Rabbi Turned Doctor: Evanston Woman Expands Her Care

When Eleanor Smith, rabbi at Beth Emet and mother of three young children, told friends and family that her latest ambition was medical school, Smith said, “They lovingly thought that I was crazy.”

That was 13 years ago, when Smith was 38 years old and her children were three, five and seven.

“I saw that what rabbis do and doctors do are part of the same continuum of care, even if they rarely collaborate,” Smith said. “Going to medical school felt like filling in the second half of what I wanted to know in order to achieve the highest level of care and service that I could imagine.” 

Since then, Smith has fulfilled her ambition. She spent two years in a post-baccalaureate program at Loyola University Chicago to study the basic sciences before graduating from University of Chicago medical school in 2008. Smith completed her residency by 2011, and in February 2012, she began practicing internal medicine with Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group at Northwestern Medicine Clinic in Evanston, where she was once a rabbi at Beth Emet synagogue.

Smith said she had known she wanted to be a rabbi since she was seven years old. Making the transition from rabbi to doctor as a profession felt natural, however.

“It became clear to me actually through my work as a rabbi that what clergy people do in terms of their care for the psycho, social, spiritual part of the human experience and what the doctors do in their care for the physical aspect of human experience are really so much of a continuum,” Smith said.

Former boss Rabbi Peter Knobel, rabbi emeritus at Beth Emet, said that Smith was very popular with members of Beth Emet.

“People understood when she decided to leave and go to medical school, but many people were really, truly devastated at losing their rabbi,” Knobel said.

Smith had a unique presence in Beth Emet, according to Knobel. “She was an empathetic pastor, a dynamic leader and wise beyond her years,” he said. “She uses language like nobody else I’ve ever heard.”

“I was thrilled … that she was able to combine her knowledge as a rabbi with the knowledge as a physician,” Knobel continued. “It was a marvelous combination.” 

Smith said that the professions she’s had inform one another, given their focus on different aspects of human wellness.

“I had a yearning to bring together what I thought was the full body of knowledge so that I could care for people and think about human health with all those hats on at once,” she said. 

Smith continues to attend Beth Emet and occasionally performs life-cycle events, like weddings and funerals, for members. 

“My hope and vision was really to kind of create a hybrid out of my rabbi work and my doctor work even though my primary practice is medicine,” Smith said. “I wanted to keep [my profession as a rabbi] as an active part of my life.”

Smith works in a general practice, seeing patients of all ages, but she is particularly interested in cancer and women’s heath.

Although Smith’s work as a doctor seems different from her work as a rabbi, the two practices have a similar, fulfilling goal and effect.

“I really see medicine as an extension of my rabbinate, rather than a switch per se,” Smith said. “I have … a great sense of gratitude for being able to complete this journey and have the opportunity to care for people, body and soul.”