Mark: Frank, as we once again approach Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, we are made aware yet again of the tenuous nature of each of our existence. In fact, the words of the Hebrew prayerbook ask that we acknowledge this fact of our mortality. Looking at the start of a New Year, the prayerbook offers ...
Frank: In the fifth century B.C. one of the oldest documents in history was written by Hippocrates and involved a code of ethics for the practitioner of medicine. While this code of ethics has been modified over the years to fit in with a more modern time, it remains today one of the only such codes ...
Frank: It was 150 years ago when the phrase “nature versus nurture” surfaced in scientific literature and ever since a debate of which was more important in determining our personality, skills, interests, morality, and intellect, among many other characteristics has been a popular subject to discuss. ...
Frank: So often I hear about someone’s character, which are the traits that represent a person’s moral and ethical beliefs and behavior. There are several adjectives that help define character and any one of them could be used to describe a person of good or not so good character. They primarily ...
Frank: The ringing hospital phone startled me. As a Resident Physician 60 years ago, I spent many nights in the hospital lounge and on this night, I had just fallen asleep when a nurse, needing help with an agitated, distraught, and tearful patient, called for advice. After listening to the situation, ...
Frank: I am convinced that humans have free will and when that free will is abused for evil actions, those individuals either could not hear or were incapable of listening to the God within them.They are nature’s genetic mutation of the conscience. Their genetic wiring lacks the necessary elements ...
Frank: Loving and being loved are the most important human emotions of life and a feeling that can enrich lives in countless ways. Uttering the words, “I love you,” are clearly the three most powerful words one can communicate to another person. Yet there are types of love that differ from one another. ...
Frank: Mark, we have all been asked many times in our lives whether our glass was half full or half empty, to ascertain if we were optimistic or pessimistic about a certain situation. Recently I have been asked that question as it relates to the outcome of the presidential election, and I responded ...
“If someone comes to kill you, get up in the morning to kill him first.” This is what the Talmud teaches us. If we are going to delineate a list of Jewish values, the act of the self preservation of the Jewish people would most certainly top that list. If we are to mourn ...
Frank: During my fifty years of practice, I participated in the care of thousands of pregnant women and have attempted to answer the many questions that each patient invariably wants answered. While these questions are often specific to each patient's pregnancy, one common question usually surfaces ...
