September 3rd 2006

Photo by Judah,

is being incised into stone on his Memorial Marker. If you wish a copy of this please let me know.

August 22, 2006

Coincidence, Today is the 29th of Iyar, and August 22. Judah died on the 29th of Iyar, (the Jewish Calendar) and August 22 would have been his 40th Birthday.I lit the yarzheit candle instead of Birthday candles. Judah loved birthday's, he chuckled over his cakes, He was happiest when the guys took him out, trips to vegas, a good poker game. His was the last Birthday in the family's summer birthday season. His easy laugh and smile would make my attempts at a rousing birthday celebration seem successful. Tomorrow I will try to read your notes and cards and look at photographs. I may not be to successful at this but I want you all to know how much your love has meant to me , Benji and Alissa. Judah was a blessing and was blessed with wonderful friends and family. I take comfort in that.

Last year at this time we watched Judah slip into an ever deeping coma. We prayed, along with all of you. We shared every hope, every sign of progress and then when we realized that there was no recovery, we shared the pain of losing Judah.

This year has been both long and short. It still seems as if Judah is just away at school and will be home soon. It's also real that this won't happen. I look for Judah where ever I go. Sometimes, at his grave site I see a bunny rabbit and remember how he delighted in the rabbits at the City of Hope. Some times I hear him say "back at ya, Ma". and of course I mostly hear and see nothing. But we must remember him in different ways.

One of his special ways was his interest and compassion in people. Judah was just coming into his intellectual inheritance when he became sick. His teachers and mentors at Huntington Memorial lovingly recounted Judah's approach to patients and patient care. Judah's patients were real people to him not just numbers so he started to photograph them and place the photos in their charts. There were other examples of hs compassion that the staff spoke of.

Judah asked that his money be used to do good works. I contacted Dr. Shriner, at Huntington Memorial who runs an AIDs clinic in Tanzania and asked her if there was a special project that we could associate with Judah's name. There will be a Judah White scholarship established for a young man named Ezekiel Noah to go to medical school in Tanzania. Dr. Shriner felt there was something in this young man's commitment to his people, in his approach to medicine that resonated with Judah's "specialness".

So in some way Judah goes on.