Sinai Akiba Newsletter

Thanks for the Judah stories, please keep them coming. Its just a year ago that Judah underwent a donor stem cell transplant.

On the 29th of Av 5765, Sept 3, 2005, Judah Daniel White, Sinai Akiba
Academy class of 1978, succumbed to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Judah was a third
year resident in Internal Medicine at Huntington Memorial Hospital. He was
a graduate of Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University. Prior to medical
school, he graduated from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis,
Missouri and was admitted to the California Bar. Judah's undergraduate degree
is from University of California, at Berkeley.
Upon graduation from Akiba, Judah attended Herzl and then Hamilton
High School. He also attended Hebrew High afternoon school. Additionally,
he was a camper and counselor at Camp Ramah for nearly ten consecutive
summers.
Many of Judah's classmates and teachers from Akiba attended his funeral
and shiva. His best friend since kindergarten, another Akiba alumni, Rabbi Josh Katzan, officiated.
As a young teen, Judah was long and lean, and more than a few PE teachers saw talent for their track teams.
He was an early adopter of the personal computer, having received an Apple 2E for his bar mitzvah from his parents.
Judah was an avid reader of science fiction and spent many hours rolling the octagonal dice of Dungeons
and Dragons.
Judah loved Jewish life. He attended summer Ulpan in Israel and BCI shortly after college. He was an active
participant in the SOVA food program in West Los Angeles. Judah remained kosher all his life and relished living
in Tel Aviv where he could talk to patients in Hebrew and ask for a beef kabob at any fast food restaurant.
In high school, he sported a "Spicolli" look with long shaggy brown hair draped over his intense blue eyes.
While the eyes never faded, his mane went the way of his father who also lost his golden locks. His kind smile
and sweet expression remained.
Judah truly possessed the soul of a poet on a mountaintop. He enjoyed writing, nature, photography and painting
watercolors of flowers and landscapes. He wanted to go into medical research. His outgoing side was always
up for a poker game, a trip to Vegas, or nine innings of softball.
The treatment for Judah's lymphoma included two stem cell transplants. The first was a method whereby his
own stem cells were harvested and reinserted into his body after chemotherapy. When that failed, the protocol
called for the use of a donor's stem cells. The search for a match was done via a national database of registered
donors. Blood tests were also taken of siblings and relatives. The statistical chance of finding a match within the
immediate family is very slim and so is the percentage of Jews represented in the national registry. Eventually,
the transplant was completed with a non-related donor.
In his honor, Judah's mother, Martha White, created Project Yehuda, a charity to fund stem cell donor drives
throughout the Jewish community. For more information, please visit www.projectyehuda.com.
Judah is survived by friends, colleagues, patients, and family. He was a loving son, grandson, brother and friend.
He will be dearly missed by all who knew him. May his memory be for a blessing.
In Memory of Judah Daniel White, J.D., MD
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by Alissa White
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