Medicine in the Talmud: Natural and Supernatural Therapies between Magic and ScienceDespite the Talmud being the richest repository of medical remedies in ancient Judaism, this important strain of Jewish thought has been largely ignored—even as the study of ancient medicine has exploded in recent years. In a comprehensive study of this topic, Jason Sion Mokhtarian recuperates this obscure genre of Talmudic text, which has been marginalized in the Jewish tradition since the Middle Ages, to reveal the unexpected depth of the rabbis’ medical knowledge. Medicine in the Talmud argues that these therapies represent a form of rabbinic scientific rationality that relied on human observation and the use of nature while downplaying the role of God and the Torah in health and illness. Drawing from a wide range of both Jewish and Sasanian sources—from the Bible, the Talmud, and Maimonides to texts written in Akkadian, Syriac, and Mandaic, as well as the incantation bowls—Mokhtarian offers rare insight into how the rabbis of late antique Babylonia adapted the medical knowledge of their time to address the needs of their community. In the process, he narrates an untold chapter in the history of ancient medicine. |
Contents
| 1 | |
1 | 51 |
Empiricism and Efficacy | 65 |
Talmudic Medicine in Its Sasanian Context | 89 |
Conclusion | 113 |
Notes | 119 |
Glossary | 151 |
| 223 | |
| 229 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abaye Abod afflictions ailments Akkadian Amoraim Amorites amulet Ancient Jewish Aramaic Incantation Babylonian Talmud baraita Bavli Bible blood bloodletting Book of Medicines Book of Remedies Boston Brill Cairo Genizah Cambridge University Press context Culture David demons diseases DJBA doctor drink drugs efficacy empirical Encyclopedia example expert fever Fred Rosner Galen Geller Git.t.in Book Giuseppe Veltri Greek Halakha Healing Therapies Health Hebrew History of Medicine human hyssop illness Incantation Bowls Israel Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Jewish Magic Jewish Studies Jews Journal Korot 9 Kottek Late Antiquity Lehmhaus loanwords Maimonides Markham materia medica medical knowledge Medical Texts Medieval Mesopotamia Michael Mishnah Mohr Siebeck Palestinian physicians practices Rabbi Yoh.anan Rabbinic Literature Rav Ah.a Rav Ashi Rav Huna Rav Yehudah Rava recipes Religion ritual Šabb Sabbath Sages Sasanian scholars Shaul Shaked Shmuel sources Syriac Syriac Book Talmudic medicine Talmudic therapies Torah traditions transl translation Yerushalmi Talmud York