On my early morning walk, I found myself mulling over an incident that occurred many years ago and that obviously still disturbs me. 

A patient who was having a succession of serious medical problems shrugged his shoulders and laughingly said, “I feel like I’ve been touched by a Jew.”

In that moment I was transported back to Germany in the 1930s, to a story that my mother had told me. 

Her kindergarten teacher had kindly invited her back to watch a Christmas play put on for the community.