Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who turned 93 on Friday, has been a New Yorker for 60 years. She’s additionally a famend intercourse therapist, prolific writer, media persona, Holocaust orphan and onetime sniper for pre-state Israel’s secret army group, the Haganah. No marvel the story of her life has been was a brand new one-woman play, “Turning into Dr. Ruth,” starring Tovah Feldshuh and working at Sag Harbor’s Bay Theater from June 4 to 27.
“To see myself … portrayed by Tovah within the play is an excellent reward,” Westheimer instructed The Submit. “And I believe that Mark [playwright Mark St. Germain] did a beautiful job of actually portraying my background, my previous. He had a few of my diaries. It’s particularly essential now, with the anti-Semitism.”
The 4-foot-7 dynamo spoke to The Submit from her Washington Heights dwelling.
The Submit: How has life been throughout the pandemic?
Dr. Ruth: I belong to the endangered species, so I’m very cautious. However I’ve been very busy. This semester I used to be educating my class at Lecturers Faculty at Columbia on Zoom. And I’ve been engaged on an up to date model of my 1993 e-book, “The Artwork of Arousal,” for October.
What retains you going?
I simply began to meditate for 5 minutes day-after-day. I by no means thought that I might sit nonetheless for meditation, however it’s been my newfound salvation for a busy life. I’m additionally on the board of Fort Tryon Park and so they simply planted tulips in my title — they’re brief and vibrant! I additionally obtained an honorary doctorate from Ben Gurion College in April, after elevating $129,000 for scholarships in psychology. A few of that can go to Druze ladies in Israel, a few of whom couldn’t go to highschool. That makes me pleased as somebody who didn’t have a highschool diploma.
Proper. You misplaced your mother and father within the Holocaust and have been taken from Germany through kindertransport to Switzerland at age 10.
Not solely that, however I used to be a sniper within the Haganah and, on my twentieth birthday in Jerusalem, I used to be very badly wounded on each legs by a cannonball. I may have misplaced my legs, however fortunately the surgeon mounted [them] and I used to be in a position to be an excellent good skier.
How do you keep so optimistic?
The rationale that I can speak about joie de vivre, a zest for all times, is as a result of my first years of life have been in a beautiful, loving household. I as soon as did a examine of the kids who have been with me within the orphanage, and all of us made it — no one dedicated suicide, or fell by the wayside … It’s as a result of the primary years of their lives, like mine, have been in a loving household. And that helped them to outlive. After all no one [else] turned Dr. Ruth. Solely me.
My expertise of getting been an orphan makes me get up and be counted, to inform individuals to be grateful to be alive and to make one thing optimistic out of your life.
What do you concentrate on the state of Jews right this moment?
I fear about anti-Semitism and people who deny the Holocaust. And I’m very nervous about individuals who have Holocaust fatigue. That’s one of many the explanation why I’m on the board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage [a memorial to those who perished in the Holocaust].
How did an excellent Jewish lady turned a intercourse therapist?
For Jews intercourse was by no means a sin, however an obligation — for a husband to fulfill his spouse — interval. I spotted I didn’t know sufficient and I simply wished individuals to find out about contraception and STDs. My late husband [Manfred Westheimer, father of her two children] was very supportive of my profession. He went with me to NBC each Sunday evening for 10 years once I did my “Sexually Talking” program. I didn’t know I might change into so well-known, however I wished to do one thing to assist strengthen household life.
Do strangers nonetheless come as much as you and ask for intercourse recommendation?
Fairly often. I’ll go together with them to a nook and reply it if I can, or recommend a psychiatrist or medical specialist. There’s no such factor as a fast repair. Individuals must change into far more sexually literate. There’s nonetheless numerous issues to find out about and to find out about. That’s for my subsequent e-book.
Ought to 90-year-olds nonetheless have intercourse?
If they’ve an excellent accomplice, they need to have intercourse. Should you don’t have a accomplice, they need to fulfill themselves. Interval. There isn’t a age restrict.
