Avi Ohry
Tel Aviv, Israel
Mordecai Etziony was born in 1904 and worked in the Department of Medicine at the Jewish General Hospital and Jewish Hospital of Hope, Montreal. He submitted his dissertation to McGill University in 1931 under the title “The problem of ’emotions’ with particular reference to the emotional life of the child.” He also wrote a moving prayer, which was translated from Yiddish by the Canadian poet. A.M. Klein2:
“The Prayer of a Physician”
To Thee, O great Arcane,
Of nature’s Prime Mover,
To Thee, in my dire helplessness,
I make my prayer.
Not for fame and not for fortune
But for those who in delirium cry,
And those who in agony lie broken,
I plead for the flesh that is wounded,
And for the limbs that move not
I send my prayer to Thee.
Who hast poured Thy wisdom
Upon the heads of Pasteur, Hippocrates,
And of Maimonides,
Accept my plea and sharpen my senses
That without error or confusion
They make clear to my sight
The body’s eloquent flaws, its diagnostic rash,
And from my hearing
Let not the least stutter of the pulse escape.
Teach them to serve me in harmony
When I fare forth to the sick-bed,
Let them not tremble nor stumble.
Make straight my judgment that I may know
Each illness in its particularity,
And cleanse me of hatred.
References and further reading
- Etziony MB. The physician’s creed: An anthology of medical prayers, oaths, and codes of ethics written and recited by medical practitioners through the ages. Charles C. Thomas, 1973.
- Etziony MB. The prayer of a physician. Can M.A.J. 1947;56:100-101.
- Etziony MB. The Prayer of a Physician (Hebrew). Korot 1953;1(3-4):98.
- Etziony MB. Nathan ben Joel and his “ZORI HAGUF”. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 1963;37(3):257-78.
- Etziony MB. Orthogeriatrics. J Am Geriatr Soc 1969;17(10):1002-4.
AVI OHRY, MD, is married with two daughters. He is Emeritus Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Tel Aviv University, the former director of Rehabilitation Medicine at Reuth Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Tel Aviv, and a member of The Lancet‘s Commission on Medicine & the Holocaust. He conducts award-winning research in neurological rehabilitation, bioethics, medical humanities and history, and on long-term effects of disability and captivity. He plays the drums with three jazz bands.
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