flew a Turkish flag, Agranoff recalls. He set up a free market where people could sell antiques, food and other goods.

Life is so much different now, Agranoff says. At Kline Galland there are discussion groups, field trips, classes -- a person could stay busy from morning to night, she says.

Continued:

• Grand lakeside homes highlight an area with long, deep roots