She could not be cured. As a result of contracting polio as a child, she has become more and more incapacitated, and in the last few years, she has been confined to a wheelchair. She has also had other serous illnesses.

But she is healing. Her spirit is whole and as vibrant as ever. There is hardly a play she doesn’t see or a cultural event she doesn’t attend. She sees most of the movies at the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

The forceful person that she is has turned her into a staunch advocate for the rights of the disabled. For years, she appeared on a television program devoted to the subject. She still writes letters to newspapers if she feels that the disabled have been misrepresented or discriminated against.

When in the 1990s a few social workers, therapists and rabbis came together to form what nowadays is called the Toronto Jewish Healing Project, it was quite obvious that it would only get off the ground if she took it in hand. She did. As a result, for more than a decade now, many members of the Jewish community have been helped to cope with their medical and psychological burdens through Jewish teachings.

Through conferences, lectures and study sessions, the project has attracted professionals in the field. Some pay greater attention nowadays to the spiritual needs of their patients. The groups the project runs and the healing services it arranges have strengthened many individuals in the knowledge that even if you can’t be cured, you can be healed.

Though she had been the director of social work at Baycrest in Toronto until her retirement, and despite her very Jewish New York upbringing, it was thanks to the Healing Project that she herself discovered the spiritual roots of Judaism. She now regularly attends services and study groups at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto and for several years was a formidable presence on its board. Her continued counsel brings strength and comfort to many members of the congregation. At age 75, she celebrated her bat mitzvah.  

Recently, in line with similar agencies across North America, Toronto’s Jewish Family and Child service has taken over the administration of the Healing Project, thus recognizing the contribution it is making to the welfare of members of our community. Together with her team of volunteers, she will continue to be involved, but the heavy burden of organization has been lifted from her shoulders.

I cannot think of a woman more deserving of the epithet eshet chayil, a woman of valour. She is a role model and an inspiration to us all. Toronto Jewry owes her an enormous debt of gratitude.

Early next month, Etta Ginsberg McEwan will be 82. Bis hundert un tsvantsig.