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Here’s why hospitals ask you your religion — and why Jews shouldn’t be afraid to answer

JL;DR SUMMARY Reflecting on an emergency room visit for acute abdominal pain, the author reveals his discomfort when asked his religion by hospital staff, highlighting both historical and contemporary fears of antisemitism. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryReligionJewish IdentityHealthcareCultural SensitivityChaplaincySpiritual CareHospitalsPatient Experience

Places mentioned

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"People like my former classmates at a Jewish day school in Toronto"
Manhattan, New York, United States
"Here I was on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a city home to one million Jews, inside a hospital named after a Jewish guy."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"(Thats right: Financier Sanford Weill, of NY Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center fame, was once a Jewish kid in Brooklyn.)"
Australia
"I thought about the Australian nurse who was charged after a viral video showed her threatening to kill her Israeli patients and boasting about refusing to treat them."

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Cairo Item ID 47699
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Retrieved 2025-03-28 05:30:57 UTC
Curated 2025-03-28 08:31:53 UTC