Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) found himself saying the Shema in a low moment. Photo by Warrick Page/Max

By PJ Grisar April 4, 2025

In the 15th hour of a shift from hell, Dr Robby went missing.

When a medical student found him, in a heap in the pediatric room, he was crying. Under his breath, Robby said “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad.”

Played by Noah Wyle, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch has, throughout Max’s hit medical show The Pitt, invoked concepts from different cultures, including a Hawaiian ritual for saying goodbye to loved ones. In one episode, speaking to his Christian head nurse, Dana, he corrects her attribution of “physician heal thyself” (Luke, not Shakespeare) but adds the disclaimer “I’m  Jewish, it’s not my book.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

But in his toughest moment, after failing to rescue the girlfriend of a boy who is, effectively, his stepson, he returned to the central prayer of Judaism, clutching his Magen David necklace.

“It’s called the Shema prayer,” Robby explains at the end of the episode to Whitaker, the student doctor who found him. “It’s a declaration of faith in God.”

At last, we get more backstory. Robby lived with his grandmother when he was young, and they would recite it every morning.

Whitaker responds with words from Isaiah. “Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall, but those who hold hope in the Lord will renew their strength and soar on wings like eagles.”

Robby shrugs. “I don’t know if I actually believe in God, especially on days like today.”

That Robby affirmed the oneness of God, while agnostic, speaks to the comfort of the words and his core Jewish identity. It also tells us that he, like nearly every Jewish doctor, almost certainly received a framed copy of Maimonides’ Physician’s Prayer as a med school graduation gift.

That prayer reads, in part: “I am now ready to devote myself to the duties of my profession, Help me, Almighty God, in this great work to do good to men, for without Thy help nothing I do will succeed.”

In The Pitt, they need all the help they can get.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount