The Healing Past: Pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic World 9004096434, 9789004096431

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THE HEALING PAST

STUDIES IN ANCIENT MEDICINE EDITED BY

JOHN SCARBOROUGH

VOLUME 7

THE HEALING PAST Pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic World

Edited by

Irene and Walter Jacob

EJ. BRILL LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN 1993

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

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The Healing past : pharmaceuticals in the biblical and rabbinic world / edited by Irene and Walter Jacob. p. cm. - (Studies in ancient medicine, ISSN 0925-1421 ; v. 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9004096434 (cloth) I. Pharmacy-Near East-History-Congresses. 2. Drugs-Near East-History-Congresses. 3. Medicinal plants-Near East-History-Congresses. 4. Drugs in the bib!C-Congresses. 5. Medicine in rabbinical literature-Congresses. 6. Bible--congresses. I. Jacob, Irene. II. Jacob, Walter, 1930- . III. Series. [DNLM: I. Plants, Medicinal-congresses. 2. Drugs-history-congresses. 3. History of Medicine, Ancient-congresses. 4.Jews-congresses. WI ST918K v.7 1993 / QV I 1.1 H43 1993] RS67.M628H43 1993 615'.1'093-dc20 DLNM/DLC 93-13693 for Library of Congress CIP

ISSN 0925-1421 ISBN 90 04 09643 4 © Copyright 1993 by E.]. Brill, Leulen,TheNetherlands

translated, storedin All rightsreserved. No part efthispublicationmay be reproduced, a retrieval.rystem,or transmitted in a'!)'jimn or by a'!Ymeans,el,ectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, withoutpriorwritten permissionefthepublisher. Authorizationtophotocopy itemsfor internalorpersonal useis grantedby E.]. Brillprovidedthat the appropriate fees arepaid direct!Jto Copyright CkaranceCenter,27 Congress Street,Sal,emA1A 01970, USA. Feesaresubjectto change. PRINI'ED

IN THE NETHERLANDS

Danny - Kenney - Tracy

CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John M. Riddle Pharmacology and Dietetics in the Bible and Talmud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fred Rosner

xi

1

Medicinal Plants of the Bible-Another View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Walter Jacob Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in Ancient Mesopotamia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Marvin A. Powell Ancient Egyptian Pharmaceutical Plants and the Eastern Mediterranean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Renate Germer Ricinus Communis- The Miracle Tree through Four Thousand Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Irene Jacob Medicinal Drugs in the Works of Flavius Josephus Samuel Kottek

. . . . . . . . . 95

Asaph the Jew and Greco-Roman Pharmaceutics ........... Stephen Newmyer

107

Index of Materia Medica ..........................

121

PREFACE

Although many aspects of ancient Near Eastern cultural life have been studied thoroughly, no one has brought the pharmaceutical knowledge of this period together. This has been attempted in a preliminary way by the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden through its symposium. This volume is composed of the papers presented at the international symposium on drugs and pharmaceuticals in Biblical lands in autumn of 1989. We are especially grateful to the Bayer-Mobay Foundation as well as Pfizer Pharmaceutical and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment for their generous support. The paper of Samuel Kottek was delivered in the early summer of 1990. All the papers accompanied two extensive exhibits of pharmaceutical plants from the ancient world which were held by the Garden. We wish to thank Tina Herman for copy-editing and Robert Goldman for help with the typescript. It is our hope that these papers will stimulate further studies in this area. The Garden intends to sponsor other lectures and symposia in related fields. Irene and Walter Jacob

CONTRIBUTORS

THE HEALING PAST

John M. Riddle - Professor of history and head of the Division of University Studies at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Author of Dioscorides on Phannacy and Medicine and more than twenty essays on ancient and medieval medicine. Fred Rosner - Authority on Jewish medical ethics and medical history. Director of the Depannent of Medicine, Queens Hospital Center. Assistant Dean, Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Author or editor of eleven books on Maimonides. Translator of Julius Preuss Biblical and Talmudic Medicine. Walter Jacob - Authority on Jewish law; author of three books of responsa including many on Jewish medical issues. Co-author "Flora", Anchor Bible Dictionary. Rabbi, Rodef Shalom Congregation. Adjunct Professor Pittsburgh Theological Seminary 1976-84. Marvin A. Powell - Professor, Northern Illinois University, Editor Journal of Assyrian Agriculture, Studies in Honor of Tom B. Jones, Labor in the Ancient Near East.

Renate Germer - Department of Egyptology, University of Hamburg; author of Flora des pharaonischen Agypten, Arzneimittelpjla,nzen im Alten Agypten, Die Pjla,nzenmaterialien aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun. Irene Jacob - Director, Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. Former Director of Education, Phipps Conservatory. Co-author "Flora" Anchor Bible Dictionary. Author, Biblical Plants; editor Papyrus. Samuel Kottek - Professor, History of Medicine, Hebrew University; "La Maladie vue par les Maitres du Talmud", Josephus Studies. Editor, Medicine in the Bible and Talmud. Stephen Newmyer - Professor of Classics, Duquesne University. Author "Talmudic Medicine and Greek Sources", Koroth. "The concept of Climate and National Superiority in the Talmud and its Classic Parallels" TSCPP 1983.

INTRODUCTION JOHN M. RIDDLE

Separating us from Hippocrates are about 2,430 years. Separating Hippocrates (who was alive about 440 B.C.) from the earliest Egyptian physicians are about 2,600 years. The title of physician (swnw) may go back to the first dynasty that began about 3100 B.C. 1 By honoring Hippocrates as the Father of Medicine, we neglect the accomplishments of his counterparts in the various cultures of ancient West Asia, Egypt and, in particular, Israel. When Hippocrates was alive, another Greek, Herodotus, regarded Egyptian medicine with a little Hellenic scorn because he said, "Each physician treats a single disorder. "2 His remark was probably an example of a tourist's exaggeration. On the basis of what we know about Egyptian medicine, we can understand why Herodotus formed his opinion. Named in the Egyptian documents, many from the Old Kingdom (3100 B.C.E.-2300 B.C.E.), are physicians who were called physicians of the eyes (our ophthalmologists), stomach (gastroenterologists), teeth (dentists), internal organs (cardiovascularologists, endocrinologists, oncologists, internists, nephrologists, etc.), female physiology (gynecologists, obstetricians), liquids (probably urine, our urologists and maybe, blood, our hematologists). 3 In addition to these chance survivals of specialists, we can be sure there were many more, such as surgeons, who also specialized. Herodotus' depreciation of Asian and African medicine is our grounds for appreciation of their medicine. With our modern specializations we should all the more appreciate pre-Hellenic medical achievements. And, to be sure, we really do not know how specialized they were. On the basis of the records, many found but not yet translated and analyzed, Sumerian and Akkadian medicine of about the same period were similar to the Egyptian. 4 West Asian medicine, including Jewish medicine, is neglected compared with the attention Greek medicine has 1 2

M. Clagett, Ancient EgyptianScience (Philadelphia, 1989), Vol. l, p. 18.

Herodotus, Histories, Vol. 2, p. 83 M. Clagett, 1989, Vol. 2, pp. 19-20; P. Ghalioungui, The House of Life, Per Ankh. Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt (Amsterdam, 1973); The Physiciansof PharaonicEgypt (Cairo, 1983). 4 R. Labat, TraiteAkkadiende diagnosticset pronosticsmedicau.x(Paris, 1951) 3

XII

INTRODUCTION

received. There are reasons for this: imprecision of our knowledge of their technical vocabulary; the nature of documentation that excluded lay practitioners; and too few modern specialists of medicine, pharmacy, botany, and mineralogy who also can read those ancient languages to interpret the documents. Readily we agree that our distant ancestors can instruct us about proper moral and ethical behavior. To the greatest degree we look to people of the Bible for guidelines on conduct. However, we give no thought to the fact that our ancestors also might have other useful information for us, information that could tell us how to do things. Modern notions of progress and, perhaps, even hubris impede our learning from them. This book of essays on pharmaceuticals of the Biblical and Talmudic periods challenges the modern assumption. Ancient people had informative, interesting and important things to tell us about what they did to heal afflictions, to relieve pain, to maintain health, to reverse disease and to improve their lives in physical as well as spiritual ways. In the history of sciences, Jewish medicine of the Biblical period has been viewed at best as a valley of humility between the two mountains of conceit, Egyptian and Mesopotamian medicine. Later Jewish medicine was over-shadowed by the Olympian tower of Hellenistic medicine. We have many studies relating our research about on Egyptian and Mesopotamian medicine and pharmacy. Because of the nature of the documentation, preeminently the Bible, we are left mostly to conjecture about medicine in Palestine. Egyptian and Mesopotamian medicine were connected largely to temples. Because of this connection with foreign and polytheistic religion, modern scholarship has assumed that Jews would shun contact and imitation of foreign practices. In truth, that assumption may be based on false premises. One, we are uncertain about the degree to which medicine was temple associated. There were medical practitioners who were separate from temples, details about whom are lacking. Second, because Jewish culture and religion borrowed many other practices from their neighbors-no people live in isolationmedicine must have been earned as well. Pharmacy is analogous to nutrition and the culinary arts. The people of the Bible lived in the same area of the world as other West Asians and they ate much the same foods, although with modifications based on religious rules. It would be unreasonable to suppose that they did not borrow drugs as well because a fine, often imperceptible line separates nutrition and pharmacy. Conversely, although concrete evidence may be lacking, folk discoveries within the Jewish communities may have been adopted by those who lived in the shadows of pyramids and ziggurats. Scholarship on medicine in the Bible and Talmud regards the

INTRODUCTION

Xlll

knowledge of nutrition and public health described by scripture generally to be in accord with intelligent empirical observation. Because Biblical people governed their lives so well in these matters and because they were not indifferent to pain and suffering, they must have known more medicine that the paucity of the records indicates. When imaginative and rigorous scholarship is applied, however, a different view is afforded than the older view that diminishes the importance of Jewish medicine. The studies in this volume counter a simplistic view that Jewish medicine virtually did not exist in that stretch of land between the Nile valley and the Euphrates. Written by schol31"sof diverse backgrounds, these essays reveal Jewish lore about drugs within the general culture of the Mediterranean region. When taken as a whole, the articles present an in-depth, innovative view that places Jewish medicine within the context of surrounding cultures. The scholars who have contributed to this study focus on the drugs used in the Palestine region. Vitally important is learning how the ancients may have gained the information about drug usage in the first place. Each essayist brings a particular specialty to bear on the subject. Drugs of the Bible and Rabbinic period are revealed better in this collection than they have been since J. Preuss composed his seminal Biblical and Talmudic Medicine (English translation by Fred Rosner, New York, 1978). Building on Preuss, this study extends our knowledge of an aspect oflife possibly as important to Biblical peoples as it is to us. The first essay is by Fred Rosner, an accomplished scholar, who describes the pharmacy and dietetics in the Bible and Talmud. While the books of the Bible inform us about plants, they do not detail medicinal usage. To close the gap, the Talmud provides greater data. Rosner catalogs and examines drugs, mostly from plants, and dietetics (including a fascinating account of chicken soup). Three essays explore the relationship between Egyptian-Mesopotamian medicine and Jewish medicine. Since (and even before) MartinBernal's Black Athena (1987), modern scholarship's working hypothesis is that the Mediterranean had common cultural themes offset by ethic peculiarities. For too long attention was directed to the peculiarities of ethnic groups rather than to a balanced account of shared cultural themes intermingled with ethnic diversity. Walter Jacob's contribution is a study of the Biblical plants, including those not native to Palestine but traded there. Egyptian and Mesopotamian medicinal uses of substances are investigated with the assumption that their applications generally were known. Similarly, the medicine of the Talmud and Mishnah (a subject known well to Jacob) reflects the medicine found in Hellenistic and late Egyptian records.

XIV

INTRODUCTION

One of the two poles of ancient culture was in Mesopotamia. Marvin A. Powell appraises Mesopotamian medicine and pharmacy succinctly. With the tens of thousands of tablets found but not thoroughly studied, more can be known of their medicine than is presently available. Powell informs us why we are "impatiently waiting" for more collaborative efforts between pharmacists, linguists and botanists. The data are there but, lacking a systematic effort, we cannot read many of the prescriptions. In informing us about the scarcity of knowledge, his account about what is known about drugs and the cultures between the Tigris and Euphrates reveals more than any other article. Egyptian medicinal plants have come back to life in the many works by Renate Germer, an Egyptologist, who knows the plants of the hieroglyphic texts the way a peasant knows his garden. Her essay includes a useful survey of scholarship before she discusses specific drugs. While only about twenty percent of the plants named in the surviving documents are identified, those that are identified provide lore known in Palestine as well, Germer posits. There is another way to learn about drugs, namely an intensive case study about a single drug, one now in use. Irene Jacob examines the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, "the miracle tree through four thousand years." The plant's description, habitat and cultivation, its harvesting, preparation, and uses, are described. Just how little things have changed is revealed also. Irene Jacob's message should not be lost as it extends beyond one plant drug. Her learning about this plant derives from scholarship and direct horticultural knowledge because she grows this plant that heals. We compartmentalize history by discrete periods. The unfortunate tendency of periodization leads us to disregard what happened in Egypt after the fall of the Old Kingdom, in Mesopotamia after Nebuchadnezzar, and in Greece after Alexander the Great. In the history of science and medicine, when we move to the ancient Greeks, often the cultures of ancient West Asia are abandoned. We ignore the fact that, in the older cultures before the Greeks, there continued to be practitioners of science and medicine. These medical people persisted in finding new ways to apply their knowledge. Whereas we acknowledge that these practitioners borrowed from classical Greek learning, we hardly concede that all of the cultures may have borrowed from one another. A Greek practitioner could be as apt to learn a new drug or a new application of an older drug from a Jewish or Egyptian medical person as he was to impart the same to others. The last two studies reflect pharmaceutical practices in Palestine after the Bible, namely when Pax Romana was imposed in the first century and when Pax Islamica came in the early Middle Ages.

INTRODUCTION

xv

One way to learn about ancient drugs is to squeeze from the text of a single ancient author all his writings can inform us about Biblical drugs. The final two essays do this well. Flavius Josephus, long known for his histories, gave particular and detailed parenthetical insight into the medicinal usages and trade in drugs. In particular, we learn from Samuel Kottek's study just how important Palestine's climate was to the cultivation of effective drugs. The ancients knew that growing conditions affect drug potency. The final essay concerns one of the most enigmatic of all early writers, the elusive Asaph the Jew. Our inability to determine when he wrote diminishes the attention that modern scholars give to his extensive medical writings. Undaunted by the linguistic hurdles and historical pitfalls, Stephen Newmyer's scholarship opens new visions. Newmyer's account of Asaph on drugs explores how a Jewish physician took, integrated, and adapted pharmaceutical knowledge from earlier writers, particularly from Dioscorides (50-70 C.E.). There is good reason for a fresh study to be made of the pharmacy and dietetics of Biblical and Talmudic times. The World Health Organization reports that eighty percent of the world's population does not receive Western-level medical care. 5 Since the report in 1978, the number of people whom we regard as lacking the best medical care has increased. Most people receive a combination of traditional and modern medical therapies. A direct line connects contemporary traditional medicine and medicine as practiced historically. Sadly, Western medical research disregards traditional medicine and, for the most part, medical personnel do not study and evaluate traditional remedies. The pharmaceuticals of the Biblical and Rabbinic periods are worthy of study because they inform us about the lives of our ancestors. Also, the study contains useful insight into how we can extend our learning in medicine to millions not currently receiving adequate medical care.

5

WHO Technical Report Series (1978), No. 622.

PHARMACOLOGY AND DIETETICS IN THE BIBLE AND TALMUD FRED ROSNER

Introduction

In his classic book on biblical and talmudic medicine, Julius Preuss devotes an entire chapter to materia medica and another chapter to dietetics, thereby accentuating the importance of these topics in Jewish antiquity and the middle ages. 1 Since numerous volumes could be written on either of these two vast subjects, this essay confines itself primarily to presentations of two examples of each topic. In regard to pharmacology in the Bible and Talmud, the famous balm of Gilead and the equally renowned biblical mandrakes will be discussed. As examples of dietetics, classic Jewish sources dealing with dairy products as well as chicken soup, the Jewish penicillin, will be cited. Pharmacology in Bible and Talmud

One must be extremely careful in describing the pharmacology of antiquity. The entire system of dispensing drugs today is much simpler and more precise than even only a few decades ago. One need only compare the list of ingredients or length of prescriptions of one hundred years ago to a modern prescription. Medications described in the Bible and Talmud are mostly derived from the flora. However, numerous animal remedies were known to the talmudic Sages. For example, although honey was used to revive a person who fainted (? hypoglycemia), eating honey was thought to be harmful for wound healing. 2 A person with pain in the heart should suck goat's milk directly from the udder of the animal. 3 Someone bitten by a dog was given liver from that dog to eat4 as recommended by physicians in antiquity, perhaps an early form of immunotherapy. The

1 2

J. Preuss, Biblical and TalmudicMedicine (New York, 1978).

Baba Kamma 85a. [unless otherwise noted, all Talmudic references are from the Babylonian Talmud]. 3 Temurah 15b. 4 Yoma 8:6.

2

FRED ROSNER

gall of a white stork in beer was given to a child bitten by a scorpion. 5 The juice of the kidney of a goat was imbibed for ear-aches 6 and squashed gnats were applied on snake bites. 7 Medications derived from the flora include the leaves of trees as cited in the Bible: "the fruit shall be food and the leaf thereof for medicine. " 8 Sometimes all parts of the tree were used, other times only the leaves, and rarely the roots or the barks. Plant oils were also used as therapeutic agents; for example, olive oil was used as a gargle for pain in the throat. 9 Mostly, drugs were cooked, either individually or together. One such liquid remedy was called shikyana and was most efficacious when imbibed in the springtime. These remedies were taken for three, seven, or twelve days, mostfy on an empty stomach. 10 Sometimes the drugs were pulverized and then consumed internally, either as a dry powder or suspended in water or other liquid. In this manner, the abortifacient medicine known as samma de naftza was imbibed. 11 For an oral abscess, the remedy was blown into the mouth with a blade of straw. 12 Cultured plants were probably used as emetics because the use of products of the sabbatical year for this purpose was specifically prohibited. 13 A medication with an unusually efficacious therapeutic potency is samtar, a type of herb which heals major surgical wounds 14 including the wound caused by a spear or arrow. 15 Another type of remedy is the salve or ointment for whose base tallow and wax were used. 16 A variety of plasters and poultices are described in ancient Jewish sources. A retiya is only applied to a wound, never on healthy flesh 17 or at most on a healed wound for protection. 18 A wound inflicted by a hammer can be healed with retiya. 19 The exact nature of retiya is unknown but wheat flour is one of its ingredients. 20 A poultice recommended for all types of pain consisted of seven parts of

s Ketubot 50a. 6 Avodah Zarah 28b. 7 Shabbat 77b. 8 Ezekiel 47: 12. 9 Berachot 36a. 10 Gittin 70a 11 Niddah 30b. 12 Shabbat 88b; Erubin 54a; Taanit 7a; Yevamot 72b. 13 Sukkah 40b. 14 Baba Bathra 74b. 15 Yevamot 114b. 16 Shabbat 133b. 17 Tanchumacommentary on Mishpatimp. 41b. 18 Yerushalmi Shabbat 6:Sb. 19 Mechiltacommentary on Exodus 14:24. 20 ToseftaPesachim 2:3; ToseftaDemai 1:25.

PHARMACOLOGY AND DIETETICS

3

fat and one part of wax. 21 Melugma is probably the malagma of the Greeks, the cataplasm of later generations. Its preparation is similar to the mixing of dough on a wound. 22 Some melugmas are made of plant materials such as wheat or figs. 23 King Hezekiah placed such a fig cataplasm on his boils. 24 The Balm of Gilead

Gilead is the central region east of the Jordan River approximately between the river Yarmuk in the north and the northern end of the Dead Sea in the south. 25 Gilead is also the name of a town on the west bank of the Jordan River. 26 Gilead is also the name of the son of Machir the son of Menasse27 and the father of Jephthah the Gileadite. 28 The latter led the war against the Ephraimites. 29 Gilead was the place of origin of Elijah the Gileadite whose spirit greatly affected the development of prophecy. 30 Gilead is described in the Bible as pasturage land31 and was known for its spices, 32 among other things, including iron deposits. 33 The famous medicinal balm of Gilead is first mentioned in the Bible in relation to Joseph and his brethren: "And they sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and saw, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and ladanum, going to bring it down to Egypt. " 34 The famous commentator Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, popularly known as Rashi, explains the balm to be a resin which exudes from the wood of the balsam tree and that it is the same resin which is enumerated among the ingredients of the incense used in the Tabernacle as described in the Bible35 and the Talmud. 36

21 22 23

24

25

26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36

Shabbat 133b. Yerushalmi Shabbat 7: 10b. Sheviit 8: I. II Kings 20:7. Y. Aharoni, "Gilead", EncyclopediaJudaica (Jerusalem, 1972). A. Even-Shoshan, A New Concordanceof the Bible (Jerusalem 1980). Numbers 36: 1. Judges 11: 1. Judges 12:1-6. Y. Aharoni, 1972. Numbers 32:1; Jeremiah 50:19; Michah 7:14. Jeremiah 8:22 and 46: 11. Aharoni 1972 Genesis 37:25. Exodus 30:34. Keritot 6a.

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FRED ROSNER

The Hebrew word for balm is tzari which is first mentioned by the Patriarch Jacob when he offered his children prudent counsel: "take of the best fruits in the land . . . a little balm and a little honey, spices and ladanum, nuts and almonds. " 37 Balm as an aromatic resin used for medicinal purposes is also mentioned in the books of the prophets. For example, "take balm for her pain, perhaps she will be healed" .38 The commerce between Judah and Israel included "balsam and honey" and "oil and balm. " 39 One writer interprets tzari to refer to the syrup of the frankincense (styrax) whereas others consider tzari to refer to liquidamberorientaliswhich grows in Northern Syria from which healing remedies are made for skin leprosy. 40 The best and most famous medicinal balm was the balm of Gilead which the prophet Jeremiah cites by name twice: "Go up unto Gilead and take balm, 0 virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain dost thou use many medicines" 41 and "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of my people recovered?" 42 The latter scriptural quotation is interpreted by most biblical commentators to be a metaphor or parable as if to say: are there no prophets and righteous men among them to heal their spiritual sickness? The phrase "is there no balm in Gilead?" has become proverbial. Nonetheless the commentators also agree that Gilead was famous for its balm from early times and that this balm is the resin used as one of many ingredients in the preparation of the incense for the Tabernacle. In addition, however, the balm of Gilead had marvelous medicinal qualities. One modern commentator suggests that the balm of Gilead is the gum or juice of the turpentine tree, which still abounds in Gilead, and that the resinous distillation from it is much celebrated by the Arabs for its healing virtues. 43 A new medical drug manufacturing company "Gilead Sciences" was named for the biblical site of the famous healing balm. 44 Webster's International Dictionary offers several definitions for the balm of Gilead 45 including a small evergreen African and Asian tree (Commiphorameccanensis)with leaves that yield a strong aromatic odor

37

Genesis 43:11. Jeremiah 51 :8. 39 Ezekiel 27:17. 40 Y. Steinbach, Milon Hanach (fel Aviv, 1960), p. 730. 41 Jeremiah 46: 11 42 Jeremiah 8:22. 43 Freedman, H., Jeremiah (London, 1949), p. 66. 44 S. Stavers, "Gilead Sciences Target a New Class of Drugs", AmericanMedical News (February 3, 1989), p. 13. 45 Gove, P. B. (ed.), Webster's Third New InternationalDictionaryof the English I.mzguage(Springfield, MA, 1968), p. 168. 38

PHARMACOLOGY AND DIETETICS

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when bruised. A second definition is any of several aromatic plant secretions, especially a fragrant yellow or greenish oleoresin with a somewhat bitter taste obtained from the balm of Gilead and valued especially in biblical times as an unguent and cosmetic-called also Mecca balsam. This balm soothes, relieves or heals. Other definitions offered by Webster include a fragrant herb (Dracocephalum Canariense), balsam fir, and either of two poplars. Kramer states that the balm of Gilead is a balsam from the Balsamodendron Gileadense, an Arabian tree very difficult to cultivate. 46 There is a balm of Gilead bud used in contemporary medicine which is obtained from the leaf buds of Populus nigra or Populus balsamifera, native in North America. Internally, continues Kramer, it is used as a stimulating expectorant; externally, in an ointment for slow healing sores. Harrison points out that the references to balm in Genesis indicate that it was a familiar article of commercial value in ancient times carried by the trading caravans going to Egypt. 47 In Ezekiel it is spoken of as being exported to Tyre from Gilead. From the usage of the term in Jeremiah, continues Harrison, it is evident that balm was employed medicinally as a counter-irritant for diminishing local pain and, like other resins, was widely acclaimed as an antiseptic and astringent for cuts and wounds. As a result, some authorities have argued in favor of the identification of "balm" in the book of Jeremiah with Balanites aegyptiaca, or "balsam of Jericho." However, in the writings of the ancient Greeks such as Theophrastus, 48 a clear distinction is made between "balm" and "balsam of Jericho." Harrison quotes Moldenke who points out that the balm which was part of the gift taken by the sons of Jacob to the Pharaoh of Egypt must have been indigenous to Palestine, and this could hardly have been the balm of Gilead or Balsamodendron opobalsamum which is native to Arabia. On the other hand, Dioscorides clearly states that Balsamodendron opobalsamum grows only in Judea and in Egypt. 49 Whatever the true identity of balm and specifically the balm of Gilead, a wide variety of resinous substances was used in antiquity as antiseptics and astringents.

46

Kramer, J.E., "The Drugs of the Bible", AmericanJournal of Pharmacy(1935), Vol. 107, pp. 280-300. 47 Harrison, R.H., Healing Herbs of the Bible (Leiden, 1966), pp. 17-19. 48 Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants (London, 1916), Vol. 2, pp. 244-247. 49 Gunther, R. T., The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides (London, 1968), pp. 18-19.

6

FRED ROSNER

Mandrakes

The mandrake is an herb of southern Europe and northern Africa that has ovate leaves, whitish or purple flowers followed by globose yellow fruits which were formerly thought to have aphrodisiac properties. The mandrake also has a large forked root which has been credited with human attributes and made the subject of many superstitions. The root was also formerly used to promote conception, as a cathartic, or as a narcotic and soporific. European mandrake is not to be confused with native American mandrake which is widely known by the popular names of May Apples and Devil's Apples. Its Latin name is Podaphyllum peltatum and it is used extensively as a cathartic. According to Kramer, 50 mandrake has had the most colorful and lurid history of all the simples of the Scriptures. It is a member of the nightshade family, a botanical brother to such deadly fellows as belladonna, henbane and Jimson weed. Described variously as a drug for insomnia, pain, gall-bladder trouble, eye pains, boils, crysipedas, and as a love philtre, the classical mandrake bears the Latin name Mandragora officinalis or atropa mandragora. One of the earliest references to the conception-promoting properties of the mandrake is a passage in the Bible in relation to Rachel's despondency over her barrenness. And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found duda 'im in the field and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: Give me, I pray thee, some of thy son's duda'im. 51 After Leah gave birth to four sons of Jacob, "she ceased g1vmg birth. " 52 No reason is mentioned in Scripture but it is quite clear that the preference of Jacob for her sister Rachel is behind it. At the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben, the firstborn son of Leah, found duda 'im (mandrakes) in the field and brought them to his mother. The latter gave them to Rachel when she asked for them, on the condition that Jacob cohabit with her, Leah, during that night. Jacob agreed "And G-d hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. " 53 This one was followed by a sixth, and also a daughter. Only then G-d remembered Rachel, and hearkened unto her and opened her womb and she gave birth to Joseph.

50

51 52

53

J.E. Kramer, 1935, Vol. 107, pp. 280-300. Genesis 30: 14. Genesis 29:35. Genesis 30:17.

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According to Preuss, 54 the duda'im perhaps brought the favor of her husband back to Leah, for the one night which Rachel conceded to her must have been followed by many more, as the subsequent births demonstrated. The mandrakes, however, did not provide her with fertility, for she had never lost her ability to conceive. The correction of the infertility of Rachel as a result of the use of the duda 'im is similarly difficult to accept. The fact that the pregnancies of both women resulted from the hearkening by G-d to their prayers cannot be used a evidence for or against the efficacy of the mandrakes, because according to religious interpretation, no medication is effective without G-d giving His blessing thereto, and, on the other hand, even G-d employs natural means to effect healing. As a result, Preuss cannot accept the adoption of exegetics of the hypothesis that duda 'im represent a remedy against infertility. He is also not disconcerted by the Biblical phrase "the mandrakes emit an aroma. "55 For it is a long way from the efficacy of an aroma as a sexual excitant, an action which is undisputed since time immemorial, to the presupposed influence on the sterility of a woman. 56 Very difficult to understand is the botanical identification of duda 'im. It is usually accepted that it is a plant which grows or blossoms or ripens "in the days of the wheat harvest." Most biblical commentators translate duda 'im as mandrakes. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 1040-1105) states that duda 'im are a type of plant which in Arabic is called Jasmin. Rabbi Abraham lbn Ezra (l 092-1167) asserts that duda 'im have a good aroma as it is written "duda 'im give forth fragrance. " 57 They resemble the human form for they have the likeness of a head and hands. lbn Ezra concludes by saying that he does not know why they promote conception. Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (1872-1946) quotes the 1611 King James' authorized version of the Bible where the word duda 'im is translated "love apples." The fruit, continues Hertz, is of the size of a large plum, quite round, yellow and full of soft pulp. The fruit is still considered in the East as a love charm. This explains Rachel's anxiety to obtain it. Nachmanides (l 195-1270) disputes Rashi 's interpretation and states that Reuben only wanted his mother to benefit from the good aroma because she became pregnant with the help of G-d, not through medical means. Reuben brought his mother the leaves (i.e., the fruit) of the mandrake which look like apples and are aromatic. He did not, however, 54

J. Preuss, 1978. Song of Songs 7 .14. 56 R. Rosner, "Mandrakes and Other Aphrodisiacs in the Bible and Talmud", Koroth (Jerusalem, 1980). 57 Song of Songs 7: 14. 55

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bring the root which has the likeness of a head and hands and which is said to promote conception. If the latter is true, concludes Nachmanides, it happens as an unusual and unnatural occurrence which he, Nachmanides, a prominent physician, did not find mentioned in any medical text. Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (1269-1343), in his commentary called Ba'al Haturim, points out that the Hebrew word duda 'im has the same numerical value as the Hebrew word ke'adam, like man, i.e., it has human likeness. Rabbi Meir Loeb ben Yechiel Michael ( 1809-1879), known as Malbim, states that duda 'im promote conception and that Reuben's intent was for his mother to have more sons since he did not want to be an only son. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) considers duda'im to be wild flowers. Rabbi Obadiah Seforno (1474-1550) interprets duda'im to be aromatic plants which prepare the womb for a fetus. Duda 'im or more potent aphrodisiacs were eaten, especially on Fridays, to increase the love between two young lovers. In explaining the above Biblical passage concerning mandrakes, the Talmud 58 asks: What are duda'im? Rab said yabruchi [mandrakes]; Levi said sigli [cypress]; Rabbi Yonathan said sabisld [mandrakeflowers]. Rashi, in the Talmud, asserts that it is not clear what yabruchi is. Sigli and sabiski are other types of yabruchi. Sigli is a root of certain plants and it is a type of aromatic herb. The ancestry of these plants is called sigli. Sabiski is also a type of aromatic her~. Rabbi Baruch Halevi Epstein (1860-1942), known as Torah Temimah, states that yabruchi, sigli and sabiski are all types of flowers which emit good odors as found elsewhere in the Talmud 59 : "for sigli one recites the blessing: Who hast created aromatic plants." In the Midrash, there are two additional interpretations of duda'im: barley and fruits of mayishim, which are hackberries or myrtle berries. 60 In summary, the Biblical term duda 'im is interpreted by most classical commentaries to refer to an aromatic plant, probably the mandrake, whose root resembles human form with head, hands and feet. It has the unusual property of promoting conception and its leaves (i.e., fruits) resemble apples. 58 59 60

Sanhedrin 99b. Berachot 43b. Genesis Rabbah 72:2.

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In a review article on the mandrake legend, Couper 61 points out that the mandrakes were not only highly prized as fertility agents, as in the case of the biblical mandrakes, but also as love charms, and for relief of labor pains during delivery of the baby. Amulets of the root are still worn by some men to stimulate virility and by young women as love charms. Couper also states that Celsus lists mandrakes for the relief of pain, Pliny the Elder advocated them for diseases of the eye and as a narcotic, and Dioscorides attributed soporific properties to mandrakes. Gathering the root of the mandrake was quite a ritual in view of the unpleasant aroma and shrieking sound emanating from it. Even Shakespeare refers to the shrieking sounds of the mandrake. In heraldic art, the mandrake acquired anthropomorphic characteristics and is portrayed as a monster or chimerical creature. Couper concludes his review of the mandrake legend as follows: The mandrake arrived on the scene in Genesis as a love plant that brought blessing on infertile women. It subsequentlybecame the familiar of witches and killed those who spurned its evil associations or drove them to madness. Joan of Arc was accused of possessing a mandrake at one of her many trials for witchcraft and heresy. She denied this and said that she knew that mandrakes were dangerous and evil things to keep. The mandrake may have had healing and analgesic properties and may have been capable of inducing soothing sleep but these attributes were unlikely to have been achieved in the manner described.

Dietetics in Bible and Talmud Dietetics in the Bible and Talmud refers not only to nutrition as in the modern sense of the word but includes the entire lifestyle of an individual including residence, clothing, exercise, cohabitation and many other things which influence health. Only general rules of nutrition and two examples of nutritious, i.e., healthy, foods will be presented as illustrations of Jewish thinking and teaching on dietetics as found in the classic sources. The Talmud recommends that we eat moderately and not excessively. 62 Elijah once said to Rabbi Nathan: eat a third and drink a third and leave a third empty so that you can exist. 63 The Talmud also

61 J. L. Couper, "The Mandrake Legend", Adler MuseumBulletin (Johannesburg, 1988). 62 Shabbat 33a. 63 Gittin 70a.

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suggests that we eat simply and not overspend on food. 64 One should also eat slowly65 and chew the food well with one's teeth. 66 One should also eat regularly; otherwise one may suffer from disturbances of digestion. 67 Preuss 68 describes in detail biblical-talmudic references to bread-the main nutrition of the people-, bread seasoning, meat, cabbage, turnips, garlic, onions, leeks, radishes, gourds and other legumes and vegetables, fish, eggs, honey, oils, fruit, beverages including wine, overeating, fasting, bowel habits, exercise, domicile, and a variety of other topics related to nutrition and general hygiene. The present essay focuses on chicken soup and dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butter, as examples of dietetics in the Bible and the Talmud. Milk, Cheese and Butter The Bible repeatedly asserts that Israel is "a land flowing with milk and honey. "w This divine blessing is depicted in the Talmud70 where it states that Rami hen Ezekiel once paid a visit to Bnei Berak where he saw goats grazing under fig trees and honey was flowing from the figs and milk ran from the goats and the honey and milk mingled with each other. Rabbah bar Bar Channah said: "I saw the flow of the milk and honey in all the land of Israel and the total area was equal to the land extending from the Be Mikse to the Fort of Tulbanke, an area of twentytwo parasangs in length and six parasangs in breadth." Here and elsewhere, 71 Resh Lakish said that he saw the flow of milk and honey at Sepphoris and it extended over an area of sixteen by sixteen miles. The nourishment which G-d gave us as a sign of His special kindness includes fine flour, oil and honey72 but not milk. Nevertheless, the Bible considers it a blessing or sign of wealth if there is an "abundance of milk" 73 or if one's "pails are full of milk" 74 or if there is "enough

64

Shabbat 140b; Sanhedrin 100b; Pesachim 114a. Berachot 54b. 66 Shabbat 152a. 67 Sanhedrin !Ola. 68 J. Preuss, 1978. 69 Exodus 3:8, 3:17, 13:5 and 33:3; Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 13:27, 14:8, 16:13 and 16:14; Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9, 26:15, 27:3 and 31:20; Joshua 5:6; Jeremiah 11:5 and 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6 and 20: 15. 70 Ketubot 111b. 71 Megillah 6a. 72 Ezekiel 16:9. 73 Isaiah 7:22. 74 Job 21:24. 65

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goats' milk" 75 or if the "hills flow with milk" 76 or if "honey and milk are under your tongue. ,m Not only are suckling animals78 and human infants79 nourished with milk but adults too drink milk, 80 sometimes mixed with wine 81 and sometimes free of charge. 82 Other biblical references to milk such as his "eyes are like doves ... washed with milk, " 83 and "her princes were purer than snow and whiter than milk, " 84 and "thou shalt suck the milk of the nations" 85 are obviously to be understood in the figurative or allegorical sense. For example, the homiletical work known as Midrash 86 interprets the phrase "and his teeth are white with milk" 87 to mean that a man who shows his teeth white, i.e., is honest and not sinful, is better than a person who gives him milk to drink. The Talmud 88 offers an alternate interpretation, viz. the Jews said to G-d: show us Thy teeth which will be sweeter than milk. In the Midrash 89 the words of Torah are compared to wine, to oil, to honey and to milk. "Just as milk is pure, so are the words of Torah pure as it says, 'Gold and glass cannot equal it' 90 ••• Just as milk and honey when combined do not injure the body, so the words of the Torah ... " The Midrash also states91 that words of Torah invigorate those who study them devoutedly and the phrase "washed with milk" 92 refers to the laws which, as it were, they was with their teeth (i.e., pronounce repeatedly) till they make them clean like milk. The Talmud 93 also compares the words of Torah to water, wine and milk as it is written: "Come ye, buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money 75 76 77

78 79 80

81 82

83 84

85 86 87 88

89 90

91 92 93

Proverbs 28:27. Joel 4: 18 Song of Songs 4: 11. I Samuel 7:9. Isaiah 28: 9. Ezekiel 25:4; Judges 4:18 and 5:25. Song of Songs 5: 1. Isaiah 55: 1. Song of Songs 5: 12. Lamentations 4:7. Isaiah 60: 16. Kallah Rabbati 53b. Genesis 49:12. Ketubot I I lb. Song of Songs Rabbah I :2:3. Job 28:17. Song of Songs Rabbah 5: 12: I. Song of Songs 5: 12. Taanit 7a.

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and without price?."94 This is to teach you, just as these three liquids can only be preserved in the most inferior of vessels, so too the words of the Torah endure only with him who is meekminded[i.e., humble]

Another talmudic explanation95 is that just as these three liquids can become unfit for consumption only through inattention if one neglects to cover them, so too the words of the Torah are forgotten only through inattention. Characteristics and Medical Uses of Milk

Milk can be consumed in liquid or solid form or used medically. The Talmud says that one can live without milk but not without blood. 96 The drinking of milk is common but its use as a remedy by external application as an embrocation is uncommon. 97 It is used in an eye collyrium. 98 Goats' milk is considered to have a curative effect on a patient suffering from an attack on the chest. 99 Although milking of goats on the Sabbath is ordinarily prohibited, 100 it is permitted for a patient with such an attack (? angina). Goats may be led out on the Sabbath with their udders tied up to preserve the milk in the pouch and to protect the udders from being scratched by thorns. 101 Milk combined with certain foods or beverages is said to have intoxicating properties. Thus if a priest ate preserved figs and drank fermented honey and milk and then entered the Temple, he is guilty of transgressing the prohibition against strong drink 102 and incurs liability to lashes 103 or excision. 104 Kneading dough with milk makes a rich bread but it is prohibited lest one eat it with meat. 105 It is permissible, however, if one makes very small loaves which are eaten entirely at once. 106 Milk is also said to increase semen production as does the consumption 94

Isaiah 55: 1. Taanit 7b. 96 Meilah 12b. 97 Shabbat 78a. 98 Shabbat 77b. 99 Ketubot 60a. 100 Shabbat 54a. 101 Shabbat 53b. 1