Medicine affects the whole of our lives. In this series, Zoë Apple, Helen Barratt, Samena Chaudhry, and Sumita Kini share what it means to them to be a medic and how their beliefs affect their lives
Like most people, I was born into my religion and was brought up taking it for granted. At school I was able to explain the basics of it to my friends in a simple manner. I am Jewish because my mummy and daddy are Jewish. No, we don't celebrate Christmas, but we have different festivals, even our own New Year. Yes it would be lovely to have tea at your house, but will you make sure that your mummy doesn't cook pork, bacon, or ham, please.
As I have got older I have learnt more and more about being Jewish. To me, it is far more than festivals and laws; it is a cultural identity, something that I share with Jewish people around the world. We have Jewish foods, Jewish jokes, Jewish ways of looking at things, and Jewish values, with their emphasis on the importance of the family and of being part of a community.
I now truly appreciate and enjoy being Jewish, and I feel that my religion enriches my life.
At the age of 19 I became a member of another culture. This one I chose, and through a complicated system of forms from the universities and colleges admissions service (UCAS), interviews, and conditional offers it chose me. At first I was able to define it simply. I am a medic because I study medicine. Yes, I do have to cut up dead bodies, that's an educational part of my course. No, I can't explain the funny lump on your ear, we don't learn about ears till second year.
As I have progressed through the course my "medic-ness" has become increasingly difficult to define. I have seen people crying with pain. I have helped bring babies into this world. I have listened to patients with mania explaining how they have found the cure for cancer. I have seen people die. These things do change you in some ways and make you look at things differently.
At the same time I have become part of a social group. We have our own parties, pub crawls, and balls. There is a medic sense of humour. And on my elective I found that this "medic-ness" is something that I share with medics all over the world.
My "Jewish-ness" has enriched my "medic-ness". Judaism holds high the ideals of tikkun olam (healing the world), while a Jewish law piku'ach nefesh dictates that any Jewish law may be broken to save a human life. The concept of medical ethics with its moral dilemmas is something that feels very familiar to me.
Along with my Judaism comes a certain responsibility. I do feel sometimes that I have a certain obligation to be a good person, to live my life considering other people and not just myself, and to think about the consequences of my actions--concepts that are familiar to medics.
It is not always easy to be a member of two very different cultural groups, and situations do sometimes force you to choose one over the other. I don't go out on Friday nights as this is the Jewish Sabbath, and instead I make a big meal with friends, drink lots of wine, and just generally appreciate it being the end of the working week. Easy enough to do when I was living in a house with other Jewish students. Not so easy if you're living in hospital accommodation. And what do you do when your graduation ball falls on a Friday night?
Ultimately Judaism is a very community based religion, and I have found that when medical placements take you to places away from a community it is hard to maintain traditions on your own. At the same time I have had some really special Jewish moments in the last year. The best one came on my elective in Samoa when it was the festival of Chanukah, which falls in late December. If I had been at home with my family we would have lit the candles on the menorah (a kind of candelabra) and sung songs. There I improvised a menorah out of beer bottle tops, explained the festival to some of my friends, and lit the candles with them. I even managed a solo rendition of the traditional song, and as I watched my Chanukah candles burning away I knew that I was definitely the only Jewish person on this island and quite possibly the only one in that time zone in the world. My little candles were affirming that I was still a part of the Jewish people, no matter where I might be.
At the age of 13 all Jewish boys have a bar mitzvah. They read a portion of the law in Hebrew during a synagogue service, with all their family and friends gathered to celebrate the occasion. After that they are considered to be a man and to be responsible for their actions. I have just passed my finals. I have had my day of celebration, dressed up in a cap and gown, making my family proud. Now as I prepare to start my medical career I hope that my "Jewish-ness" and my "medic-ness" will remain a good combination and that I will continue to enjoy the rich culture of each, while also putting what I have learnt from them both into practice.
Menorahs at Chanukah, the festival of lights
