|
COPYRIGHT 2005 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
Byline: CURT SCHLEIER
Judah Folkman knew from a young age that he wanted to minister.
His father was a rabbi, and young Judah occasionally accompanied his father on hospital rounds to visit ailing congregants. He liked what he saw; his father helping patients feel better. "At first I wanted to be a rabbi," he said in a recent IBD interview.
Most of the patients had had heart attacks and were in oxygen tents. "After many visits I noticed that my father would pray through the oxygen tents. And I saw that doctors would open the tent," he said. "That's when I changed my mind and decided I wanted to be a doctor."
Young Judah worried about his father's reaction: The rabbi assumed his son would follow in his footsteps. "But he said, "Fine, you can be a rabbi-like doctor,' " Folkman said. "And he taught me that to minister means the same thing in medicine as in the clergy."
Folkman, 72, stayed true to his dream and...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|