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The Bedford Award and Hebrew Free Loan

I’m honored to share that on October 7, 2021, I will be awarded the Nathaniel Bedford Primary Care Physician Award for 2020 by the Allegheny County Medical Society. Dr. Bedford was the first practicing physician in Pittsburgh, and namesake of Bedford Ave. in the Hill District (as well as the person who decided to name Carson Street after a friend who was a ship’s captain). You can read all about the award here. The award comes with $1000 to be donated to the charity of my choice, which I have chosen to give to Hebrew Free Loan Association of Pittsburgh.

Hebrew Free Loan provides interest-free loans for large, one-time expenses that can make the difference between a family forging ahead or falling to pieces. Purchasing a car, adopting a child, releasing a new album of music, or finishing graduate school are only a few of the things that this vital organization has helped provide for. One of the keys to primary care medicine for me is recognizing the role that a person’s lifeworld plays in their well-being, and the needs that HFLA-Pittsburgh helps to address are among the most important parts of that lifeworld – career, transportation, starting a family or pursuing a dream – and I have regularly referred people to them because I knew that their assistance might mean more to that person than any medicine I could prescribe.

My wife Vita Nemirovsky, a former HFLA board member with whom I am co-chair of HFLA’s fall fundraising campaign, likes to say that HFLA “recycles money.” Since these are loans, repaid typically over 2-3 years, one donation ends up helping a series of people over decades, with very little overhead. Not only that, but the loan continues to help the borrower even after it is repaid by serving as a way for someone who might not qualify for conventional loans to build their credit and make it easier for them to hold a credit card, rent an apartment, or purchase a vehicle on their own in the future.

I’ve already received a lot of well-wishes for the Bedford award, but what would really make me happy is if everyone reading this would consider a donation to HFLA Pittsburgh. Healing People, Not Patients doesn’t happen in isolation, and by doing so you would be directly contributing to the work I do, even if you can’t stand the sight of bodily fluids and don’t remember which side the liver is on.

“And You Shall Surely Heal…”

If I had a hero in my life, it was Bernard Lown.  I was one year into my medical education when I “met” him, by way of discovering his book, The Lost Art of Healing, in a Half-Price Books on McKnight Road on my way to Montreal in the year of the millenium.  That chance meeting was the real beginning of my medical career, whatever other stories I might tell to the contrary.

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Golden Guilt

Fill in the blank in this popular saying:

“Silence is _________.”

I would wager that if you are of my parents’ generation, an early Boomer or older, you answered “golden.”  The adage conjures images of whispering in libraries and children being seen, but not heard.  My children’s generation and the one immediately preceding it, the millennial and post-millennial cohorts, answered “assent.”  They disdain silence, because it is the posture of those who sit on the sidelines while racism, sexual assault, environmental destruction and economic exploitation proceed unchecked.  One generation’s gold is another’s guilt.

I am in my late forties, a Gen-Xer stuck in the sandwich between these two generations, paralyzed into involuntary silence by not knowing what to say, how to say it or whether anyone wants to hear what I have to say to begin with.  I feel golden and guilty all at once.

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Giving Voice to the Speechless

It’s been a long year. For the last couple months I’ve fallen silent, no small feat for me. Nothing I had to say seemed equal to the task of the chaos around me.

I think I’ve found my tongue again. The Nishmat prayer that paves the way into the main section of Shabbat morning services refers to Hashem as mekitz nirdamim, mesiah ilemim – the One who wakes the dreamers and gives voice to the speechless. I’m feeling more awake than I have in a long time, and plan to be sharing a lot more material over the coming months here on this website and over my social media channels, where most of you will probably be reading this, starting with my newest installment of my Times of Israel blog, which is actually about mekitz nirdamim, waking the dreamers. That should post by tomorrow.

I haven’t been completely idle; aside from my day job I’ve actually had a few speaking engagements lately. Check out the Events page to see what I’ve been up to despite the pandemic, and “where” I’ll be next. There are at least two talks coming up in February and March, and I’m always open to discussing new virtual events (and eventually in-person ones) if you’re interested. Tag me on one of the social media platforms and we’ll talk, or email [email protected].

Where did this return of energy come from? Who knows. Maybe Hashem decided to give me a reprieve – or maybe it was the new puppy.

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