Jewish medicine

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Jewish medicine is medical practice of the Jewish people, including writing in the languages of both Hebrew and Arabic.
28% of Nobel Prize winners in medicine have been Jewish, although Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world's population.[1]

History[edit]

Ancient[edit]

There are no extant texts of ancient medicine, as a first subject, of Hebrew origin.[2] There was no medicine distinctly Jewish and instead Jewish practitioners had adopted Greek and later Graeco-Roman knowledge as practice.[3]

Up until the time of King Chizkiyahu (his reign being dated to approximately 2,500 y.a.), a text - Sefer Refuot ("The Book of Remedies") was composed and used extensively for at least 300 years until King Chizkiyahu's time.[4]

"...when a person became ill, he would follow what was written in "The Book of Remedies," and be healed. As a result, people's hearts were not humbled before Heaven because of illness. - Rashi'"[5]

It has been recorded of in the Babylonian Talmud twice, and the baraita.[6][7]

In the time of the New Testament the person acting as a physician was as much about healing the soul as the body. Apostolic healing is claimed to have occurred where-by people are thought to have been healed by miracles, in the same vien as Jesus of Nazareth who healed the sick by miracles also, and even raised a man from the dead.[8]

Osler refers to St. Luke (practicing in the 1st century [9]) as our great colleague, and as a Physician, stating that he had some degree of science in his practice, although not like Hipppocrates "nor even of a scientifically trained contemporary of Dioscorides".

Middle Ages[edit]

A Jewish physician in traditional costume, circa 1568; from the Wellcome Library
A Jewish physician in traditional costume, circa 1568; from the Wellcome Library

Barqây instead states The Book of Remedies to be attributed to Asaph the Jew, (a Mesopotamian according to Garrisons History of Medicine in Rosner and Muntner [10]), and written sometime during the seventh and or eighth centuries (according to H. Muntner et al) and as such is the earliest extant Hebrew text. The text comprises four parts; a story of the transmission of medicine from God to mankind, a medical survey généralement, a Materia medica and a list of medical aphorisms.

Advances were made in the study of female orientated medicine during this period.[11]

Jewish scholars translated many early works from Arabic into Hebrew during this time. Practitioners learnt exclusively via apprenticeships or otherwise self-taught.[12]

According to one statistical source, Jewish persons were in some cases the dominant number of practitioners within certain societies of this period.[13]

The 17th century[edit]

The first organized study of Biblical medicine began during the 17th century.[14]

20th century[edit]

According to AM. Kraut practitioners don't see any division between faith and medicine.[15]

The famous doctor Sigmund Freud was Jewish by birth.[16] Abraham Maslow was born to Russian Jewish parents during 1908.[17]

The feast day of St Luke,the patron saint of physicians, surgeons and pharmacists is the 26th of September.[18] [19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Jewish Nobel Prize Winners". jinfo.org. Retrieved 24 January 2015. 
  2. ^ H Friedenwald - The Bibliography of Ancient Hebrew Medicine - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Bull Med Libr Assoc >v.23(3); Jan 1935 >PMC234187 Retrieved 2012-12-20
  3. ^ GB Ferngren- Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity JHU Press, 15 Apr 2009 ISBN 0801891426 Retrieved 2012-12-21
  4. ^ Jewish History website Retrieved 2012-12-20
  5. ^ www.bible-researcher Retrieved 2012-12-20
  6. ^ DJ. Halperin - The Jewish Quarterly Review New Series, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Apr., 1982), pp. 269-292 The "Book of Remedies," the Canonization of the Solomonic Writings, and the Riddle of Pseudo-Eusebius Retrieved 2012-12-20
  7. ^ definotion of baraita - jewishencyclopedia.com and mishnah- jewishencyclopedia.com Retrieved 2012-12-20
  8. ^ Osler, Sir William - The Evolution of Modern Medicine Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library Retrieved 2012-12-20
  9. ^ GB Ferngrenas
  10. ^ F ROSNER, and S MUNTNER [1] Retrieved 2102-12-27
  11. ^ Rôn Barqây - History of Jewish Gynecological Texts in the Middle Ages BRILL, 1998 - ISBN 9004109951 Retrieved 2012-12-20
  12. ^ RC RABIN - Tracing the Path of Jewish Medical Pioneers nytimes Retrieved 2012-12-20
  13. ^ J Shatzmiller - Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society University of California Press, 1994 ISBN 0520080599
  14. ^ Friedenwald
  15. ^ RC RABIN
  16. ^ Arnold D. Richards - The Jewish World of Sigmund Freud: Essays on Cultural Roots and the Problem of Religious Identity McFarland, 25 Jan 2010 ISBN 078644424X Retrieved 2012-12-20
  17. ^ Dr S D Kunin, JMiles-Watson - Theories of Religion: A Reader Rutgers University Press, 25 Sep 2006 Retrieved 2012-12-20
  18. ^ PG. Jestice - Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia ABC-CLIO, 2004 Retrieved 2012-12-21
  19. ^ DS Armentrout, RB Slocum An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians Church Publishing, Inc., 1999 Retrieved 2012-12-21

External links[edit]