David Encaoua · May 2020 · Sifriaténou
The text we present here is a personal translation of an English version; it is found in the study by Fred Rosner, The Physician's Prayer attributed to Moses Maimonides, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. 41, No. 5 (September-October 1967), pp. 440-454.
In Thine eternal Providence Thou hast chosen me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession. Support me, Almighty God, in these great labors that they may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed.
Inspire me with love for my art and for Thy creatures. Do not allow the thirst for profit, the ambition for renown and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind and they may lead astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of Thy creatures.
Preserve the strength of my body and of my soul that they may ever be ready to help and sustain the rich and the poor, the good and the wicked, the enemy and the friend. In the sufferer let me see only the human being who suffers.
Illumine my mind, that it may recognize what presents itself and that it may comprehend what is absent or hidden. Let it not fail to see what is visible, but do not permit it to arrogate to itself the power to see what cannot be seen, for delicate and indefinite are the bounds of the great art of caring for the life and health of Thy creatures.
Grant that I may be moderate in all things, but insatiable in my love of science. Remove from me the notion that I can do all things. Give me the strength, the will, and the opportunity to broaden my knowledge more and more.
A re-arranger of the Law, Maimonides remains an essential link in the chain of Jewish tradition; he was also a preeminent thinker. But merits as considerable as these risk overshadowing his medical writings, which are by no means a minor part of his work. Maimonides the learned Talmudist, Maimonides the major philosopher of the Middle Ages… and furthermore, Maimonides the man of science!
How can one reconcile, or even unify, these three domains that modernity has taught us to separate radically? For what appears to us as multiple directions might in fact converge and partake of a single design, coherent in its diversity. Healing through knowledge, or more precisely what is referred to as healing through the spirit, is the centerpiece of the medical approach adopted by Maimonides, but it is just as much so already in the Guide for the Perplexed and no less so in the Mishneh Torah.
If one compares it to the original version of the Hippocratic Oath, an important difference is apparent. In the Hippocratic Oath, the physician swears before the tutelary deities of medicine. In the Prayer, it is by no means a matter of an oath taken by the physician before the Creator God, but of the physician's acknowledgment that he draws his ability to heal from God himself, as the Creator of the creatures whom the physician undertakes to heal.
It is a religious obligation (mitsvah), the one imposed on the physician to heal the sick. Maimonides derives it from the verse of Deuteronomy 22:2. The physician acts as a prophet to whom God has given instructions to instruct the people.
The practice of medicine according to the Prayer requires of the physician a form of gentleness, harmony, or moderation, prompting him to avoid abusive and heavy practices. Heavy or harsh medications, recourse to frequent phlebotomies (bleedings), or sudden surgical interventions are to be avoided. Gentle forms of intervention are preferred: an appropriate dietary regimen, plant-based medications, recourse to continual physical exercise, and above all the pursuit of a psychic harmony, so that the body is not disturbed by the disorder of the mind. To prevent rather than to cure seems to be the watchword.
The Prayer points to a personalized conception of the relationship with each patient. The physician cannot gain an understanding of any bodily disorder of his patient if he has not taken the trouble to first become better acquainted with the salient features of the patient's personality, his way of life, his inclinations, and his mental state in general. The care given to the ailing body must never dispense with an inquiry into a possible psychic origin of the illness.
It is through this psychosomatic component that the Maimonidean notion of healing through the spirit must be understood.
To restrict medical diagnosis to purely bodily disorder is an obstacle to healing. It can be overcome only if one appeals to the spirit, that of the inspired physician as well as that of the despairing patient. In this sense, Maimonides' medical motto would not be “a sound mind in a sound body,” but rather “a sound body by means of a sound mind.” Not mens sana in corpore sano but rather corpus sanum pro mente sana!