BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Judith Fein Eighteen years ago, Erv Hinds was a traditional anesthesiologist with an open-heart surgery team. Today he's gone from putting people to sleep with drugs to trying to wake them up with what he calls patient-centered pain treatment. In his practice at the Albuquerque Pain Center, pain at every level is taken seriously. "Patients need to develop a vertical relationship - to nature or Jesus or Buddha or God," says Hinds, "or something that gets them out of entrenchment, outside of themselves." The journey that brought him to this point began when an X-ray revealed that he needed a heart valve replacement. "I didn't know what to do," Hinds says. He prayed with his Presbyterian pastor and did research in the University of New Mexico library. There he found a journal article about a surgeon in France named Carpentier who was repairing valves instead of replacing them, something not done in America. "Carpentier had done most of hi...

In the late 1980s, two friends of mine died waiting for SSDI benefits from AIDS related cancers. They were hard working, smart people who had savings but blew through them... waiting. I, myself, had a good nestegg when I fell ill in 1995. It was two years before I finally got SSDI. Only then with the help of attorney because I was too gravely impaired to fight for myself. My nestegg was gone to medical expenses. My group disability demanded I pay them back every penny when SSDI kicked in finally. This is not unusual, people - check your policies - that is STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE! You have to pay it back! EVERYONE does ! I have never applied for State Aid, Food Stamps or Section 8 Housing help. Nor would I. I only applied for what I put in for the 22 years I worked and only because I needed it. I am now surviving on less income than I made in 1979. I can't sit up too long, it's painful to walk for long, my hands hurt and I have severe headaches. I still ...

SHAVUOT The all-nighter is an observance that developed on Shavuot. By Lesli Koppelman Ross Staying up to study Jewish texts for all or part of the first night of Shavuot is an increasingly popular activity among a wide range of Jews. This custom is called a "tikkun." The word tikkun is most popularly understood to mean a process of "repairing the world" or even an improvement of one's qualities. Tikkun is also used to describe a particular time devoted to study, a seder--order--of texts designed for this study, and also a canonical book containing these texts . Following the holiday meal, many people proceed to synagogue for Ma'ariv [the evening service], followed by an all-night (or into-the-night, as many last only until midnight) Torah study session based on the kabbalists' [mystics'] practice. [This specifically refers to the sixteenth century mystics of Safed, Israel, under the leadership of Isaac Luria. Many people recite Ma'ariv ...

SOMETHING FOR US TO WATCH AND REFLECT ON THIS MEMORIAL DAY CLICK HERE (for my Uncle, of blessed memory - decorated WWII U.S. Navy Veteran, for my father-in-law, of blessed memory - WWII Canadian Army Veteran and my father, of blessed memory - WWII U.S. Army Veteran) Poem to the Soldier Author Unknown It is the Soldier, not the reporter who has given us freedom of press It is the Soldier, not the poet who has given us freedom of speech It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us freedom to demonstrate It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. QUOTES TO PONDER: "Never in the face of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." - Winston Churchill "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson "....If you leave here with the word DUTY implanted in your mind; if you leave here with the ...

The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference. - IAN KERSHAW Click Here to see a presentation and very informative site about YomHaShoah. Yom HaShoah - How to remember the Holocaust by Rabbi Yehudah Prero Shoah is the Hebrew word for "whirlwind." It is the term used to described the conflagration that swept up six million Jewish souls between 1938 and 1945. A war was waged against the Jews in which unspeakable atrocities were perpetrated against a defenseless people. Men and women, young and old alike, were butchered at the hands of the accursed Nazis, may their name be eradicated for all time. Every year, on Yom HaShoah, we remember the martyrs who sanctified the name of G-d in the camps, the ghettos, and in the gas chambers. A story is told of a unique Chanukah in Aushwitz. It was December, and a group of Jews in Aushwitz desired greatly to have a candle lit on the upcoming holiday. Obviously, there was no way the Germans would allow this ...

Mother's Day, for me, is filled with a conflicting thoughts & feelings. Party because I struggled over 12 years with almost intractable infertility issues. My own mother had a personality disorder whose negative aspects were focused on me. I never told her I was an infertility patient. I couldn't, it would have brought with it a lot more verbal abuse than I was already taking for simply being alive. Once I finally did have children I realized I would never feel "normal" - I would always be infertile because I could not do easily what most other women do. One thing she said to me a great deal was " you owe me ." Over and over I was reminded that I 'owed her' for working to provide a home for myself & my sibling, raising me and most of all: for having me in the first place. Especially since I was a " freak, a loser, ugly " and " no man would ever want " me. So it was to her tremendous shock when she had this convers...

By Lisa Copen (excerpts) "I don't understand why you won't at least take his phone number; he's a Christian and he specializes in herbal remedies. He could heal you and then you could share his success with everyone and that could be your ministry…" I was standing in the buffet line at a special dinner for committee members of an international revival that had come to town. Some would go as far to say that those attending this dinner were the who's who of local women in ministry, and I was proud to be among their company. Despite their involvement and leadership in ministry, however, this group of women was healthy-bodied and provided many examples for me to share about how, as a church body, we can increase our awareness and understanding of those who live with chronic conditions. When one committee member asked why I was appointed as the disabilities coordinator I shared a few words about my ministry. She in turn asked me what drugs I was on because ...

TRAUMA SURVIVORS PLEADING FOR THEIR 'EXODUS' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and have confirmed it, to observe Thy righteous ordinances. I am afflicted very much; quicken me, O HaShem, according unto Thy word. Accept, I beseech Thee, the freewill-offerings of my mouth, O HaShem, and teach me Thine ordinances. My soul is continually in my hand; yet have I not forgotten Thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me; yet went I not astray from Thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes, for ever, at every step. Psalms 119: 105-112 In reading this week's news across the globe, I am always struck by the resiliency of trauma survivors. Victims of political hypocrisy, victims of Middle East terror and even crime victims here in New York. I am also sickened by the majority who turn the other way - think it's not goi...