Page 264 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

Milestones in the History of
Medicine in Jerusalem
through the Ages

Zohar Amar

Jerusalem has always been famous for its doctors and unique therapies. Alongside its public
hospitals, private doctors and folk healers have also practiced their traditional, conventional,
and miraculous healing arts in the city. The inhabitants were offered a varied selection of
remedies, which became increasingly richer over the ages, from biblical times through the
Mishnaic, Talmudic, and medieval periods, and up to the beginning of the modern era.

While several textual and archaeological remains testify to medicinal practices in Jerusalem
in the First Temple period, the main source of information is the Bible. The Bible describes
conventional healing by doctors, and also miraculous cures. It tells us somewhat critically
of King Asa, who relied on his doctors instead of placing his faith in the Lord; medicine
was therefore a recognized profession at the time, as was pharmacy, an example of this
being the descriptions of incense preparation for the Temple, which had to be made with “a
perfume after the art of the perfumer” (Exodus 30:35). However, plants used for medicine
are hardly ever mentioned in the Bible, apparently to show that the field of healing is not
subject to the influence of mortals.

Medical practices in Jerusalem during the Roman period are known mainly from the
Mishnah, the Tosefta, and Midrashic sources. These tell us, for example, about those suffering
from leprosy (“boils”), whom Jerusalem doctors had to treat on the eve of Passover lest
the infected organs “fall off” and defile the Passover sacrifice. At the time, there were two
popular healing spas in Jerusalem: Bethesda Pool and Siloam Pool. The Temple naturally also
provided a focal point for the prayers of the sick, attracting many people, and the standard
of hygiene within its confines was high. During the same period, aqueducts brought water
to Jerusalem and bathhouses were built, greatly contributing to health and sanitation
standards in the city.

Throughout the Middle Ages, when one regime after the other ruled Jerusalem, it contained
doctors of all faiths – Christians, Jews, and Muslims. In the First Muslim period (634–1099

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