Despite 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.
Jason Sion Mokhtarian is Associate Professor and Herbert and Stephanie Neuman Chair in Hebrew and Jewish Literature at Cornell University. He is author of Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests: The Culture of the Talmud in Ancient Iran.
“Medicine in the Talmud is a growing area of interest but is understudied and undertheorized. This volume productively pushes the field forward. Considering both text and material culture, especially important evidence from the Aramaic bowls, this volume is indispensable for anyone interested in scientific knowledge in rabbinic literature or medicine in the ancient world in general.”—Jordan D. Rosenblum, author of Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us about Rabbinic Literature
“A groundbreaking study that introduces readers to intriguing Talmudic healing therapies (not to be tried at home). Mokhtarian integrates this rabbinic knowledge firmly in the interdisciplinary discourses of late antiquity, a move that refines and corrects many prevailing assumptions about these enduring traditions.”—Christine Shepardson, author of Controlling Contested Places: Late Antique Antioch and the Spatial Politics of Religious Controversy
“In this easy-to-read and engaging work, Jason Sion Mokhtarian demonstrates how the Babylonian rabbis thoroughly and eagerly participated in knowledge gathering and making across ethnic and cultural boundaries in late antique Mesopotamia.”—Naomi Koltun-Fromm, Associate Professor of Religion, Haverford College
260 pp.6 x 9
9780520389410$95.00|£80.00Hardcover
Jul 2022