Tikvah for Parkinson Blog

Amy Rosenthal is motivated by her grandchildren, her husband and by Debbie Shapiro’s drive to help other people. When I met with Amy last week to talk about her relationship to Tikvah for Parkinson as well as about her outlook on life, hope and inspirations, she wore red glasses, a big smile and a willingness to discuss her optimism and her struggles.  Amy is used to change. A California native, Amy and her husband Bruce made Aliyah to Israel about thirty five years ago and have lived in Jerusalem for the rest of her 71 years of life. Sixteen years ago, her husband Bruce was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  At first he was able to continue normal life with the help of meditation. Amy describes herself as an optimistic person, but she says she never felt optimistic about Parkinson’s disease: “I hope for things to get stable, not for them to get better but for the disease not to get worse.” The first time Amy attended a Tikvah for Parkinson meeting four years ago, she though...

     My grandmother once told me the story of how she fell into a puddle of mud and lost her boots while looking for her doll in the snow. The first time she told me the story, I listened captivated by the hilarity that ensued when the baker and the tailor of the Shtetl grabbed my grandmother by her armpits and pulled her out of the snowy puddle, leaving her boots forever stuck in the hard ice. The second time she told me the story, I laughed at her description of the doll and of the red noses of the village’s kids that peeked under their fluffy hats. The third time she tried to tell me that story, I cut her off and said,“Grandma, you’ve told this story a million time, already!”      When my mom heard that, she pulled me aside and told me: “No matter how many times your Grandma repeats that same story, you will listen and you will learn something new.” I have carried that lesson from that moment onwards, through the rest of my nineteen years of life; I ...