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The Doctor Is In
At Hadassah's opening meeting, Dr. Ruth to offer suggestions for getting the most out of life.
Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer
G
She also credits Jewish tradition
for her well-known sense of humor.
"In Jewish tradition, a lesson taught
with humor is a lesson retained," she
said.
reater Detroit Hadassah is
expecting a full house at its
opening meeting Oct. 27 to
hear octogenarian sex therapist Ruth K.
Westheimer, better known as Dr. Ruth.
BECOMING DR. RUTH
The event begins with boutiques at 10
The route Karola Ruth Siegel took to
a.m. and continues with lunch at noon and become Dr. Ruth is a testament to
the speaker at 1 p.m. A variety of prizes
her joie de vivre — a keen, carefree
will be raffled, including jewelry and retail
delight in life — that she embodies
gift cards.
fully.
Dr. Ruth is a longtime mem-
The only child of
ber of Hadassah and says she
Orthodox Jewish parents
will thank those at the meeting
in Frankfort, Germany,
for volunteer work that supports
she was sent alone
Hadassah Medical Organization in
to Switzerland on a
Israel and a variety of other pro-
Kindertransport at age
grams in Israel and the U.S.
10 to escape the Nazis.
"Hadassah Hospital has special
Her parents perished in
meaning to me," Dr. Ruth said. On Dr. Rut h
the Holocaust. She spent
her 20th birthday, June 4, 1948, she Westh eimer
almost eight years in a
was badly injured by shrapnel in
far-from-nurturing Swiss
The doctor was a sniper for the Haganah in 1948.
her legs and feet. The medics couldn't get
orphanage. The girls weren't given
her to Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus so
academic training; instead, she
they took her to a Hadassah-run clinic in a received a degree in Swiss house-
write in their questions; and she would
former cloister.
keeping.
read and answer them, using terms not
She says it's because Hadassah saved her
When the war ended, the 17-year-old
usually heard on air in those days.
legs that she met Fred Westheimer, whom
Karola went to Palestine, living first on a
Her audience loved that she was an
she married in 1961 after two previous
kibbutz and then in Jerusalem, where she
older woman with a German accent who
short-lived marriages ended in divorce.
taught kindergarten and volunteered to
spoke forthrightly about sex — and a star
They met while skiing and were married
fight with the Haganah. Though only 4
was born. The New York Times dubbed
for 36 years.
feet 7 inches tall, she qualified as a sniper.
her "Grandma Freud:' A variety of radio
"I have a knack for
and TV shows, videos, books and newspa-
putting bullets exactly
per advice columns followed.
where I want them to
Dr. Ruth says she's "old-fashioned and
go," she said.
square" about sex; she believes partners
She switched her first should be in committed relationships, not
and middle names in
"friends with benefits:'
order to appear more
"I just talk very explicitly about things
Jewish, less German.
that a Victorian mother would never talk
After several years
about," she said.
in France, where she
She has lived in the same Washington
— Dr. Ruth
taught in a Jewish
Heights apartment overlooking the
kindergarten and
Hudson River for more than 50 years. She
studied psychology at
loves being 10 minutes away from her
Now 87, Dr. Ruth continued to ski until
the Sorbonne, she moved to New York in
daughter, Miriam, and only an hour's flight
just a few years ago. She still likes to dance
1956.
from her son, Joel, who lives in Ottawa.
"when I can find a partner," she said.
She earned a master's degree in soci-
In December, on her annual visit to
Building on the title of the most recent
ology from the New School for Social
Israel, she'll receive an award from the
of her 42 books, The Doctor is In: Dr.
Research and a doctorate in education
Cinematheque in Jerusalem for a series
Ruth on Love, Life and Joie de Vivre,
from Columbia University's Teachers
of documentaries she produced on
she'll give her Hadassah audience some
College. She was also certified as a psy-
minority ethnic groups in Israel, includ-
suggestions for getting the most out of life.
chosexual therapist through studies with
ing Ethiopian Jews, Druze, Beduins and
She also plans to talk about sex in
Helen Singer Kaplan at Cornell Medical
Circassians. All have to do with family
Jewish tradition and answer questions
School.
structure and relationships, an interest she
from the audience.
When she was 52, Dr. Ruth pitched the
traces to her own loss of family at such a
"For Jews, sex has never been a sin; it's
idea of a show about sex to a group of
young age.
always a mitzvah between husband and
radio executives. A 15-minute trial evolved
She's cut back on her activities some-
wife," she said.
into a regular weekly slot. Listeners would
what, no longer doing a regular radio or
"For Jews, sex has never
been a sin; it's always
a mitzvah between
husband and wife."
14 October 22 •2015
TV show or a newspaper column. But she
still lectures frequently, teaches a course
on family and media at Columbia Teachers
College, and is happy to participate in
interviews and photo shoots. She's out
almost every night, at shows, concerts or
fundraising events.
"I still do all the things I love doing," she
said.
She relishes her celebrity, especially
because her fame has enabled her to get
her message to a wide audience. "My
energy comes from the people who tell me
how I've helped them," she said.
Barbara Sofer, director of public rela-
tions for Hadassah in Israel, also will
speak. Sofer, who moved to Israel 40 years
ago, has worked with top-tier media,
including Sixty Minutes and Nightline.
She writes a popular weekend column for
the Jerusalem Post. She is the author of six
books, the most recent being A Daughter
of Many Mothers, the story of Holocaust
survivor Rena Quint.
Fran Heicklen of West Bloomfield and
Mandy Garver of Bloomfield Township are
chairs of the Hadassah opening meeting.
The Greater Detroit Chapter of Hadassah
has 4,000 members.
Reservations for the luncheon are $75.
Admission to the lecture alone is $36.
Raffle tickets are five for $25 in advance
and three for $25 at the event. For more
information, contact the Hadassah office
at (248) 683-5030. *