29 Feb Doctors and Medicine

The Gemara in Bava Kama, daf peh heh, amud alef says that from the posuk, “Verapo Yerape” we see that a doctor has permission to heal another person and one can’t say, “I will rely on Hashem to heal me.” The Mishna in Kidushin, daf peh beis, amud alef says that the best doctors go to Gehinom. The question is, why should doctors go to gehinom if they have permission to heal?

The Gemara dedicates many pages in different places to discussing different medicines and healing practices. Can we use any of these medicines today?

There are a number of answers regarding the first question about doctors. One explanation is that the Gemara says the best doctors go to gehinom because if the doctor is so arrogant and thinks that he is the sole reason his patients will survive, then he deserves gehinom. One must believe what we say in Shemoneh Esrei that Hashem is the Rofeh Ne’eman. Another answer could be that the word best is used in lashon hakodesh as tov, which is the numerical value of seventeen. A doctor who only believes in seventeen brachos in Shemoneh Esrei and does not believe in the bracha of Refaeinu deserves gehinom.

Regarding the second question, Tosfos in Moed Koton, daf yud alef, amud alef says that the medicines listed in the Gemara are not effective in our day and age as nature has changed.

Reb Akiva Eiger says that one cannot use any medical advice from the gemara with the exception that when one is choking on a bone, there is a special lachash to say that will help.

The bottom line is that the Yam Shel Shlomo says that there is a cherem HaKadmonim not to use these refuos from the Gemara so as not to bring out negative speech against the Gemara if something doesn’t work out.