Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Medicine and Torah

 Tanchuma (Yisro  08) G-d said that there is no ailment that does not have its cure; and the cure and drug for every ailment have been predetermined. If you desire your body to be free of pain, devote yourself to the Torah, for it is a healing balm to the entire body. 

8 comments :

  1. Kalonymus HaQatanJune 7, 2023 at 2:10 PM

    eventually - i.e. do enough research and eventually you may discover a cure

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  2. You say that but when I do MDA shifts in Israel, I still see plenty of Chareidim in hospital.

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  3. Kalonymus HaQatanJune 7, 2023 at 3:31 PM

    The first part says that the cure is predetermined , so it agrees with modern pharmacology, that there are disease targets and these can only be accessed by the right drug.
    That Torah is a balm, who knows what degree of allegory there was intended. ? People have always had diseases - was there ever a time when all Israel were disease free?

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  4. yes
    Bereishis Rabba (65:09)Jacob demanded illness, saying to Him: ' Sovereign of the Universe! A man dies without previous illness and does not settle his affairs with his children; but if he were ill two or three days, he would settle his affairs with his children.’ Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him: ‘By thy life, thou hast asked well, and it will commence with thee.’

    Zohar (2 1741b) We have been taught that in early times, before Jacob appeared, illness was unknown, and mankind were perfectly healthy until their time came, when they passed away without any previous sickness. When Jacob came he prayed to God, saying: “Lord of the world! May it please thee to grant that a man should first fall ill for two or three days, and then be gathered unto his people, in order that he may have time to put his house in order and repent of his sins.” The Holy One replied: “It shall be so, and thou shalt be the pledge and the sign thereof.” -this being something new in the world. From the death of Jacob until the time of King Hezekiah, no man ever recovered from an illness, , and later, “. He said unto Him: “May it be Thy pleasure that men should be enabled to recover from their maladies, so that they may praise Thy Name and acknowledge Thee and turn unto Thee with perfect repentance, and thus be found worthy before Thee.” And the Holy One replied: “So be it! And thou shalt be the first sign thereof.” So Hezekiah experienced something which no human being had previously experienced,

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  5. Elisha lived a century and a half before chizkiyahu hamelech, and healed many people.

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  6. therefore there were other cures?

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  7. Prior to Hezekiah, yes

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  8. Kalonymus HaQatanJune 8, 2023 at 7:48 PM

    Also, the Torah itself talks about Tzaaras, which is a disease, and also a cure administered by the Kohanim.
    This presumably occurred during the period when Am Yisrael entered the Land. It was not cured by the hidden book of cures of Shlomo, not by Hezekiah. But the kohanim of each generation

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