Dr.. Sternberg is a diplomat of the American Board of internal Medicine and is board certified in Medical Oncology. He practices in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“My parents were not ‘religious’ although my mother spoke to God spontaneously, even personally. She spoke as though he heard regardless of where she was or whether she prayed from the siddur (prayer book). My father did not appear to believe in God and had little patience for religious institutions. In fact, he told me how much he disliked going to synagogue services when he was a boy.
Nevertheless, when the High Holy Days came around, we donned new suits and ties, put on new shoes and walked the mile or so to the local Conservative synagogue. We didn’t go because we were religious; we went because we were Jews ... A couple of things happened when I was nine. I saw The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston. Suddenly, I was impressed with my heritage. Moses was one of our guys, and he had an amazing relationship with God ... That spark of excitement about God quickly died ... I was seventeen when I left NYC to be pre-med student at the State University of New York at Buffalo ... During college and medical school, I more or less floated in a sea of agnosticism. The more I saw, the less I believed in God. The question of suffering--specifically, when bad things happen to good people--distressed me. According to Reform Judaism, death (I was told) ended our existence. There was no heaven, no hell, no judgement. I began to wonder about the meaning of life in general, but I especially wondered why it was supposed to be such a blessing to be born Jewish ...
“After graduating from medical school, I went to Cleveland, Ohio for three years and completed my internship, residency and chief residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital. I also met and married Marilyn Meckler. Marilyn, also Jewish, was like me--we had similar values but were not religious ... Our marriage was good, and we had two beautiful children--a girl and a boy. (The Sternbergs moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.)
