March 4th, 2024

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled “Aliza Wartime/Hostage Rant” to talk about something really nice.

Have you ever heard this?  The reason that so many Jews have traditionally become doctors is that, over the centuries, we’ve been repeatedly kicked out of our country of residence. It was always much easier to carry knowledge to a new land than to pack up a business that required cumbersome material tools and inventory.

I heard this when I was young.  Don’t know if it’s true, but it makes sense so I’m accepting it. The problem is that, at one point, here in safe North America, there were very rigid Jewish quotas at the top schools. Friends have told me that here in Toronto there was a period when a disproportionate number of smart Jewish students became pharmacists because the Jewish quotas kept them out of medical schools. In the USA, the Jews responded by starting their own medical school.  Founded in 1955 and affiliated with Yeshiva University, Einstein School of Medicine reached out and offered bigger salaries to Ivy League professors who promptly came on board as YU faculty. Brilliant students of every background were drawn to Einstein, and so it has continued. (The schools with Jewish quotas noticed and eventually got rid of the Jewish quota.)

This past week, an amazing thing happened.  Ruth Gottesman, a Jewish philanthropist who had been a long-time professor at Einstein, donated One Billion US Dollars to the school to make free tuition available to all students in perpetuity. (My uncle was one of the first graduates of Einstein. He said that back then it cost him $950 dollars a year which, for the child of poor immigrants, was an absolute fortune.) I love that this beautiful gift of Ruth Gottesman is both newsworthy and happening at a time when the world is trashing the Jews.

But there’s another reason that Jews everywhere are rejoicing at this gift. It’s the same reason that we crumbled with embarrassment when Bernie Madoff made the headlines. And the same reason part of us breaks apart whenever we read of another fallen Israeli soldier. The reason is that we are One People. One Family. A Jewish success is a success for all of us.  A Jewish sadness, too, is a shared sadness. Let us always remember what a special People we are. Let us always be united and continue living lives of Jewish values, giving Tzedakah, doing Mitzvot, and living for Tikun Olam, to make this world a better place. And may we be blessed to be together and share more joys than sorrows.