Welcoming 2024 — A Word of Thanks to You

Thank you for being in my life.

Thanks, always, for staying in touch.

Photo by Sandi Altner

As we look forward to celebrations with family and friends to help us welcome 2024, I want to take a moment to thank each of you for staying in touch with me through writing and visiting, and through your many comments on the articles and videos I’ve shared with you. I look forward to bringing many more to you in the coming year.

It’s hard to believe that it has been almost nineteen years since I retired from my position as senior rabbi of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton.

The launch of my website, RabbiMerleSinger.com in February of 2023 has proved to be a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with so many of you, and has helped fill my days with new opportunities, new studies, and more conversations.

How is Rabbi Singer doing?

I can tell you that I am doing fine. I’m still here, and very happy that I am still a rabbi at work.

Photo by Sandi Altner

Writing about issues that matter to me, and finding ways to encourage others to stay hopeful as we face the many challenges life brings our way has come to be a central part of what keeps me busy today. It’s true that I do have difficulty speaking because of the challenges of Parkinson’s Disease which was diagnosed in 2005. After dealing with dyslexia all of my life, the diagnosis was a terrible blow. My family, and especially, my wife Myra, of blessed memory, have always been wonderful in supporting me with their love and caring through all of this.

I have many medicines to take, and every ten years or so I need to get the battery replaced for the Deep Brain Stimulation device that has been placed in my head.

I depend on the patient and gentle Marilene Lima and other caregivers to help me and am grateful for the dignity and safety they provide me with every day, all day.

Through all of this, I am still here. I’m still studying, learning and talking.

I have things I want to say and conversations I want to be a part of.

Through your interactions with me, I have confirmation that the words and videos I share are of value to others. This is no small thing for someone who often struggles to bring a word to mind. As Parkinson’s Disease progressed in me I came to feel very alone.

I talked about those feelings and my battle with a body that would not cooperate, and a mind that grappled with elusive words in a post earlier this year, where I explained I can hide my dyslexia, but I can’t hide the Parkinson’s.

In the video I talk about the difficulties I began having in conversations and what it feels like to catch a glimpse of the person I was talking with and see “that look.” It was a look that bordered somewhere between impatience and pity. A look that said “you are no longer relevant.”

That was very difficult to take and made me feel that I had been exiled. It is a look that is very familiar to a great many people who have had to learn to cope with a body that has lost strength, a voice that has weakened, or a mind that doesn’t work the way it used to.

I can assure you I’m still the same man inside, even if can’t always walk well, or talk distinctly.

Your reaching out to me with email greetings, comments and questions has made me see that I am still a working rabbi. I can still offer comfort, and I can still challenge people to think about how they can change their behavior in facing life’s problems. The article I posted this year that gained the most attention was on the importance of forgiveness.

Having the opportunity to continue to write, to share my videos, and to continue to connect with people in this newfound way through my website is what has brought me out of exile. I am deeply grateful for that unexpected gift.

Like a great many people who are getting older, I need help with many things. Eating is one. Communications is another. My typing is not what it used to be.

In communications, I have Debi Gudema, my administrative assistant, to thank for her help with my sermons, social media and responding to your emails and calls.

My typing ability is not what it used to be and I need help with many other things as well. I am grateful for the dignity and safety I am provided every day, all day.

With Debi Gudema and Marilene Lima. Photo by Debi Gudema

My website is the result of a collaboration with Sandi Altner, a personal historian and historical fiction author who came to me for weekly sessions to study for conversion over 20 years ago. In our weekly sessions today, these many years later, we spend a lot of time discussing current events, developing content for this website, and sorting through the many videos I have produced over the years to preserve them here.

Having this website to express my thoughts and share my videos has given me my pulpit back.

Life can get very quiet when you no longer have the same strength of voice you once took for granted. Isolation is fact of life for many elderly people.

This is a video I produced about ten years ago. I found the original version on YouTube. I believe it was done by a Jeff Alagar. I revised it to better express my feelings. I take full responsibly for changes to the original with apologies to Mr. Alagar. His video was entitled "A Parent's Love” - I cried when I first saw this.

It is my hope that the next time you see someone who has a diminished ability to communicate, or whose walker or wheelchair is in your way when you are in a hurry, that you will take a moment to smile and say hello.

I extend my heartfelt wishes to each and every one of you for a healthy and happy future. May the beauty of the season inspire hope, peace, and love in our hearts.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Merle Singer

Photo by Emily Singer