Illness and Health in the Jewish Tradition: Writings from the Bible to Today

Abrams, director of Maqom, a school for adult Talmud study, and Freeman, a physician and instructor of medicine at Harvard, have compiled a useful and stimulating sourcebook of Jewish writings on physical illness and healing. The editors gathered their selections based on the belief that these readings could provide comfort and hope to patients actually suffering from illnesses. The book is divided into seven sections; the writings in each section are arranged chronologically from ancient to modern, from the Bible and Talmud to Harold Kushner and Mordecai Kaplan. For example, in the section on ""Rules and Ethics,"" the great modern rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in an essay titled ""The Patient as a Person,"" advises physicians to see the patient not as a machine but as a human being who is the disclosure of the divine. Other sections address such questions as: ""How can one cope with illness?""; ""What kinds of lessons can be learned from suffering and illness?""; ""What Jewish prayers address the situation of physical illness?""; ""What are the characteristics of a Jewish physician?""; ""Of what help is a rabbi in a situation where someone is suffering?""; ""What are the responsibilities and rights of the patient, physician and community according to Jewish custom?""; and ""What constitutes good health?"" Writings range from poems and prayers to inspirational stories from survivors of illness. Overall, Freeman and Abrams's anthology provides a wonderful collection of Jewish writings on illness that can offer inspiration and comfort for those who are suffering. (July)