Caring for Jewish Patients

Joseph Spitzer

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781138431362
• eBook ISBN: 9781315344188
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Clinical Medicine
• Index: Business

Jewish patients customarily have particular ways of approaching health and healthcare. This book outlines the Jewish practices and customs of direct relevance to health professionals, illustrated throughout with case histories. Information is provided to facilitate day to day communication, discussing etiquette and interpersonal relationships between the health professionals and their patients, describing in detail the dietary laws, customs and festivals. This book will offer practical advice about Jews, Judaism and the Jewish community helping to educate and enable all healthcare professionals in hospitals and in the community to provide care in a culturally appropriate manner.

PART 1

Jews and Judaism

CHAPTER 1

Judaism, Jews and Jewishness

One God; one people

Hear 0 Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Deuteronomy 6:4

The shema (declaration of belief in God)

What is Judaism?

Judaism is a monotheistic religion, the single most important principle of which is a belief that everything in the universe is under the direct control of the one God. Man’s purpose on this world is to recognise and serve God, live justly, perform good deeds, study the Torah and live life accordingly. Jews believe that the soul is immortal but Judaism concentrates very much more on the practical aspects of creating a just world for the living, rather than on meditating on aspects of the afterlife.

Monotheism

God is one, neither two nor more, but a unity, unlike other unities in the universe which may have many parts or like a body which is divided into parts. So the unity of God is quite different from anything else in the world. If there were many deities it would mean that they had body and form because individuals only differ from one another in bodily form. If the Creator had a body and form He would have an end, a ceasing. It is impossible to imagine a body that does not end and whose strength does not wane. Our God - blessed be He! - has strength to which there is no end and does not falter because the sphere continues to revolve for ever by His force which is not a bodily force. Because He is incorporeal, none of the happenings which occur to parts of a body can be attributed to Him, so it is impossible that He should be but one. The understanding of monotheism is a positive commandment, as it is written ‘the Lord our God is the one and only God’ (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Maimonides, Mishne Torah, Book of Knowledge, Foundations of the

Torah 1:7

All aspects of Judaism, whether relating to belief, philosophy, religious or civil law, have their basis in the Torah, the Written Law (often referred to as the Biblical Law of the Bible or Old Testament), as interpreted by the rabbis throughout the ages in the Oral Law (often called the Rabbinic Law). The practice of Judaism involves performing the mitzvos (the commandments) which can be thought of as the acts that Jews perform because God requires it of them. The Written Law contains the basic 613 mitzvos, which are listed in rudimentary outline in the divinely written Five Books of Moses (the Pentateuch) which the rabbis in the Oral Law expand in considerable detail.

A life-giving medicine

The rabbis taught: it is written ‘you shall put the words of my Torah into your hearts’ (Deuteronomy 11:18). The letters that make up the Hebrew words ‘you shall put’ can also be read and understood to mean ‘the perfect medicine’ (i.e. they are homonyms, so the verse could be understood to mean ‘the words of my Torah are the perfect medicine’), because the Torah can be compared to a life-giving medicine; as in the following analogy:

A man once hit his son causing him serious wound. He put a dressing on the wound saying ‘my son, so long as the bandage is covering the wound, you may eat and drink what you desire and bathe as you wish and need have no fear that you will be harmed by these activities. However should you take off the dressing, the wound will suppurate’.

So, the Holy One Blessed be He said to His people the Jews, ‘My son, I have created the evil inclination and I have created the Torah as the antidote for it. If you engage in Torah matters you will not be overcome by the power of the evil inclination. But if you ignore the Torah then you will be overcome by the power of the evil inclination’.

Based on Talmud Kidushin 30b

The Written Law is never understood literally in isolation by Jews but is always read together with and interpreted through the Oral Law, which in orthodox belief was also given to Moses on Mount Sinai at the same time as the Ten Commandments were given, but which was not written down until very much later. The main repository of the Oral Law is the Talmud, a vast encyclopaedic work (third to sixth century) covering all aspects of Judaism and Jewish law (Halochoh). The Talmud and its many commentaries are regularly studied in great depth by orthodox Jews and it forms the basis of religious authority in traditional orthodox Judaism. Almost all subsequent Jewish legal works throughout the ages are based on the Talmud, which remains the cornerstone of Jewish law to this very day. The main post-Talmudic works on Jewish law are the Mishne Torah (literally ‘the repetition of the Torah’), where Jewish law is systematically organised and comprehensively codified in a clear, lucid style, written by Maimonides (1135-1204), and the Shulchon Oruch (literally ‘the laid table’), where the details of Jewish law are clearly laid out (often paraphrased in English as ‘the code of Jewish law’), written by Rabbi Yossef Caro (148 8 -15 7 5). Both the Written and Oral Laws are seen as being inseparable, and indeed are regarded as being one unit, which together are often also collectively referred to as the Torah.

The actual practice of Judaism requires observance of the mitzvos, the commandments, the religious obligations incumbent upon all Jews. Judaism predates Christianity and Islam, the other so called Abrahamic religions. Jews do not venerate Jesus or Muhammad, nor do they celebrate any of the Christian festivals such as Christmas or Easter.

The mitzvos (the commandments)

Man can approach God only by doing His commandments.

Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (1075-1141) in Kuzari

Judaism is not so much a religion as a way of life governed in all its aspects by the meticulous observance of the Torah and the mitzvos (the religious duties required to be performed by Jews). Curiously, and in contrast to other religions, Judaism concentrates on practice rather than on theological concepts and a system of beliefs. It is possible to be a ‘good Jew’ without much knowledge of Jewish theological principles, or Jewish ideology, so long as he or she performs all the relevant mitzvos. In fact when a convert applies to an orthodox religious rabbinic court (Beis Din) to become Jewish, he or she is firstly required to adopt a Jewish way of life and to observe the practices of Judaism. The examination prior to acceptance of converts also concentrates mainly on knowledge and acceptance of the practices of Judaism and the keeping of the mitzvos rather than a deep knowledge of the philosophical or theological concepts of Judaism. This indeed is fully in keeping with the very essence of Judaism. The traditional belief is that Judaism originated at Mount Sinai, when God offered the Torah to the Children of Israel seven weeks after their miraculous liberation from Egypt. When the Jews were given the Torah at Mount Sinai, they accepted upon themselves to embrace the Torah unquestioningly as God’s word, undertaking at the same time to keep all the mitzvos. It is stated in Exodus (24: 7) that when accepting the Torah the Children of Israel said ‘all that God has said we will do (first) and (then) understand’. This statement marks the very moment of the birth of Judaism. The Jews agreed to follow God’s word - ‘we will do’ first and foremost, before even attempting to try to understand the basis for God’s will - ‘we will understand’.

Freewill - choosing good or bad

Freewill is granted to every man. If he wishes to direct himself toward the good way and become righteous, the will to do so is in his hand; and if he wishes to direct himself toward the bad way and become wicked, the will to do so is likewise in his hand. Thus it is written in the Torah, ‘Behold, the man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3:22)- that is to say, the human species has become unique in the world in that it can know of itself, by its own wit and reflection, what is good and what is evil, and in that it can do whatever it wishes.

Maimonides, Mishne Torah, Book of Knowledge, Laws of Repentance 5:1

The belief that the Jews were given the Torah by God at Mount Sinai is one of the basic fundamental beliefs of Judaism (see the Thirteen Principles of Faith, pp 11-12). This includes the belief that the Torah that God gave to the Jews at Mount Sinai consisted not only of the Ten Commandments but also of the entire Written Law together with the Oral Law, which were all given over as an inseparable unit. The Written Law itself contained the basic 613 mitzvos, of which 245 are positive commandments (the ‘Thou snails’), and 365 are negative commandments (the ‘Thou shall nots’). The Oral Law was transmitted verbally and given over for the rabbis of each successive generation to apply (hence the alternative name ‘Rabbinic Law’). Traditional Judaism regards the Written Law as being only the bare bones of God’s word; the Oral or Rabbinic Law adds the details of the mitzvos and adds many more Rabbinic mitzvos, both positive and negative. Orthodox Jewish teaching accepts the Oral/Rabbinic Law as having almost equivalent stature to the divinely given Written Law.

The Thirteen Principles of Faith

1. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, creates and guides all creatures, and that He alone made, makes, and will make everything.
2. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, is One, and there is no oneness like His in any way, and that He alone is our God, Who was, Who is, and Who always will be.
3. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, is not physical and is not affected by physical phenomena, and that there is nothing at all comparable to Him.
4. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, is the very first and the very last.
5. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name - to Him alone it is proper to pray, and it is not proper to pray to any other.
6. I believe with complete faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
7. I believe with complete faith that the prophecy of Moishe (Moses) our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the father of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
8. I believe with complete faith that the entire Torah now in our hands is that which was given to Moishe our teacher, peace be upon him.
9. I believe with complete faith that this Torah will not be exchanged nor will there be another Torah from the Creator, Blessed is His Name.
10. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, knows all the deeds of people and their thoughts, as it says, ‘He Who fashions their hearts all together, comprehends all their deeds’ (Psalms 33:14).
11. I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, rewards with good those who observe His commandments, and punishes those who violate His commandments.
12. I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may delay, nevertheless I await his coming every day.
13. I believe with complete faith that there will be a revival of the dead when the Creator so desires, Blessed is His Name and exalted is His mention, forever and for all eternity.

These Thirteen Principles of Faith are based on the Commentary to the Mishne (Sanhedrin, Chapter 10) by Maimonides (Rabbi Moishe ben Maimon (1135-1204), the great Rabbi and Physician).

Jews

According to Jewish law (the Halochoh) anyone born to a Jewish mother is de facto Jewish. One is Jewish only if his or her mother is Jewish, irrespective of the status of the father. Thus, someone born of a Jewish father to a non-Jewish mother is not a Jew. Having been born a Jew, Jewish law regards that status as continuing throughout life, and it is automatically passed on to a Jewess’s offspring and cannot ever be renounced. Having been born a Jew one is regarded in Jewish law as being a full...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introductory remarks
• The Jewish Life Cycle
• Part 1 Jews and Judaism
• Part 2 The Jewish patient
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index