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Jewish Law and Modern Medicine*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2016
Extract
Before discussing some problems of the Halachah and modern medicine, I must spend a little time on the halachic view of the nature of the physician's responsibility and the authority he possesses in applying his knowledge and training.
The school of Rabbi Ishmael, to whom an important and entire system of exegetical rules for expounding the Torah is attributed, regarded the passage in Exodus xxi, 19, “and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed”, as the source of the physician's authority to practice his healing craft. These words were construed literally, in denial of the fatalism found in various religions and philosophies of those and later times, and which asked: “how can man presume to try to heal and, so to speak, to interfere with divine decree when the hand of Providence strikes?” Rabbi Ishmael's comment is especially significant since he was not merely an outstanding halachic sage but also a physician engaged in the practice of medicine.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1969
Footnotes
**
Dr. Jur., Director of the Institute for Research in Jewish Law, Jerusalem.
*
A paper delivered at a Symposium arranged by the Hebrew University on “Problems of Ethics and Law in Modern Medicine” on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine.
References
1 Baba Kama 85a.
2 Hints of this are also to be found in the Talmud but more particularly in early Christianity and the Middle Ages. See Jakabovitz, E., Jewish Medical Ethics (1962) 8 et seq. Google Scholar
3 Rashi, Baba Kama, op. cit.; Nachmanides, , Torat HaAdam, Kitvei Ramban (ed. Chavel, , 1964) vol. 2, p. 42.Google Scholar
4 See, e.g., Nedarim 66b: “She had a false tooth and R. Ishmael made her a gold tooth at his own cost.” See also the observations of R. Ishmael and his students with regard to the number of limbs which man possesses: Bechorot 45a.
5 He must also be ‘licensed’ by the Din, Beth, Tosefta Gitin IV, 6 Google Scholar; Baba Kama VI, 17; IX, 11; Makkot II, 5.
6 Tosefta Gitin IV, 6; Baba Kama IX, 11.
7 Tosefta Gitin IV, 6.
8 Tashbatz III, 82.
9 Tosefta Baba Kama VI, 17.
10 See 2 Sam. vii, 19; Chavel op. cit. 9, note 1.
11 Maimonides had already dealt with healing as a religious precept: see Hilchot Nedarim VI, 8 and Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah Nedarim IV, 4. It is noteworthy that Maimonides has not devoted a special section to doctors in his Mishneh Torah as did the Tur and Shulchan Aruch.
12 The source of the aphorism is Jerusalem Talmud Yoma VIII, 5 and it was said in relation to the rule that the saving of life sets aside the Sabbath.
13 Torat HaAdam, p. 42.
14 Sanhedrin 6b.
15 Torat HaAdam, p. 42.
16 Ra'avan on Baba Kama 55b, and also Yam Shel Shlomo, Baba Kama VI, 6.
17 A further interesting distinction was made in the 14th century, by R.Shimon Duran, the rabbi of Algiers and also a doctor. Responsibility under Divine Law in the case of innocent mistake arises only in operations but not in prescribing medicament: see Tashbatz III, 82.
18 See Tur Yoreh Deah, cccxxxv (at the beginning).
19 Tur and Shul. Ar. Yoreh Deah cccxxxv et seq.
20 Shul. Ar. Ho. Mis. ccccxxv, 1.
21 Shul. Ar. Yoreh Deah cccxxxvi. 1.
22 She'elat Yavetz I, 41: the actual problem before Emden revolved around the dissection of animals on the Sabbath day.
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27 Sanhedrin 74a.
28 M. Yoma VIII, 6.
29 Jerusalem Talmud Yoma VIII, 5.
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34 Shul. Ar. of Shneour Zalman of Ladi, Ho. Mis. Hilchot Nizke Guf VeNefesh, 4.
35 Cf. Sanhedrin 84b; so also Nachmanides, , Torat HaAdam, p. 42 et seq. Google Scholar
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39 Mishnah Ohalot VII, 6.
40 See title Hapalah in Hebrew Encyclopedia, vol. 15.
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43 Cf. Sanhedrin 72a, Maimonides, , Hilchot Rotze-ach U-Shmirat HaNefesh I, 14–16 Google Scholar; Tur and Shul. Ar. Ho. Mis. ccccxxvi.
44 Op. et loc. cit.
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46 Resp. Radbaz mlii.
47 Shul. Ar. Orah Haim cccxxix, 4.
48 Cf. Resp. Hatam Sofer, Yoreh Deah cccxxxviii.
49 Shul. Ar. Orah Haim, cccxxx, 5, and Rema and Magen Avraham, ad loc.
50 Shvut Yaakov III, 75.
51 Sifra, Behar 5; Baba Metzia 62a.
52 It is interesting to note that Maimonides does not make any reference in Hilchot Matnot Aniyim VIII, 15 or in Hilchot Gezelah VeAvedah XII, 2, to the Mishnaic rule (Horayot III, 7) that a man takes precedence over a woman when it is a matter of saving life. See also Horayot 13a and Nazir 47b, which are also not cited by Maimonides, Hilchot Klei Hamikdash IV, 19. But see Rabbi Unterman, I. Y., HaTorah VehaMedinah, vol. 4, pp. 22 ff.Google Scholar
53 Cited by Louisell, D. W., “Transplantation: Existing Legal Restraints”, in Ethics in Medical Progress (ed. Wolstenholme, G. W. and O'Connor, M. 1966) 79.Google Scholar
54 M. Avot I, 1.