Emunah — Faith
The willingness to believe even when the full picture is not yet visible.
About the Book
Where the known
meets the unknowable.
Operating With God: A Surgeon's Stories of Faith is Dr. James Elist's deeply personal account of the moments that transformed his understanding of medicine, spirituality, and divine providence.
A career in surgery is filled with moments of extraordinary responsibility.
Patients place their trust in a physician at times when fear, uncertainty, and hope often exist together. Surgeons prepare through years of education and experience, but even the most accomplished physician eventually encounters situations that cannot be controlled completely.
Over the course of his career, Dr. James Elist began noticing moments that remained with him long after the medical work was finished.
An unexpected outcome.
A decision made at exactly the right moment.
A prayer answered in a way he could not have anticipated.
A meeting that seemed coincidental until its purpose became clear.
Individually, these moments might have been dismissed.
Together, they became impossible for him to ignore.
Operating With God is the story of those experiences and the faith that grew from them.
This is not a book about surgical technique.
It is a book about what a surgeon learned from being present during some of the most vulnerable and consequential moments in people's lives.
Medicine provides knowledge.
Experience provides judgment.
Faith provides another way of understanding the moments that neither knowledge nor experience can fully explain.
Through personal stories and spiritual reflection, Dr. Elist invites readers to consider where providence may already be present in their own lives.
Core Themes
Bitachon — Trust
The ability to move forward with confidence that there is meaning beyond what we can immediately understand.
Hashgacha Pratit — Divine Providence
The recognition that what appears coincidental may sometimes carry a deeper purpose.
Tefillah — Prayer
The profound human act of reaching beyond ourselves during moments of uncertainty, gratitude, fear, and hope.
Purpose
The idea that our professions, relationships, challenges, and unexpected experiences may all contain opportunities for spiritual growth.
For anyone who has ever wondered whether there was more to the story.
You do not need to be a physician to recognize the questions at the center of this book.
Why did this happen?
Why did I meet this person?
Why did something work out when the odds seemed impossible?
Why was one path closed while another unexpectedly opened?
And how should we respond when there is no obvious answer?
Operating With God is written for readers interested in faith, medicine, Jewish spirituality, personal growth, and the search for meaning in everyday life.
Book Details
- Title
- Operating With God: A Surgeon's Stories of Faith
- Author
- James J. Elist, M.D.
- Length
- 214 pages
- Language
- English
- Format
- Kindle / formats available through Amazon
Preview
Begin reading.
Experience the first pages of Operating With God and discover the stories and perspective behind the book.
From the Foreword
“When we attune ourselves to Hashem's messages, we not only find comfort and clarity in difficult times, but also witness the incredible power of divine providence at work in our lives.”
From the Foreword by Rabbi Yedidia Shofet
Continue Reading
See the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Read the stories that changed the way Dr. Elist viewed his work, his faith, and the events of everyday life.