Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM) -- Faculty publications
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Item Metadata only A guide for today’s perplexed? The changing face of Maimonidean scholarship(Academic Studies Press, 2023) Shatz, David.; Eleff, Zev; Seidler-Feller, ShaulEmet le-Ya‘akov comprises a collection of essays celebrating the career and achievements of Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, who has served the American and international Jewish community with distinction in his roles as a synagogue rabbi, university professor, and public intellectual. These articles, like the honoree, recognize the importance of both history and memory, emphasize the necessity of accuracy in historiography, and do not shy away from inconvenient truths. They are divided into three categories that help frame the discussion around “facing the truths of history”: Textual Traditions, Memory and Making of Meaning, and (Re)Creating a Usable Past. The volume also includes a brief sketch of Schacter’s life and work and a bibliography of his publications.Item Open Access RESPONSE: On the longevity of the ancient (and pre-modern) interpretations of medical passages. Letter to the Editor. Response to Eric Lawee. "Eleazar Ashkenazi on the longevity of the ancients."(Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), 2022-03-15) Reichman, EdwardProfessor Eric Lawee’s fascinating article, spiced with historical intrigue, has revealed the secrets of the hidden manuscript Tzofenat Pane’ah of Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan HaBavli that lay undiscovered all these centuries (“Eleazar Ashkenazi on the Longevity of the Ancients,” TRADITION 54:1). Inherent in his discussion lies yet another more profound revelation. Scientific research today is also revealing secrets that lay dormant, in our genetic code, unappreciated for centuries. What has compelled rationalists throughout the centuries, like Ashkenazi, to reinterpret the life spans chronicled for the antediluvian patriarchs in the Torah is the belief, based on the science and observed reality of their time, that extreme longevity was a biological impossibility. What if this is simply not factually true?Item Open Access The bone called luz(Oxford UP, 1996) Reichman, Edward; Rosner, FredThe Hebrew or Aramaic word luz has several meanings. It refers to a city in ancient Israel and another city in the land of the Hittites. It also means nut, almond, hazel, hazel nut, or nut tree. Luz also means to turn, twist, or bend. It also connotes libel or disrespectful talk.1 Finally, luz refers to a bone, said to be at the bottom of the spinal column, which is the subject of this essay. (from Introduction)Item Open Access A tale of two stones: the impact of medical history on contemporary medical Halakhah(Universiṭat Bar-Ilan, 1997) Reichman, EdwardThe advances in modern medicine have spawned a myriad of ethical and halakhic dilemmas. Modern day poskim (rabbinic authorities) address these issues by relying heavily on the works of their predecessors, works that often refer to contemporaneous medical theories and practice. While the principles of Halakhah have remained unchanged since the giving of the Torah, the principles of medical theory and practice have changed radically over the centuries. Therefore, when approaching any pre-20th-century medical halakhic text, it is imperative to realize that the medical theories and practices discussed therein can only be understood in their proper historical context This essay analyzes two rabbinic sources from the 18th century which discuss a particular disease and its treatment. The contemporaneous history of this disease is presented for the purpose of clarifying the ambiguities of the text and preventing possible anachronistic interpretations and halakhic misapplications.Item Open Access The impact of medical history on medical halakha(Yashar Books, 2005) Reichman, Edward; Rosner, FredNever before has a generation been privy to such rapid and extraordinary scientific advances. However, such change invariably spawns a multitude of ethical dilemmas. For the religious Jew, in particular, history has borne out that scientific advance begets halachic challenge. The response to halachic challenge has traditionally been reflected in the teshuvah or responsa literature, this literature being a product or collection of responses to individual questions. Today, the changes in science are so sweeping that many of the issues, such as genetic testing, are no longer person specific, but rather affect all members of the Jewish community equally. The conference format is therefore, in essence, a communal responsum.Item Open Access Royal treatment: Jews, medicine and the British kingdom Mishpacha(2023-09) Reichman, EdwardWhile Jews were banned from England for centuries after 1290, some of the most consequential Jewish interactions with the Crown occurred in those years — and came about through physicians. From royal sickness to high diplomacy and questions of organ donations, the intersection of monarchs and Jewish medicos has generated some fascinating chapters.Item Open Access The physician-haver in early modern Italy: A reunion of long forgotten “friends”.(sefarimblog.com, 2023-12) Reichman, EdwardThe Italian Early Modern Period is fertile ground for Jewish medical historical study. Its appeal lies partially in the rich lives and interests of the Jewish physicians beyond the practice of medicine alone. For example, historians have written about physician-poets[3]and physician-philosophers,[4] as well as physician-rabbis. Here I introduce a new category of hyphenated physicians that has escaped notice.Item Open Access Halachic aspects of vaccination(Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU), 2008)Perhaps it is because we live in twenty-first century America, a country largely immune from true epidemics, that we take vaccination for granted and some parents even consider not vaccinating their children. A Jew living in the eighteenth century would have longed for respite from the relentless onslaught of diseases, and could only have dreamed of having a way to prevent them. The thought of refusing vaccinations would never have entered his mind. Unfortunately, nowadays, as a result of misleading information, some parents are confused about the issue and do not realize the importance of vaccinations. A cursory review of the origins of vaccination in medical and rabbinical literature may provide some perspective on the issue.Item Open Access From Maimonides the physician to the physician at Maimonides Medical Center: A brief glimpse into the history of the Jewish medical student throughout the ages(The Michael Scharf Publishing Trust of the Yeshiva University Press, 2011) Reichman, Edward; Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204is is the third issue of a medical halakhah journal edited and written primarily by a group of Jewish medical students at a medical school in the Diaspora under Jewish auspices, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. To my knowledge, this is the rst such endeavor of its kind in all of Jewish history. Of course, there have been Jewish medical students in previous generations; of course Jewish medical students have contributed articles to the literature of Jewish medical ethics; but never before has there been a student publication of Jewish medical ethics at a Jewish medical school in the Diaspora published under the press of a Jewish university. My purpose in writing this brief essay is to give historical context to this publication, and to give the reader an appreciation of the challenges that faced our predecessors in their attainment of higher education, in particular, medical training. In addition, our discussion will reveal that the unfettered religious expression in this generation would have simply been unthinkable in previous centuries. Ultimately, it is the establishment of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine by Yeshiva University that has created the milieu that has made this publication possible. (from Introduction)Item Open Access Are two heads really better than one?: Halakhic issues relating to conjoined twins and a two-headed person.(The Michael Scharf Publishing Trust of the Yeshiva University Press, 2012) Reichman, EdwardConjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined or do not fully separate in utero. They can be joined along virtually any part of the body and are categorized by the specific point of connection, such as the chest, abdomen, back, or head, and have been known to exist since antiquity.1 In the modern era, it has become possible to successfully separate conjoined twins, depending on the nature of the shared vital organs. Such procedures, which invariably attract media attention, are among the most complex in the surgical arsenal and require a concert of interdisciplinary services. These cases often create correspondingly complex ethical dilemmas.2 (from Introduction)Item Metadata only A letter from an 18th century torah sage to the faculty of a medical school: The selective deference of r. Yonatan eybeschuetz to medical expertise.(The Michael Scharf Publishing Trust of the Yeshiva University Press, 2015) Reichman, EdwardItem Open Access A matter of life 'in' death: Postmortem cesarean section in Jewish law(Maimonides Research Institute, Yad Harav David Assaf, 2015) Reichman, Edward; Collins, Kenneth; Reichman, Edward; Steinberg, AvrahamIn this essay we briefly address living cesarean section, in particular, the rabbinic sources that reflect its possible performance in antiquity. We then explore the history and halakhah of postmortem cesarean section. Our research reveals four distinct stages in the rabbinic response to postmortem cesarean section throughout history.Item Open Access The Valmadonna Trust broadsides: A virtual reunion for the Jewish medical students of the University of Padua.(The Michael Scharf Publishing Trust of the Yeshiva University Press, 2017) Reichman, EdwardThe Valmadonna Trust Library, the private collection of Jack Lunzer, is one of the most important collections of Hebraica ever amassed by one individual. Comprised of some 13,000 Hebrew printed books and manuscripts, the collection encompasses works from across the globe and spanning over a millennium and includes many first printed editions of classic Rabbinic works. By most accounts, it rivals the great institutional collections in the world. (from Introduction)Item Open Access A tour of the Osler Library of the history of medicine through jewish eyessler library of the history of medicine through Jewish eyes.(Hakirah, 2018) Reichman, Edward; Dysert, AnnaIn July of 2017, the organization Torah in Motion held a conference in Montreal, Canada, addressing the latest advances in medicine from the perspective of Jewish law and ethics.1 As a supplement to the conference, and to provide some historical perspective, the authors organized a special tour of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill University, highlighting its relationship to Jews and their practice of medicine throughout the centuries.2 The library, opened in 1929, houses the collection of rare medical and scientific works donated by Sir William Osler, the renowned physician, professor and medical educator. It is one of the finest collections of its kind. The tour was attended by some eighty physicians and health care workers from across the United States and Canada. In this article, we recreate this tour, which explores the relationship of Sir William Osler and his magnificent collection to Jewish medical history. We hope that this exercise will give the reader an appreciation of a dimension of the Osler Library that has not previously been explored. (from Introduction)Item Open Access Is there life after life? Superfetation in medical, historical and rabbinic literature(The Michael Scharf Publishing Trust of the Yeshiva University press : distributed by KTAV Pub. House, 2009) Reichman, Edward__Case Report__ __On January 18, 2008 a unique medical case was reported in the British newspaper, the Daily Mail. Two babies were carried in the same womb, born only one minute apart, yet Thomas and Harriet Mullineux are not twins. They were conceived three weeks apart thanks to an extraordinary twist of nature. Their mother Charlotte had been pregnant with twins when at seven weeks she miscarried one of them. But two weeks later, she discovered, after undergoing a follow-up ultrasound, that she was carrying another fetus - conceived separately and still growing in her womb. The surviving twin and the new baby were born in May of 2007. __This case, which may represent an extraordinarily rare, and not well documented, phenomenon, is the substance of this brief essay. We shall address the medical, historical and halakhic aspects of this caseItem Open Access The incorporation of pre-modern scientific theories into biblical literature: the case of innate heat(2003) Reichman, Edward. This comment of Ibn Ezra was cited by Zevi Ashkenazi (?1660-1718), known as Hakham Zevi, in his famous responsum on the halakhic status of a chicken that was found to be lacking a heart, 9 and is an example of the appli-cation of homiletic exegesis to the realm of halakhahItem Open Access The rabbinic conception of conception: An exercise in fertility.(1996) Reichman, EdwardThe extraordinary advances of this century have been applied with full force to the field of science, and in particular to genetics and reproductive medicine. Man now has more control over his own reproduction than ever before in history, s~ch that the old notion of the doctor playing God has taken on new meaning. In the ultimate form of imitatio dei, it now appears that just as God creates, so does man. We currently have the capability to isolate a single sperm, unite it in-vitro with an egg, and test the resultant embryo for genetic abnormalities before subsequent implantation into a human being for the completion of gestation. __Although all acknowledge the value of this technology, it is not without cost. Whereas the Talmud mentions only three partners in creation (see below), the husband, the wife, and God, current reproductive practices have expanded the list of potential partners to include the sperm donor, egg donor, surrogate mothers, and soon, with the application of genetic splicing to human gametes, the partial gene donor. If our limited experience is any measure, then introducing more partners clearly introduces more complications, be they emotional, financial, legal or ethical. (from Introduction)Item Metadata only Precedented times: The Jewish response to pandemics through the ages(Jewish Learning Institute, 2021-08-13) Reichman, EdwardJoin us from the National Jewish Retreat for a session with Rabbi Dr. Eddie Reichman Throughout the centuries and around the world, Jewish communities have experienced many pandemics, including Black Death, Bubonic Plague, Polio, Smallpox, and measles. In this session, we explore how rabbis, physicians, and communal leaders confronted plagues of the past, and find striking parallels to the issues we face today.Item Open Access The halakhic definition of death in light of medical history.(Max Stern Division Communal Services, 1993) Reichman, EdwardI have provided a medical historical overview and analysis of some of the rabbinic sources quoted in contemporary discussions of brain death, a current issue in the world of medical halakhah. Understanding the scientific theories contemporary with the rabbinic positions expressed enables us to appreciate their medical frame of reference, their allusions to medical theory and their quotations of prominent figures in the history of science. In addition, otherwise cryptic rabbinic passages can be clarified. In a rapidly progressing field, such as twentieth century medical halakhah, the understanding of the latest medical theories and treatments is crucial to be an effective posek. By the same token, rabbis of all generations had to be knowledgeable about the state of medicine in their age in order to render an appropriate pesak. An awareness of the state of medicine co-existing with particular rabbinic figures can enhance our understanding of the medical and halakhic issues with which these rabbis were dealing. This knowledge can perhaps assist current posekim in the utilization of rabbinic source material for incorporation into medical halakhic discussions. (from Conclusion)Item Open Access The halakhic chapter of ovarian transplantation(Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), 1998) Reichman, EdwardThe field of contemporary medical halacha has clearly earned its place as a bona fide specialty. With the plethora of articles appearing in halakhic periodicals, and the ever-increasing list of independent treatises on medical halakhic topics, the field can no longer be said to be in its infancy. Yet, there is an important dimension of medical halakhic research that remains largely unexplored-the interface between medical history and medical halakha. Halakha, by definition, is a precedent-based system. In solving modern medical halakhic dilemmas, rabbinic authorities invariably draw on halakhic material, often medical in nature, from previous generations, in which the medical and scientific knowledge may have differed radically from ours. While the principles of halakha have remained unchanged throughout history, scientific understanding has evolved. It is therefore incumbent upon us to appreciate these earlier sources in their proper medical historical context in order to optimally apply them to modern dilemmas. (from Introduction)