When you live with Parkinson’s Disease, you gradually begin to feel you life changing. Layer by layer, your abilities are diminished, or taken away. I could hide my symptoms for a long time. But that, too, was taken away. This is my story.

"From Dyslexia to Parkinson's" is the story of my personal journey with two brain defects.

Some stories we are told are so powerful that they sit with us for all of our lives. The story Fradja Gelcman shared with me in 2012 about her life in captivity during the holocaust is one such story.

In this film produced in 2011, you will learn what Jewish life looked like in Palm Beach County in the early days of Jewish pioneers making their way to Florida, along with how Temple Beth El has evolved as it grew to become one of the largest reform Judaism synagogues in South Florida.

This film, “Merle’s Story” was produced for the Parkinson’s 2015 Neuro Film Festival. It is a view of the “what and whys” of my journey with Parkinson’s as I do what I can to live normal and be myself.

When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, I felt lost and worried. There is no known cure. As Michael J. Fox says, “It’s the disease that keeps on taking.” I chose to fight back. To this day, I fight with exercise, singing, physical therapy, writing, creating films, and even ballet therapy.

Rabbi Merle E. Singer retired in 2005 after serving as Temple Beth El’s senior spiritual leader for 28 years in Boca Raton.

The Life and Times of Merle Singer is an hour long documentary produced by Martin Phillips, media professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.