HAVERHILL —   When Patricia Whitman awoke at Lahey Clinic in 2007 following a craniotomy to remove a malignant brain tumor, her thoughts were on religion, not medicine.

In particular, she thought of Gail Korinow, a Jewish educator who had taught her daughter’s Family Connection classes at Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill.

“I needed to talk to Gail. I realized after surgery that I had been missing God’s presence in my life,” said Whitman, a resident of Atkinson, N.H.

“I wanted to convert overnight. I wanted to hurry it because I was afraid. Gail said she wanted me to have the full experience [of conversion],” Whitman said.

Thus began a journey that would span more than two years and culminate in Whitman becoming a bat mitzvah on December 12, 2009 (also her 16th wedding anniversary) before 60 Temple Emanu-El congregants and friends.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the chapel,” said Emanu-El member Sue Hayden.

Whitman’s Haftorah seemed tailored to her situation. It was the story of the Maccabees’ triumph of spirit over power and might. Her D’Var Torah began with the words, “I realize that I am blessed to be here today. A line in my Haftorah portion reminds me of the power of God in helping us triumph over adversity. ‘Not by might, not by power but by spirit alone. ’”

Whitman received her PhD in clinical psychology in 1986 from the University of Vermont. She says that her initial attraction to Judaism arose from its similarity to psychology.

“Judaism felt very psychological to me, the metaphors, the positivity of being thankful, the idea that we were made in God’s image, not a physical image, but a moral and ethical image. It fit how I already saw the world,” she said.

Whitman’s path to Judaism began while growing up as a Catholic in Metuchen, N.J. There she knew many Jews and was jokingly voted by friends as ‘likely to marry a Jew.’ Jewish friends presented her with a hamsa necklace after high school graduation.

Indeed Whitman did marry a Jewish man, Jay Laveson, on December 12, 1993. They have a 12-year-old daughter, Emma, who will become a bat mitzvah in May. Whitman’s Jewish practices include celebrating the holidays, attending weekly Shabbat services and reciting the daily prayers.

Laveson spoke at his wife’s bat mitzvah. He described Whitman as qualified to be a “general, a chaplain and a foot soldier in the army of God.” He compared her to the lights of Chanukah, saying that she shines brightly.

Korinow, who was very inspired by Whitman, added, “It was fitting that her bat mitzvah occurred during Chanukah, because the only light which we place in the window, not to light up the house, is at Chanukah. Her light radiates outward like a menorah.”