Jerusalem Report logo small (credit: JPOST STAFF)
Jerusalem Report logo small (credit: JPOST STAFF)
Religion and medicine have a long intertwined history. The Bible has much to say about illness, its origins and ideology. Sanctuary priests often served as public health officials. Suffering was generally regarded as punishment for sin. The post-biblical age enshrines folk remedies of many kinds.

In the Middle Ages, many rabbis were doctors and looked for ways to overcome old ideas. Maimonides was an advanced medical thinker for his time and the writer of many medical treatises. His comprehensive attitude to body and soul was highly progressive. In the general population, superstitions were common, though hygiene was better among the Jews. Illness never left the human agenda and epidemics were common. The modern age was not free of such problems.

In our own century, the corona pandemic shook, frightened and affected the whole world, and it took many months and many deaths before medical science began to find ways of dealing with it. The Jewish response was largely traditional: fasting and repentance, prayer and Psalms, especially Psalm 91 (Yoshev B’Seter), which the Talmud (Shavuot 15b) describes as “a poem against pega’im (evil events),” and adds, ”Some call it a poem against nega’ím (plagues).”

Read More