Scholar takes up Jewish doctor phenomenon

By Jewish Review

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John Efron, speaking about “The Rise of the Modern Jewish Doctor,” is this year’s second event of the Institute for Judaic Studies’ Writers and Scholars Lecture Series.

Co-sponsored with The Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, the lecture will begin at 7 p.m., March 9, at Congregation Neveh Shalom.

Efron is the Koret Professor of Jewish History at the University of Californian at Berkeley. He received his B.A. from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

“The Rise Modern Jewish Doctor” will focus on the role played by medicine in the formation of modern Jewish identity in Germany. Having produced large numbers of doctors and scientists, the character of German Jewry rapidly changed between 1800 and 1900 from a traditional and observant community to one that was secular, scientific and skeptical, said Efron. This talk will trace that process and shed light on how medicine came to occupy such an exalted place among Jews that it became known as a quintessentially “Jewish” profession.

Cost of the lecture is $15. For more information, contact 503-244-4473 or visit www.judaicstudies.org.