as.
Medical Or Miracle?
Study finds doctors take supernatural into account.
CHANAN TIGAY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
n the 1980s, when Rabbi Leonard Sharzer
was still working as a plastic surgeon, he
treated a patient suffering from a debilitating
neurological disease. Rabbi Sharzer and his col-
leagues agreed that the man wasn't long for this
world.
"It was clear to everybody taking care of him
that there was nothing more that could be done,"
said Rabbi Sharzer,
who was ordained as a
Conservative rabbi in
2003. "His family
expected this. We did-
n't know how long he
would survive. He was
on a downhill course
and the outcome was
clear."
But then, something
strange happened.
"He just lingered
and lingered and lin-
gered for six or eight
weeks — and he got
better," Rabbi Sharzer
recalled. "There was no way to explain that med-
ically.
"Looking back on it today, I think I probably
would have called it miraculous."
As it turns out, Rabbi Sharzer is not alone:
According to a new survey, the majority of
American physicians believe in miracles.
The study, carried out by HCD Research and
the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and
Social Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary
in New York, found that 74 percent of U.S. doc-
tors believe miracles have happened in the past,
and 73 percent believe they can occur today.
Among Jewish doctors, 88 percent of Orthodox
respondents said they believed miracles have tran-
spired, as did 53 percent of Conservative respon-
dents, 46 percent of Reform respondents and 29
percent of those identifying as culturally Jewish.
I
Chasidic Songs Celebrated
JAI
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Congregation B'nai Moshe will host its annual
Cabaret Night musical revue Saturday, Jan. 15,
with a tribute to the Israeli Chasidic Song
Festival. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m.
with tickets available in advance for $10 or at the
door for $12. Light refreshments will be served.
The numbers were approximately the same
when the doctors were asked if miracles could
occur today.
Like Rabbi Sharzer, 55 percent of physicians
surveyed said they had seen treatment results in
their patients that they would consider miracu-
lous.
The study also found that 55 percent of the
doctors surveyed believe medical practice should
be guided by religious teaching, and nearly 40 per-
cent are convinced that the biblical miracle stories
— such as Exodus' parting of the Red Sea — are to
be taken literally.
Among Jews, 53 percent of Orthodox doctors
believe literally in the biblical miracles, as do near-
ly 12 percent of Conservative respondents, more
than 4 percent of Reform and 2 percent of cultur-
ally Jewish respondents.
According to Alan Mittleman, the Finkelstein
Institute's director, the study indicates that the
conventional sociological wisdom holding that
religious belief declines as a person's scientific edu-
cation grows is false.
Religion Plays A Role
"The big picture was
that doctors are really
not less religious than
their patients," Mittle-
man said. "I was some-
what surprised by the
overall religiosity of the
physicians."
The survey of 1,087
physicians —
Christians, Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists and
253 Jews — also found
that 20 percent of
Jewish doctors believe
Mittleman
supernatural events or
acts of God frequently
influence treatment outcomes.
Among Catholics that number rose to 35 per-
cent, and jumped again to 46 percent among
Protestants.
Featured performers will include the
Klezmaniacs, a local Klezmer band; the B'nai
Moshe Cabaret Singers; the B'nai Moshe Festival
Dancers, and the faculty of B'nai Moshe's LIFE
(Life Is a Family Experience) Program, who will
perform a special teachers' medley.
The producer for Cabaret Night is Cantor Earl
G. Berris. B'nai Moshe Music Committee Chair
Among the Jews surveyed Dec. 17-19, 94 iden-
tified themselves as Conservative, 93 as Reform,
49 as culturally Jewish
and 17 as Orthodox.
The survey had a mar-
gin of error of 2.9 per-
centage points.
Orthodox Jewish
doctors, the study
found, were closer to
their Christian counter-
parts with regard to
supernatural views than
they were to
Conservative and
Reform doctors.
"Reform and
Conservative Jewish
Kessler
physicians seem to be
more focused on the
medical aspects and their potential for outcome,"
said Glenn Kessler, co-founder and managing
partner of HCD Research, a private market
research company in Flemington, N.J., that deals
largely with pharmaceutical companies.
"Orthodox Jews, Catholics and Protestants
appear to be more open to non-medical reasons
for outcomes — supernatural, unexplained rea-
sons."
Rabbi Sharzer, who as a surgeon performed
reconstructive operations on people who had been
injured in accidents, recalled a patient who arrived
at the hospital in critical condition.
"He had a whole group of friends and col-
leagues come into the hospital, and they began
chanting around the clock for three or four days,
maybe a week, while he was in extremely critical
condition," Rabbi Sharzer said.
"When he started to wake up he was aware that
they were doing it. From an anecdotal standpoint
— patients who are in very dire straits, their own
faith and faith in their family certainly can have a
beneficial effect.
"The longer you are in practice the longer you
can see things that you can't explain on the basis
of your own actions and your own abilities." 0
Howard Berris will chair the Cabaret Night
Committee. Shirley Silbert is coordinating deco-
rations. Alan Pinter is in charge of sound record-
ing. Donna Litman will handle videography.
For information, call the B'nai Moshe office,
(248) 788-0600.