A PARABLE OF SIMPLE HUMANITY
on sacred scrolls and tablets. This was once upon a time, to be sure, but
still
in
our time and memory. And the Roumanian woman doctor was
wrong in being what she was.
2
But Nature's laws are not immutable and divine decrees reveal
themselves in manifold and mysterious ways. There came a time when
the light of nature disclosed new truths about human nature, and learned
men inscribed these truths upon new tablets of right and wrong. And
it came to pass that liberty, equality, humanity were among these in–
alienable rights inscribed upon new tablets. But if Everyman, by law
of nature or divine decree, was equal, free, and human, then a woman,
too, was free to choose what she desired to be and she was a man's
equal
in
anything she chose to be. This was once upon a time, but still
in our time and memory ; and it was recorded as an age of enlighten–
ment and progress. And the Roumanian woman doctor was right in
being what she was.
3
But, alas, what is written in the books of wisdom and what is in–
scribed upon the scrolls of law is not always true in the light of reality.
Between the idea and reality falls a shadow. And simple humanity lives
under the shadow of more than one cloud.
In the case of the Roumanian woman doctor the shadow fell across
the admission gates of the medical schools. Women are free to be doc–
tors; but between desire and fulfillment falls a shadow. The schools
set quotas on the free exercise of science and the art of healing; and
learned men in charge of the schools enter upon secret agreements–
"gentlemen's agreements"- to eliminate most of the women from the med–
ical profession who did manage to cross the shadow of the admission
gates.
"Gentlemen's agreements" are popular in more than one way.
Judging from the name of the Roumanian woman doctor, she was
Jewish. Being a woman and being J ewish cast a double shadow on the
free exercise of her abilities and the fulfillment of her desires. For Jews,
too, are subject to rigid quotas; Jews, too, live under the shadow of
more than one cloud everywhere in the world-and Roumania is no
exception.
Living in the shadow between the idea and reality, the Roumanian
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