Book Of Assaf
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Sefer Refuot (, "The Book of Medicines"), also known as Sefer Asaph ( , , "The Book of Asaph" or "Asaf") , is the earliest-known medical book written in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. Attributed or dedicated to Asaph the Physician (also known as Asaph ben Berechiah; possibly a Byzantine Jew; or possibly identifiable with
Asif ibn Barkhiya Āṣif bin Barkhiyā () is thought to be the Islamic scriptural figure who brought the Queen of Sheba's throne to King Solomon "...in the twinkling of an eye". Credited with the role of court vizier,Richard F. Burton, ''Book of the Thousand Night ...
, a legendary mystical polymath vizier in Arabic folklore, associated with
King Solomon King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...
) and one Yoḥanan ben Zabda, who may have lived in
Byzantine Palestine Roman Palestine was a period in the history of Palestine characterised by Roman rule in the Palestine region. Historians typically trace the period from the Hasmonean civil war in 63 BCE up until the end of the Byzantine rule with the Muslim ...
or
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
between the 3rd and 6th Centuries CE (though this is very uncertain, and some have suggested that Asaph and Yoḥanan were both legendary sages in Jewish tradition, to whom the text was dedicated; not its literal authors). The date of the text is uncertain, with most manuscripts coming from the late medieval era; though the lack of Arabian medical knowledge in the book implies it may have originally been written much earlier.


Content

Sefer Refuot discusses
illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...
es, treatments and prevention. It shows great interest in general fitness and wellbeing through regimens of regular exercise, eating healthy food, and personal hygiene. The book shows concern for providing medicine for the poor and an interest in fostering medicine as a distinct profession. It gives a theory of blood vessels and circulation. The book also prescribes different remedies for each month of the year, based on the believed effects that astrology had upon the body's
humors Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 17th c ...
. The introduction to the book is in the form of the later Midrash, and ascribes the origin of medicine to
Shem Shem (; ''Šēm''; ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible ( Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4). The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christ ...
, who received it from
angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
. It was studied by Ludwig Venetianer who noted possible Persian links. The work notably includes the ''Oath of Asaph'', a
code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the social norm, norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is comm ...
for
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
s, strongly resembling the Hippocratic Oath. Item 6 (the 5th prohibition) also resembles an item from the Indian
Caraka Samhita The ''Charaka Samhita'' () is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the '' Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancient India. It is one of the three w ...
. It was taken by medical students at their graduation.


''Oath of Asaph'' text

# This is the pact which Asaph ben Berakhyahu and Yoḥanan ben Zabda made with their pupils, and they adjured them with the following words: # Do not attempt to kill any soul by means of a potion of herbs, # Do not make a woman ho ispregnant s a resultof whoring take a drink with a view to causing abortion, # Do not covet beauty of form in women with a view to fornicating with them, # Do not divulge the secret of a man who has trusted you, # Do not take any reward hich may be offered in order to induce you to destroy and to ruin, # Do not harden your heart nd turn it awayfrom pitying the poor and healing the needy, # Do not say of
hat is A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...
good; it is bad, nor of
hat is A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...
bad: it is good, # Do not adopt the ways of the sorcerers using s they docharms, augury and sorcery in order to separate a man from the wife of his bosom or a woman from the companion of her youth, # You shall not covet any wealth or reward hich may be offered in order to induce you to help in a lustful desire, # You shall not seek help in any idolatrous orshipso as to heal through recourse to idols and you shall not heal with anything ertainingto their worship, # But on the contrary detest and abhor and hate all those who worship them, put their trust in them, and give assurance eferringto them, # For they are all naught, useless, for they are nothing, demons, spirits of the dead; they cannot help their own corpses, how then could they help those who live? # Now
hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...
put your trust in the Lord, your God, ho isa true God, a living God, # For
t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...
He who kills and makes alive, who wounds and heals, # Who teaches men knowledge and also to profit, # Who wounds with justice and righteousness, and who heals with pity and compassion, # No designs of issagacity are beyond His
ower Ower is a hamlet in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest towns are Totton – approximately to the southeast, and Romsey – around to the north-east. Ower lies on the A36 road northwest of Totton. It lies most ...
# And nothing is hidden from His eyes. # Who causes curative plants to grow, # Who puts sagacity into the hearts of the wise in order that they should heal through the abundance of His loving-kindness, and that they should recount wonders in the congregation of many; so that every living eingknows that He made him and that there is no saviour
ther Ther may refer to: * ''Thér.'', taxonomic author abbreviation of Irénée Thériot (1859–1947), French bryologist * Agroha Mound, archaeological site in Agroha, Hisar district, India * Therapy A therapy or medical treatment is the attempte ...
than He. # For the nations trust in their idols, who re supposedto save them from their distress and will not deliver them from their misfortunes # For their trust and hope is in the dead. # For this
eason Eason is a surname of English and Scottish origin. In the case of English, it may be a variant of Eastham (disambiguation), Eastham or Easton (surname), Easton; in the case of Scottish, it is a variant of Esson (disambiguation), Esson. A variant of ...
it is fitting to keep yourselves separate from them; to remove yourselves and keep far away from all the abominations of their idols, # And to cleave to the name of the Lord God of spirits for all flesh, # And the soul of every living being is in His hand to kill and to make live, # And there is none that can deliver out of His hand. # Remember Him always and seek Him in truth, in righteousness in an upright way, in order that you should prosper in all your works # And He will give you help to make you prosper in hat you are doing and you shall be aid to behappy in the mouth of all flesh. # And the nations will abandon their idols and images and will desire to worship God like you, # For they will know that their trust is in vain and their endeavor fruitless, # For they implore a god, who will not do good o them who will not save
hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...
# As for you, be strong, do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded, # The Lord is with you, while you are with Him, # If you keep His pact, follow His commandments, cleaving to them, # You will be regarded as His saints in the eyes of all flesh, and they will say: # Happy the people whose otis such, happy the people whose God is the Lord. # Their pupils answered saying: # We will do all that you exhorted and ordered us o do # For it is a commandment of the Torah, # And we must do it with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our might, To do and to obey # Not to swerve or turn aside to the right hand or the left # And they saph and Yohananblessed them in the name of God most high, maker of heaven and earth. # And they continued to charge them, and said: # The Lord God, His saints and His Torah
ear In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...
witness, that you should fear Him, that you should not turn aside from His commandments, and that you should follow His laws with an upright heart, # You shall not incline after lucre o asto help a godless an in sheddinginnocent blood. # You shall not mix a deadly drug for any man or woman so that he r sheshould kill their fellow-man. # You shall not speak of the herbs ut of which such drugs are made You shall not hand them over to any man, # And you shall not talk about any matter onnectedwith this, # You shall not use blood in any work of medicine, # You shall not attempt to provoke an ailment in a human soul through
he use of He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
iron instruments or searing with fire before making an examination two or three times; then nlyshould you give your advice. # You shall not be ruled - your eyes and your heart being lifted up - by a haughty spirit. # Do not keep n your heartsthe vindictiveness of hatred with regard to a sick man, # You shall not change your words in anything, # The Lord our God hates his?being done, # But keep His orders and commandments, and follow all His ways, in order to please Him, ndto be pure, true and upright. # Thus did Asaph and Yohanan exhort and adjure their pupils.


Legacy

The Israeli hospital Assaf HaRofeh is named after the author. Excerpts from the book appear in a modern Hebrew edition by Suessman Muntner.Introduction to ''The Book of Assaph the Physician'', 1957.


Additional reading

*


See also

*
Seventeen Rules of Enjuin The are a code of conduct developed for students of the Japanese '' Ri-shu'' school of medicine in the 16th century CE. They contain the same number of precepts as the Seventeen-article constitution of Prince Shōtoku. The rules are similar to t ...


References

{{Authority control Medical ethics Oaths of medicine Codes of conduct Hebrew medicine History of medieval medicine Ancient Hebrew texts