I may have Parkinson’s Disease, but it will never define who I am.  

When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2005, I was afraid of what the future would hold for me and my family, afraid of what was to come. I soon decided that I had no choice but to go forward and fight my way through learning how to face this new challenge. I’m still fighting and still working to maintain a positive attitude and to live well every day.

My issues are universal issues among those living with Parkinson’s. Through videos and words, I am sharing my story—both struggles and triumphs in these pages. I hope that you, too, might wish to share your thoughts, or write to say hello.

I have been honored and privileged to serve as a rabbi for more than fifty years. I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota in a large family with a strong sense of Judaism being at the center of our lives. It wasn’t always easy to be one of the very few Jewish children at my school, and the sting of anti-semitism was felt early in my life. 

I became a rabbi out of an interest in both history and humanity. I truly am a people person and I’m glad that I am To be able to help someone in need is a natural tendency for me, and has been every since I can remember.

Choosing to become a rabbi presented challenges because of my Dyslexia, which had not been diagnosed until I was about to be ordained. Despite the tremendous difficulty I had learning to read, I was determined to not be defeated. I went on to a full and deeply satisfying life in the rabbinate.

My career began at Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C. where I was profoundly impacted by Dr. Martin Luther King and his leadership in the civil rights movement. I went on to become the rabbi at Temple Beth Or in suburban Philadelphia.

I came to Temple Beth El in Boca Raton in 1978 with my wife Myra and our young boys. The new TBE synagogue had recently opened with great pride and celebration. It was a great milestone for our young congregation that had grown out of a handful of families gathering to pray together, first in each other’s living rooms. Soon they found a temporary home in a church that generously welcomed the group to use their sacred space to become their place of worship. 

Myra and I were immediately made to feel at home in Boca Raton. That experience of settling in to a new community, and getting to know all of the people in our small congregation set a tone for the sense of who we were as a reform congregation in a community that, at times, didn’t know what to make of the Jews within their midst. 

I knew then that working cooperatively with all religious communities in our midst would be central to my approach to growing a vibrant Jewish congregation.

I remain very grateful to all who had put their faith in me so many years ago so that together we could embrace Judaism in a way that was most meaningful to us in the reform tradition. From those early days, we watched our small but determined Jewish community become firmly rooted in Boca Raton. At the same time there was an eagerness to work cooperatively, and to always step in to help each other in times of need. In this way, many hands together shaped the future of our city.

Life brings many opportunities, and also many challenges. Through it all, faith and belief in ourselves is at the center of finding our way to live every day.

I am fighting every day to not be defined by Parkinson’s Disease, to not allow it to drive me further into exile. When you suffer from brain disorders of any kind, not just Parkinson’s or Dyslexia, we have to learn to make music with what we have left.

  —Merle E. Singer