THE HEALTH TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES DERIVED FROM THE HEBREW BIBLE

387 Pages·16.939 MB·English

by  BERLIN, LEWIS LEON

Sponsoring Committees Professor Abraham I. Katsh (Chairman),
Professor Jay B. Nash, Professor Robert Perry, and
Professor Robert K. Speer
THE HEALTH TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES DERIVED FROM
THE HEBREW BIBLE
LEWIS L. BERLIN
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the School of Education of
New York University
t Thsaig accepteQ
ABSTRACT OF THESIS / '
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education of
New York University, 1955
THE HEALTH TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES DERIVED FROM TEE HEBREW BIBLE
By Lewis L. Berlin
Background of the Study
This study presents and analyzes the physiological health teachings
and practices that are found in and derived from the Hebrew Bible. The
findings are viewed (a) as progressive developments in "the religious life
of an ancient people, Borne of whose health experiences are recorded in the
Bible, (b) in comparison with related teachings of contemporaneous Near
Eastern peoples, derived from their own and from archaeological sources,
and (c), in the light of present-day standards for building positive health,
and for avoiding ill health through non-medical preventive measures. This
study also offers basic educational principles for instituting a coordinated
community-wide program in health education for both children and adults.
Sources, Materials and Method
The basic health data for this study are found in the Hebrew Eible and
in the authoritative expository texts and traditional commentaries. Trans­
lations of Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Canaanite sources provide the
comparative data. These are interpreted in terms of prior antecedence, mo­
tives, and health influences from and upon each other— all in the light of
meaningful geographical, cultural and human interrelationships. Since this
is an historical (rather than a controlled-experiBantal) investigation, each
of the five aspects of physiological health are compared, point by point, on
the basis of the historical BOurCes.
Findings and Their Analysis
Froper Food: The bifclittal Jews enjoyed a much more varied, balanced and
wholesome diet than their contiguous neighbors. They ate such items as veg­
etables, fruits, cereals and grains, fats and oils, milk ana dairy products,
fish and meat— in fact all foods which authorities consider indispensable
for good physical health. For various historic and religious reasons, they
rejected meat and milk in combination, fishes that lack scales and fins, fowl
that have hooked beaks and gripping talons, snimals that lack split hoofs and
(at the same time) do not chew their cud, animals found dead or wounded, in­
sects, crustaceans, rodents, blood, and animals and fowl not slaughtered in
a manner that, in post-biblical times, was labeled the Shehitah process. On
the other hand, Jews were cautioned to avoid gluttony and intoxicating drink
taken to excess.
Physical Activity: There were outdoor games for children, military-
combative skills for the youths, and occupational tasks for the adults, /tfork
was considered both desirable and healthful. Recreation, primarily in the
form of music and dancing, was frequently indulged in, especially at festivals
Somatic Rest: The Sabbath (once a week) and additional Holy Days and
holidays are set aside during the year for complete physical rest and absti­
nence from work. This healthful regulation was unique for the biblical Jews.
Personal Hygiene; The Jews integrated personal hygienic habits with
purity of thought and with religious observance— in a concept termed holiness
Through frequent compulsory washings of the hands’* feet and body, through re­
peated cleansings of the clothes, and through healthy practices in feminine
hygiene, they became an habitually clean people. No other contemporary nation
was similarly morally required to abide by such hygienic standards.
Avoidance of Illness; The biblical Jewish community was safeguarded by
regulations about the disposal of waBte, sources of drinking water, circum­
cision, and the prompt burial of the dead. There were also salubrious regu­
lations in reference to lacerating and tattooing the skin, prostitution, in­
cest and sodomy. It may also be conjectured that the Bible recognized the
cotnmunicability of certain diseases, and to prevent their spread set up con­
trols of inspection, observation, isolation (of the victim), quarantine (of
his home), and other precautionary measures.
Since it was every Jew's moral and religious duty to maintain good
physical health, the priests were charged with the teaching, enforcing, and
interpreting of the health laws. This duty included the supervision of per­
sonal and community health affairs. Unlike their counterparts in other lands,
the Jewish priests did not employ magic, necromancy, sorcery, demonology,
shamanism, witchcraft, or obnoxious pharmacopeia. Instead, they generally
used pragmatically sound procedures that are in harmony with modern preventive
care from a layman's standpoint. The biblical priests jjsrfonned an added ser­
vice to humanity by fostering the growth of health thinking from the earlier
superstitious practices, through their own rr.;-logi ;• ol but valid enpi r ic.-xl ex­
periences, to our modern scientific inductive experimentation.
Recommendations:
In addition to determining and documenting the aforementioned health
practices, the investigator also suggests a number of educational principles
and procedures whereby scientifically accepted biblical health practices may
be brought to the attention of (a) children in public and parochial schools,
(b) adults in the homes, and (c) civic agencies in the community. This three­
fold application of sound health teachings might well stimulate a, greater
striving for physical health through the emphasis upon each individual's re­
ligious and moral obligation to achieve and then maintain good health.
August 1, 1952
I , Lewis Berlin, hereby guarantee that no part of the dissertation
which I have submitted for publication has been heretofore published
and/or copyrighted in the United States of America, except in the case
of passages ^>ted from other published sources; that I am the sole
author and proprietor of said dissertation; that this dissertation
contains no matter which, if published, will be libelous or other­
wise injurious, or infringe in any way the copyright of any other
party; and that I will defend, indemnigy and hold harmless hew York
University against all suits and proceedings which may be brought, and
against all claims which may be made against New York University by
reason of the publication of said dissertation.
Lewis L. Berlin
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This investigator is indebted to several individuals
whose personal interest and professional assistance have
made this study possible*
Gratitude is expressed to Professor Abraham I. K&tsh
for his continuous guidance as chairman of the sponsoring
committee* Thanks are offered to Professors Jay B. Nash,
Robert K. Speer, Robert R. Perry, David Rudavsky and Theodor
H. Gaster for their valuable suggestions in various aspects
of the investigation; to Professor Harry M. Orlinsky for his
indispensable critical comments and ever-sympathetic under­
standing; to Mr. Abraham Glicksberg for his assiduous check­
ing of the sources and references; and to my brother Sol for
his careful reading of the manuscript from the standpoint of
diction and punctuation.
Everlasting appreciation is due my wife without whose
constant encouragement and inexhaustible patience, as well
as invaluable service in proofreading the successive drafts,
this study would never have been successfully completed.
L. L. B.
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The Nature of the Investigation 1
Purposes • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • « 1
Significance • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1
Definitions, Delimitations and Clarifica­
tions ........... 5
Sub-Problems • • • » • • » • • • • • « • 13
II Sources, Materials and Method 21
Jewish. » • • • • • • • • • • • • * • • • 21
Egyptian .................... . • 38
Mesopotamian • • • • • • • • • * • • • » 50
Miscellaneous Archaeological Sources • • 57
Research Method • • • • • • • • • • • • 60
III Physiological Health Findings 63
Proper Food • • • • • • • • • • • • « • 63
Out-of-Boor Physical Activities • • • • 79
Adequate Rest • • • • • • • • • • « • • 90
Personal Hygiene • • • • • • • • • • • • 99
Avoidance of Illness • • • • • • • • •• 115
IV Analysis and Interpretation of the Findings 137
Proper Food •• • • • • • • • • • • • • 138
Out-of<irDoor Physical Activities ♦ • • • 206
Adequate Rest • • • • • • • • • « • • • 218
Personal Hygiene • • • • • • • • • • • • 235
Avoidance of Illness • • • • • • • • • • 257
V The Role of the Priests * • • • • • • » 329
VI Relevance of the Investigation to a Modern
Health Education Program • • • • * • • • • 352
VII Selected Bibliography ............... 369
CHAPTER £
THE NATURE OP THE INVESTIGATION
Purposes
This investigation endeavors (a) to present and ana­
lyze the health concepts, teachings and practices that are
derived from the Hebrew Bible; (b) to consider these, where­
ver possible, in the added light of ancient Near Eastern
sources which are wholly or partially contemporaneous with
the Bible; and (c) to indicate the general relevance and ap­
plicability of the biblical health practices in a community
wide program of health education*
Significance
Prom earliest times, the attainment of health has
been one of man’s most persistent objectives in life* Prim­
itive peoples sought health by resorting to totems, talis-
1
mans and fetishes* These pseudo-religious health practices
were absorbed by later (though still ancient) peoples, whose
strivings for health were expressed in such forms as magic
and ceremAnial formulae, incantations and imprecations, rit­
ualistic taboos and animistic practices, and various forms of
1. Totems are carved figures (usually of birds and animals)
which, served as identifications of tribal units. Talis­
mans are charms or amulets (usually made of stone and ""
metal) which their wearers believed provided protection
against sickness or witchcraft* Fetishes are material
objects, presumed to be inhabited by a favorable spirit
whose virtues and qualities were venerated*
2
1
extravagant pharmacopea. Thus, the quest of our ancestors
for health, and its essential accompaniments— longevity,
physica.1 endurance, physiological power and freedom from
disease— was indivlsibly linked with superstitious practices
and supernatural powers.
In ancient times, it was widely believed that insidious
demons resided in each individual, and that these either pro­
duced. a soecific disease or were the personification of that
2
disease. . Before sound health could be restored, it was
thought, the demons had to be effectively. exorcised from the
3
body of their victim through a rigidly prescribed ritual.
Furthermore, even as late as the medieval days, health was
still considered a condition of both the "body" and the "sou]., "
and it was quite common, therefore, for ascetic religious ex­
tremists to neglect and. even punish the former in t he hope of
exalt in^ the latter. In modern times, however, people in poor
health place their trust in scientifically trained physicians
who diagnose, prescribe and treat in accordance with experi­
mentally tested cause and effect relationships.
Nevertheless, despite the relatively advanced scientific
health knowledge of our present civilization, on health and
medicine, the stark fact remains that "on an average day of
any year, over 4,000,000 persons in the United States alone
1. S. Stubbs and E. Bligh, Sixty Centuries of Health and
Fhysick, pp. 7-14.
2. Stubbs and Bligh, ojo. clt., p. 16.
3. Victor Robinson, The Story of Medicine, pp. 193-237.
3
are disabled by illness." On this point, the then (1950)
president of the American Medical Association was moved to
declare, "Never have so many people had such good medical
care as Americans enjoy today. But we doctors are the first
to admit that the health of our people could be far better
2
than it is." Undoubtedly, many more millions of Americans
perform their daily tasks with an impaired efficiency induced
by ailments which they deem not serious enough to warrant
medical attention.
The fact therefore remains that an alarming proportion
of our people continues to be ill today, despite the existence
of highly trained physicians and surgeons, of skilled techni­
cians in scientific laboratories, of drugs and medicines whose
effects on the body are short of miraculous, and of exacting
standards of hygiene and sanitation. This anomalous situation
has generally been attributed to the preoccupation of medical
science with the diagnosis and treatment of pathological dis­
eases, rather than with the prevention of illness or the build-
3
ing of positive and buoyant health. Confirming this point of
view, the National Health Council, in presenting a plan for
community health service, declared, "A disproportionately,
1. Jay B. Nash, Teachable Moments: A New Approach to Health,
p. 4.
2. Elmer L. Henderson, "Here's Health the Volunteer Way,"
Reader1s Digest (May 1950), p. 43.
3. Nash, op. clt., p. 5.