Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Robert Stern

  • Jewish ritual immersion in the mikveh and the concept of communal immunity

    Robert Stern Piotr Kozlowski David Forstein New York City, New York, United States   Figure 1. Mikveh in Palestine from the Biblical era The mikveh may be seen as part of the sociobiological process assuring the gradual cross exposure of community members to the biomes of other members. It also provides controlled exposure to the biomes…

  • Public health measures derived from the Jewish tradition: III. The Bris: Jewish ritual circumcision and hemophilia

    Matthew MigliozziDavid ForsteinSarah RindnerRobert SternNew York City, New York, United States Historically, Jewish contributions to public health measures have not been given adequate attribution. The previous articles in this series have documented (1) the ancient Jewish recognition of the importance of isolating individuals with an infectious disease; (2) recognition of tuberculosis as an infectious disorder…

  • Public health measures derived from the Jewish tradition: II. Washing and cleaning

    Tova Chein,Mark Epelbaum,Robert SternNew York, New York, United States Introduction Historically, Jewish contributions to public health measures have not been given adequate attribution. The previous article in this series (Hektoen International, Winter 2016) documented the ancient Jewish recognition of the importance of: The ritual washing of hands There are many forms of washing identified in the…

  • Public health measures derived from the Jewish tradition

    Noam ZeffrenTova CheinRobert SternNew York, New York, United States Jewish ingenuity has contributed widely to theology, philosophy, science, and many other areas of human endeavor. To the practice of medicine, influences from Jewish luminaries include Moses Maimonides, Sigmund Freud, Paul Ehrlich, and Jonah Salk. Less recognized are contributions from the Old Testament (or Torah) and…