Sylvia Gardner* was a persistent woman. She left four messages for me one morning this past September. When I finally returned the call she got right to the point. “Rabbi I must come in and see you. Can I come right now? Trust me Rabbi this is important.” Although I was in the middle of preparing the daf thinking about the halachah shiur for first night of Rosh HaShanah and worrying if the honey I distribute on the first night of Yom Tov would arrive in time I could tell from her tone of voice that this was urgent. “Mrs. Gardner come right over now.”
Sylvia Gardner was a woman in her 60s who lived alone. I assumed she was divorced since for as long as she’d lived in the neighborhood she’d never mentioned her husband.
Sylvia Gardner rarely called me and for her to insist on seeing me before Rosh HaShanah certainly kindled my curiosity.
Sylvia arrived. Before I could say “How are you?” she blurted out her question. “Rabbi is it permitted to sue a Jewish doctor for malpractice? Can I take a Jewish doctor to court?”
Create a free account to keep reading.
