Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan

l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai

  Chapter One

The Jewish approach to medicine is prophylactic and holistic. Since these terms are vague, and have been worn with use, we will need to define what is particularly Jewish about them. We will need therefore to understand the basic premises of the other points of view, i.e. what constitutes a non-Jewish approach.

The question at first seems a hopeless jumble. The character and method of medical cultures is vast and varied, spanning time and geography. We must include the witch doctor in striped skins with the white-coated laboratory technician. Yet certain basic dividing lines may be used to separate this jumble into a coherent cultural study. Let us point to some basic categories:

Western Science / The Materialistic Method The Religious Approach Black Magic Reason versus Fate / Fatalism White Magic



Western Science / The Materialistic Method

Let us begin with western science, the system most familiar to us. This system believes the law of the material body to be a law unto itself. Many major concerns of other medical cultures are of no interest to the modern medical scientist. Rather, there is one essential system that preoccupies him; the materialistic cycle of interaction within the human body. It is a closed cycle of cause and effect, quite autonomous. No other factor may enter into it. Even the psychosomatic factor, the effect of psychological input upon the body’s functioning, has only recently been accepted by medical science, and then very reluctantly, given minor significance. The overriding law of twentieth century Medicine is physical autonomy, independent of every non-physical element.

The Religious Approach

Let us look now at the classic religious, God-oriented approach. The typically religious attitude is appalled by this bare, soulless approach to human healing. The physical phenomena are only the tip of the iceberg, religion will protest. The spiritual element, the Divine, is that factor which plays the primary role in health. All events have purpose and meaning. There is the Divine plan. Who, if not God, makes one sick or well? And all of the physical laws are tools that He controls. If you are evil, He will use His tools of Nature against you; sickness will befall you. If you are good, He will use Nature on your behalf. You will be rewarded with good health. It is absurd and presumptuous when little Man imagines that he affects physical phenomena. Essentially Man is weak, and can only hope for God’s grace. Nature and all physical cause and effect are God’s exclusive domain.

Idolatry

There are many cultures that are indiscriminately referred to as religious. More precisely, they are not religious, but idolatrous in their character. Idolatry calls the powers of Nature gods. These powers are assumed to dominate Man. This deification of Nature is expressed in many ways. Some cultures build idols to represent the natural forces, as do the Far Eastern primitive tribes. However, the distinguishing traits of idolatry are not idols, masks, and totem poles. Idolatry refers to the belief in the existence of a vast panorama of gods who are all symbols for natural forces, rather than a belief in one, supreme God. Jacob Bronowsky, in his anthropological studies, distinguishes two basic types of idolatrous cultures: Black Magic and White Magic.

Black Magic

Black Magic, the more primitive idolatry, sees Man as a poor cog in the play of forces, helpless against his many gods, and basically passive in his ability to affect circumstances. Black Magic is permeated with fatalism: “It is the will of the gods. There is nothing to be done.” What one may do, in a limited fashion, is perhaps cheat the gods, or circumvent their will on the sly. One might also appease and flatter them into a benevolent frame of mind. Then they may throw a crumb of good fortune to Man. Thus men attempt to survive in the jungle of the powers.

The ancient Greek culture of gods, goddesses, and omens, depicted life in this manner: An amusement of the gods, to Man’s misfortune. An occasional hero arises, especially skilled at cheating or at pleasing the gods, or perhaps favored by the gods for arbitrary reasons.

Reason versus Fate / Fatalism

Somewhat removed from Black Magic is the system of Reason versus Fate. We digress momentarily from Bronowsky’s study in order to mention it in relation to Black Magic. This is a totally distinct system, but for the fatalistic twist that dominates both of them. Similar conclusions are drawn in both systems. In this culture, there is believed to be a split between the many forces of nature, seen as Fate, and between the strength and the reasoning ability of Man. Man must be strong in his struggle with Nature, and try to prevail against his fate. This belief is the pervasive theme in Islamic religion.

Ultimately, in Islam, Man does not conquer Nature with his Reason. In Black Magic, Man was never expected to do so. As long as he could keep his head above the stormy waters of capricious Nature, he was satisfied – even proud. In Islam, Man sees that he cannot overcome Nature with his Reason, although he must and should. Intrinsic to the system is Man’s loss of legitimacy. He has not prevailed against Fate. Fate has triumphed. Weakened and disgraced, Man ultimately resigns himself to a fatalistic attitude comparable to the one cherished by Black Magic.

White Magic

White Magic believes that the powers dominate and affect Man, but there is a world of difference in this Magic. Man, for whatever reason, depending upon the culture, may learn the rules of the game. The more he knows, the more he can be the master. There were cultures of this type that attained incredible heights of power awareness, in the realms of the natural and the supernatural as well, controlling their own bodily functions, and controlling astrological and mystical forces.

(At this point, the reader instinctively recoils: Astrology, mysticism, cosmos, supernatural – terminology from the metaphysical studies in general, bear a stigma of quackery and charlatanism. Our society has seen these studies exploited and handled with ignorance. Yet this need not be the case. Proper and serious study of these bodies of knowledge finds much in them to enhance the modern awareness.)

The two sorceries must not be considered as one and the same primitive phenomenon. It is not the pre-civilized image of terrified Man darting among the trees that a study of White Magic reveals, but an image of confidence in the human ability to explore and to control the environment. By diligent, persistent study of Nature, each generation continuing the work of the previous one, certain idolatrous cultures achieved an astonishing level of power, higher even than that attained by the modern science of the west, not excluding medicine and psychology. A relatively well-known example is the group of “primitive” tribes of South America, whose life style and methods became known to the modern world through the work of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. Their society evolved towards a profound understanding of the mysteries of Nature. This was combined with an ability to manipulate their knowledge to an extent that is deeply disconcerting to the scientific orientation and to the accepted truisms of rationalism and materialism.


Chapter Two

Is there a Jewish approach to medicine, and do the sorceries have a place within it? Judaism is generally thought of as a religion. Should the religious approach then, discussed above, comprise the Jewish attitude to medicine? And what of the modern materialistic sciences? Would Judaism reject the laws of Nature and medicine?

In fact, Judaism has points of compatibility with most of these cultural approaches, but it is not defined within any of them.

That all things have purpose and follow a Divine plan, that one’s sickness or health is a consequence of one’s relationship with God – these are points in the classic religious approach with which Judaism is wholly in accord. However, religious systems view illness as the tool of Divine retribution; God’s punishing rod. Although Judaism would not discount such a possibility, it is essentially here that Judaism parts company with the religious approach.

The Cybernetic System

Judaism views sickness in the broad universal context of a cybernetic system: The human being is a microcosm. He reflects every phenomenon of the larger macrocosmic universe, be it a spiritual, cosmic, or biological phenomenon. “A man is a miniature world.” There is a strict parallelism between the macro-world and the micro-world. Thus, the human being cannot be separated from the greater environment, because they are both built of the same structure, of the same components. Man cannot relate to God by ignoring the environment and holding it in contempt. Man must reach towards God through the natural environment. He is inextricably woven into the fabric of Nature, and the laws of Nature are inextricably woven into his human fabric. Arising out of this world-view is the startling implication that Man does not only reflect all cosmic phenomena, he must affect them as well;
Man has power.

How so?

The natural and healthy functioning of the cosmos is built around its serving Man. Man’s healthy, optimum functioning is built around his serving God. This is a cybernetic, interdependent cycle. When Man fails to fulfill his purpose, the cosmos is thrown off balance. Chemical and intercellular processes, whose raison d’etre is Man, begin to malfunction.

Judaism would address itself thus to the technical sciences: The process on the materialistic level is the superficial one. It is symptomatic of a deterioration occurring on a deeper level, a deterioration of a human beings’ relationship with the cosmic elements. And just as the physical elements are only superficial reflections, so the cosmic elements, too, are not autonomous, but reflect a deeper process of deterioration. Each layer reflects another, deeper process. The truly powerful spiritual microscope, able to probe through to the very depths of all the concealing layers would reveal the primary process: A human being’s relationship with God, gone awry and deteriorating.

Judaism would address itself thus to the religions: Man is not being punished. The initiative is his; the relationship with the natural environment is subject to his human influence. He may restore the natural balance at any moment, by initiating a restoration in the Godly relationship. Man is not a weak factor. Even towards God, he may take the initiative. Once he has taken the initiative in a spiritual direction, he can successfully initiate in the physical direction and deal with the environment to his own human benefit. Each reflects the other, in the cybernetic system; the materialistic, physical system is its most superficial layer. This reflects and conceals a deeper layer, the system of psychological processes and interactions. The psyche conceals a deeper layer of causes, and that layer conceals a layer and is a reflection of it, and so forth, arriving finally at the absolute, spiritual-Divine system.

The hierarchy, or order of the layers is crucial. Since Judaism does indeed contain the elements of every system, it is necessary that there be a clear scale of priorities, and a definition of boundaries. Which systems are the more encompassing and the more powerful? Which systems affect more systems below them? Which are more superficial, being merely symptomatic? How is each one to be treated; how are they to be effectively linked for purposes of communication and feedback?

This hierarchical structure is precisely and specifically described in the Jewish mystical writings. The veiled terminology of the Kabala speaks of levels of might, glory, awe and splendor, etc. Ten levels are described in an interdependent, mutually effective system that symbolizes every aspect of human and cosmic existence, from top to bottom, from the lowest material effect to the ultimate, absolute cause.

The Human Element / Human Power

The momentum for the whole cybernetic system is derived from human behavior. This is a radical statement about the power of a human being. Who is Man that he wields such control? Is he not but an ape who stood one day erect? In his physical being, Man shares much in common with the animals. Yet the cybernetic system derives no momentum from the animals. They are only the passive, instinctual functions of the system. However, there are many human behaviors that cannot be explained as the behavior of an instinctual animal. If this is a beast, it is the strangest in the animal kingdom: Sometimes so bestial that no beast could ever degenerate so utterly, or fall so low. At other times, so sublimely powerful that all the bestial limitations of its own being, plus all the limitations of the natural environment, appear to melt before its will. What is its true nature? Into which category does it fall?

Judaism views Man as the only being that combines these two distinct realms within itself: It possesses spirituality, “a Godly spark”. Its body is physical and finite. It is the meeting point between heaven and earth. Judaism is built upon this premise: Man equals spirituality within the physical experience.

A human being must, necessarily, possess an omnipotent spiritual element, according to the processes explained above: The microcosm reflects every phenomenon of the macrocosm. If behind the interplay of universal powers in the cosmos, there exists a unifying, Divine will, then behind the interplay of human powers in every individual human being there must exist an element (“a spark”) of unifying Divine will.

What is Divine about the will? For one thing, it is unlimited by its particular circumstances of time and space. People are intuitively aware of this, as the popular saying reveals: “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Why should this be the case? What sort of assumption is this? One may will as much as one likes. Yet people sense that the will almost creates the way, where it did not previously exist. This is because of its Divine origin; it is easily capable of handling the details and contingencies of the practical world.

We must not confuse the will, which is spiritual in its essence, with the intellect. Intellect is only one of the many human tools that have been given to the will to utilize in any direction it chooses. Freedom of choice is the source of human power. Judaism would go so far as to assert that the extent to which a human being expresses his Divineness (i.e. his free, unhampered, transcendent decision based upon his own deepest will and tied to no factor within the environment) will correlate exactly with the extent of his power to control natural circumstances. Using his human / Godly element to its fullest, he can become so powerful as to subjugate the forces of the cosmos. “A just man decrees, and the Holy, Blessed One fulfills.”

Neglecting this element, letting the “spark” atrophy with disuse, a human being grows more and more passive, and is soon dragged into the automatic patterns of the cosmos. He becomes a function of the inexorable laws of the jungle, effected but not effective.

At this point, modern medicine may offer a challenge: Medicine has all along maintained that the patterns are automatic and the laws inexorable. It agrees fully that Man is only a function of these processes. Why not take the simplest solution? Learn the patterns. Then one can easily help human beings, by correcting the patterns when they begin to harm, by readjusting Man’s natural processes when he falls out of rhythm.

Yet this solution has not proven itself. It fails to account for the main and central human factor, while dealing intensively with the minimal, peripheral factors. The system is activated by Man: Man, the human being, the one being that transcends the processes, while yet being involved in them, possessing an element that operates free and independent of the processes – it is he who gives motion to the system. He turns the key in the ignition, so to speak. The initial, critical human choice comes first, and only afterwards, stemming from this choice, comes a natural momentum, and the measurable, predictable patterns of cause and effect begin to unfold.

For this reason, medical science can never reach its true fulfillment. It is not a matter of time, or of discovering more of the body’s mechanisms. In principle, the materialistic theory refuses to consider the first cause of sickness and health, the effective power of the human, omnipotent will, the “Divine spark”. It attempts to fix a pure regularity upon natural phenomena. The result is an unpredictable, capricious Nature, who will occasionally comply with medical rules.

Mystical, Amoral Systems

The white magic mentioned above attributes much more significance to the spirit and the will of a human being. It brings into consideration many more of the forces of Nature, the psyche, and the cosmos, rather than only the isolated physical cycle of the body, and of the materialistic laws interacting autonomously with one another, which medical science today holds supreme. Then where does white sorcery fall short? What is lacking in this life system?

We discover in the sorceries that God is totally absent from their world picture. We have spoken of gods, representing natural forces, each god with his own rule of behavior. One God implies a supreme will that guides all of the natural forces, as in “the God of gods, the Lord of lords.” A system of many gods is completely non-spiritual. Yet these systems seem to use spiritual terminology. What is the “spirit” of the earth, the “soul” of the sun, their “will”, “essence”, and “power”? What are the higher mystical forces studied in white magic? Is this not spirituality?

In fact, these forces are higher and encompass a vaster scope than the more superficial, physical phenomena, and thus are capable of controlling physical phenomena. However, this does not yet mean that they are spiritual. They have no religious implications in the life of Man. They are subject to their own laws. One need only learn their various techniques. It is a study of power interaction, a game of power. If one learns better techniques, one plays the game more successfully. But power techniques, no matter how high their level, are not spirituality. What then is spirituality?

The concept of spirituality is based on the concept of one God. Godly purpose, meaning, and intention in the universe permeate all of the powers. Closeness to or distance from the Godly purpose brings us to the concept of values: Good, bad, sublime goals, sanctity. Sole monopoly of the human “animal”, this need to attribute values to every aspect of its existence is part and parcel of the human concept of spirituality. A thing is not only useful, useless, beneficial or harmful, but it is also, inevitably, bad or good, ugly or beautiful, or occupying some position in between these poles. This innate human response would be absurd if there were not a real referent that corresponded to it in the universe – a real good and a real evil – if there did not exist a universal direction, that in moving towards which one would approach something genuinely beautiful, and that in moving away from which one would approach something genuinely ugly. This is the hallmark of a unified system. Monotheism, when carried thoroughly to its logical conclusions, is the unified system par excellence. We shall presently elaborate further on the principle of monotheism.

Why and How / East and West

What happens when the element of spirituality is missing from an otherwise advanced system? One feels that a goal is lacking. Students of such systems attain great levels of awareness, and at the same time, a profound passivity of outlook. Instead of progressing, the culture stagnates. No motivation spurs it to strive forward. To attain a little more knowledge or a little less knowledge is not, in itself, a driving force. An accomplished Indian fakir is able to attain such subtle control over his own body functions as to be able to command his heart to stop beating, and then to resume beating again. It is a wisdom acquired over centuries. Yet, over these centuries, what has become of this culture as a whole? Why is this same fakir not insistently and urgently spurred by the need to command the hundreds in the streets of India to stop dying of hunger? It is a wisdom that is contained within itself. It is not a part in a universal network of good and evil; it is not a goal toward a sacred value. To the classical Indian wise man, it is not appalling, woeful or cruel that people are living in distress and dying in misery. These terms are not even relevant in a non-moral system. Their plight evokes no moral response. Rather: “It is thus. I will observe it and acquire further knowledge.”

Thus we see supernatural levels of individual power pursued by these societies, against a backdrop of utter and primitive stagnation – conditions of human misery and doom that have long been relegated to the history books by every progressive, modern culture.

To know the why, the causes that have brought about the effects, is inadequate. This outlook, intrinsic to white magic, has been revived recently in many of the “knowing for knowing”, “being for being”, “living for living” ideologies. One is urged towards openness, toward awareness, and necessarily toward passivity by the modern negative existentialism. It is not at attitude that compels one forward to struggle, conquer, and create. Yet the truly materialistic west offers no solution either. It has grown indifferent even to the why, and is concerned solely with the how, with the mere techniques of achievement: To conquer and achieve more, faster, with no leisure to stop and wonder what one is actually achieving. Hence the bizarre modern phenomenon that finds the bewildered children of successful western achievers turning to disease-ridden India in order to be “guided” by a “wise man”.

Neither of these motivations is invalid. They why and the how are legitimate human quests on the road of civilization. But they only come second, and third, respectively, on the scale of priorities. When the order is confused and when the foremost motivation is missing, a human being is unable to function at optimum level.

Wherefore?

What is the very first question a healthy human being must ask before he even thinks of why (cause of effects) and how (techniques)? He must ask, wherefore? To what end and to what purpose? To what goal will this lead me? Why is this better than something else? What is its value? Only after this has been determined, can why and how fall into perspective and be seen for what they are: The powerful tools of the wherefore. As the means by which human resourcefulness is to achieve humanity’s desired goals, we must state clearly that why and how are necessary and indispensable. But when viewed as goals in themselves, they distort human perspective, bringing about either passive, ineffectual wisdom or active, efficient oblivion, respectively.


Chapter Three

What principle, then, essentially characterizes the Jewish approach?

Monotheism is the innovation introduced to the world by Judaism. Oneness is, necessarily, characterized by unity. One God, one purposeful will. This means that every particle of the creation must bear the same stamp – unity, will, and purpose. Every element of existence is also a whole and self-sufficient entity, enjoying its own characteristic unity, its own plan and purpose. Such an axiom stresses the uniqueness of each particle, because each particle is purposefully designed for its unique destiny. A crucial element is harmony, the balanced relationship between units.

Jewish Ecology

Jewish ecology focuses on a holistic, coherent system of creation, with no factor considered an “island unto [it]self” to be studied apart from the universal interaction. For example physiological factors, or the laws of biochemistry, have a spiritual parallel. The two planes must maintain a constant flow of exchange, informing and influencing one another. To illustrate:

In a spiritual system, what possible importance can it have that one eats a certain food? Who cares? The omnipotent God cares if one does or does not observe certain dietary laws? The Sefer HaHinuch (the classical codification and explication of Jewish law) states flatly: “After the deeds, the hearts are drawn.”

The world may commonly think of God and of spiritual things as being “up there”, and of food, the body and matters physical as being “down here.” In fact, in Judaism, all planes from the very bottom of “down below” to the most sublime heights of “up above” are interconnected. Eating blood, or slaughtering animals by cruel methods, does not leave the “heart” untouched. An initially imperceptible and gradual cruelty develops at all levels of the personality. Such unity implies uniqueness, as we have explained above. Each animal, then, is unique. One animal has a more spiritual quality. This affects its physical qualities. Another animal has a lesser quality. Some animals even have a toxic quality, though it would not be an immediately obvious chemical toxicity. It embodies a spiritual destructiveness that reflects its role and worth in the creation. Yet it reflects back into the material realms, to the very chemical makeup of the animal. Thus it affects the health of body and mind, in one who eats this animal.

Uniqueness and differentness are the God-given right of every human being. One is not only a part of the great, larger unity as a microcosm. One is one’s own miniature unified universe. The unique and non-common denominator of each human being must be respected. As well (though of an automatic and lesser quality) every animal, vegetable, chemical, and physical force has its own soul and spiritual power. To experiment randomly with mixtures (biological engineering is a case in point) is to blur this uniqueness. Since each unique entity plays in tune with the whole giant orchestra, so to speak, a distortion of harmony for one entity would destroy the harmony at all levels. One may legitimately create useful combinations, but only in a spirit of great and sober respect for the character of each component, and with tremendous caution that no one element’s uniqueness be erased by another’s incompatible uniqueness.

The vegetarian movement approaches this respect for uniqueness. It indicates a growing, intuitive conviction that one is better off not randomly putting into one’s mouth all that comes to one’s hand. It is the seed of awareness, a realization of the need for a respectful relationship with the environment. In Judaism, we deal with a Divinely revealed system of dietary laws. The Creator of every element explains to man how to combine them – which combinations will prove beneficial to him, which will be toxic, giving him physical, psychological, social, or spiritual indigestion. Fundamental to an authentic Jewish perspective is the knowledge that one cannot separate one’s religion from one’s body, one’s unique spiritual destiny from one’s physical health.

Therefore, an individual must develop individual laws as well, a personalized set of dos and don’ts regarding diet, social behavior, etc. Aside from the universally toxic combinations that have been revealed in the Divine law, one needs to know one’s own unique susceptibilities. Certain foods, certain emotional atmospheres may affect one person well and another person badly. The more a human being manages to know, and act, according to his own uniqueness, the better health he can enjoy.

The process is simple. The more one grows individualized, with goals and a personally tailored lifestyle that are expressive of one’s unique self, the more one comes into contact with one’s own healthy natural selectivity in day-to-day habits. From this essential point, all functions proceed smoothly. Physical needs are fulfilled in their correct proportions; a healthy psychological outlook may develop; mental health in an individual contributes to a healthy social atmosphere; spiritual growth is facilitated in a good society.

The process is equally effective in reverse: From top to bottom – a growing spirit benefits the social environment; good society enhances the individual’s psychological well-being; mental health frees the physical body to gratify its needs in good proportion.

The microcosmic, cybernetic system that we call man works properly when its parts are lubricated by the principle of uniqueness, and coordinated to revolve around a central axis (a wherefore – a value-based goal, the human/Divine connection).

Such holistic health care renders superfluous the emphasis on isolated technical phenomena. One understands one’s relationship with the environment not through a vague ideological attitude, but as pertains to every single element, in the way that each element serves one, each element’s distinct character, need, and process. The individualized, unique relationship with the elements, the personal meaning that bears ultimate value, which one regularly succeeds in imparting to one’s life, are thus seen to determine physical health much more profoundly than the superficial physical processes.

Entropy

The other face of the coin of uniqueness is entropy. The Book of Genesis describes this conflict at the most primordial level. “God put man in the garden to tend it and to preserve it.” Adam was to use the earth in such a manner as would preserve the uniqueness within it, and would aid his own unique service of God. This is his destiny in proper harmony with the earth’s destiny.

When Adam neglected his own uniqueness, allowing it to become blurred and confused, he also incapacitated the earth. The Flood that erased Adam’s civilization (recounted later in Genesis) is called mabul in Hebrew, from the word bilbul: confusion. Nature totally despaired of her role, and abandoned the most basic distinctions between the elements; water overran the earth. How had such “confusion” come about?

At the dawn of creation, a pristine purity of character had dominated each element. “Each to its own kind” was such a pervasive theme that not only did one seed produce one kind of tree that produced one kind of fruit, but the barks of the trees, too, were edible, and their flavor was the distinct flavor of their own fruit.

But Adam did not wish to be Man, with Man’s unique destiny. He disliked the limitations intrinsic to such an existence. He preferred to “be as God.” Adam attempted to blur the distinction between himself and God, by demonstrating his power to disobey God. (We shall elaborate later upon this natural human tendency.) The punishment decreed upon Adam seems rather strange:

“Cursed is the earth on account of you.” One wonders what the earth has done to incur God’s wrath. But on a deeper level, it is clear that we are observing a totally interdependent system. The earth cannot retain her genius for producing unique forms, because Man, her very raison d’etre, has rejected his unique form. She, too, must henceforward be a disorderly jumble: “Thorns and weeds shall she bring forth for you.”

Cain followed in his father’s footsteps. He was insensitive to the value of the individual, to the uniqueness that makes one human being precious and non-interchangeable with any other human being. He murdered his brother: One human being was sufficient to inherit the earth from Adam. As a punishment, God denied him any individual, personal space: “You shall wander and move about in the land.” Private space (a man’s “four cubits”) is the minimal requirement of belonging and rootedness without which a human being cannot begin to express his uniqueness. A faceless, neutral entity, denied the uniqueness enjoyed by every human being, Cain would learn to value his fellow human being.

During the early era of humanity, Man was groping for the correct cosmic proportions, but in a heedless and greedy manner. The direction towards chaos gained momentum as a result. “The sons of God saw the daughters of Man, that they were good, and they took to themselves wives from all that they choose.” We see in Genesis a vivid imagery of cosmic intermarriages, of collisions between heaven and earth. The downhill process, the loss of unity and uniqueness begins to assume gigantic, fatal proportions.

The inevitable climax comes, in total, irreparable pandemonium – the Deluge of confusion. The mabul wiped clean a chaotic ruin of Nature and civilization, to let the earth begin anew.

For there is a positive side to entropy, that law of disintegration and decay. “One generation goes and another generation comes”, writes Kohelet. In the proper order of things, entropy too has its unique place. And if man will carry out his function, and guard his own uniqueness, he may stand as the anti-entropic factor in the system, capable of limiting even the law of entropy to its own constructive boundaries.


Chapter Four

Structure

At this point it becomes necessary to introduce the concept of structure. This overriding principle is crucial to an understanding of the Jewish medical approach. What are the basic elements of structuralism?

A structure has a) a precisely unified organization of its components, b) the components are mutually dependent upon one another – no one of them is dispensable, and c) the entire structure is goal-oriented. To illustrate – a table: a) The table top is arranged horizontally over the legs, and the legs are placed vertically and symmetrically beneath the top, in order that together they will assume the form of a table. b) The legs of a table depend upon the top to hold them in their vertical position. The tabletop depends on the legs to support it, and to prevent its collapse to the floor. From the more minute perspective, the nuts and bolts between each part are depended upon to hold the relationship between tabletop and legs in stable balance. The more the table is well crafted, the less even the smallest screw can be considered dispensable or superfluous. c) Lastly, the whole structure is oriented toward a particular goal beyond its own existence. A table is for eating upon, or for working at, or to hold objects. Let us now apply this principle to the structure of human health.

We have mentioned earlier that there is a parallel organization between the human structure and the cosmic structure. We will now elaborate on this idea: Both of these structures are formed of three basic components. The macrocosm is formed of the material object world, the human being, and the absolute God. The human being serves, in the microcosm, as the point of encounter between the two polar opposites, between tangibility and infinity. Within the microcosm of the human being, we find these same three components in miniature. In the human psyche, man has a practical side, an emotional/human quality, and an intellectual perception. In his physical body, this parallel continues: The three components are embodied in the stomach, the heart, and the brain.

We may find it strange to apply this structural character so thoroughly as to include even physical organs. We learn that “the kidneys advise”, “the heart covets”, etc. Are we to attribute will and purpose to mere collections of muscle? But in Judaism, let us recall, one may not separate physical functioning from any other functioning. Every function affects and is affected by another, each in a particular and precise proportion. This is a condition of structuralism. Let us carry it to its honest conclusion. If we wish to be intellectually thorough, we cannot ascribe structural unity and parallelism to a system, and then suddenly omit the physical component. Trained in the materialistic and traditional/religious modes of thought, we create sharp divisions: Body/mind. Spirit/flesh, etc. But in a structural system of interdependence and unity we must not balk at including the physical body. On the physical plane, therefore, the heart may “covet” through the physical tint of the multi-colored spectrum of heart-related activities.

We shall go a step further. Each unique aspect of the structure has its parallel at every level. Yet the character of a structure is unity, so that unity too must exist at every level. The heart, the stomach, all the organs must bear this stamp; each kidney must be a unified whole. Indeed we have a peculiar medical phenomenon that seems to support this axiom of unity at every level: A man who is disabled in a certain faculty is known to compensate by extremely advanced capabilities in some other faculty, to such an extent that he seems to have actually replaced the missing faculty. People say of a blind person that he “sees” with his ears. They do not say that he can hear quite well. A blind man’s sense of hearing seems to be of a different quality that the healthy hearing of a seeing man. Similarly, deaf people seem to “hear” through their skin and by their sense of touch, receiving thereby the signals and information that are denied to their ears. Thus we find a certain element of interchangeability between organs, as though each possessed an element of self-sufficiency.

However, this interchangeability can only be partial. And why so? Due to the intrinsic quality of uniqueness that each organ must possess; a unique quality can never be fully replaced by another unique quality. We see that each element is both a unique, indispensable part, and a unified whole.

These two opposite sides of one coin are paralleled at every level of existence, culminating at the absolute level: “There is naught other than You. And who resembles You?” God is the Unique Being, yet at the same time, the whole that contains all things.

Holistic, Cybernetic / A System of Feedback and Communication

For this reason, Jewish medicine must be holistic. Balance within the structure, relationship between all the elements, the ways in which they dynamically interact, the system of feedback and self-correction, are obviously as crucial as the condition of local organs. The Jewish approach is truly prophylactic. To wait for an isolated malfunction and then to attend to the damage will not bring a permanent healing. More relevant to a cure will be the patient’s whole system of beliefs, his approach to his life’s meaning, and the way in which he applies this approach from day to day in the physical realm.

“If a man sees that troubles come upon him, let him search among his deeds.” The Talmud is not referring here to spiritual troubles, necessarily, that result from the moral quality of his deeds. Environmental, social, or medical misfortunes equally may well stem from a moral aspect of behavior. Effects are felt in all directions. The Book of Proverbs teaches: “The spirit of a man shall sustain his disease; indeed, who can bear a crippled spirit?”

The spirit affects the body, and the body, the spirit. In a drastic departure from all other religious approaches, Judaism includes the material element within the legitimate structure. It, too, is crucial to the whole. How can the body be excluded from the whole human being?

“If there is no flour, there is no Torah.”
“As your eating, so your Torah.”

The Psalmist prays: “To do your will, my God, I wish, and that your Torah be within my intestines.”

The characteristic religious approach would never “lower” spirituality by an association with intestines, nor would it dignify intestines by any connection to spirituality. This is the radical innovation of Judaism. It refuses to neglect man’s material side – his need to eat, to engage in sexual activity – in the name of his soul. It stresses the importance of emotional experience as well – marriage, friendship, enjoyment, and recreation.

Yet it is upon the interaction between all of these elements that Judaism focuses its main attention. Has the delicate balance between them been disturbed; is their equilibrium bewildered? How is the harmony, the dynamic flow and ebb? Is there a smooth sense of proportion, or are some areas flooded while others are left high and dry?

Torah: A Universal “Blueprint”

Each letter of the Torah (the Divine teaching) represents a human being. One is urged to find one’s own personal letter. This cryptic counsel, given to us by the sages of the Talmud, holds the deeper implication that one needs to find one’s own spiritual place.

When one does not do so, this upsets the balance of society and of Nature. (If one letter in a Torah scroll is missing, Jewish law pronounces the entire scroll with its thousands and myriads of letters to be unfit for use.) When one does, however, find and sturdily establish one’s spiritual place – i.e. one’s “wherefore”, one’s goal-oriented connection and duty, then one becomes a stabilizing factor. One brings balance to the structure at large. “A just man is the foundation of the universe.” We may add parenthetically, that such a person’s gastronomic condition will benefit from this balanced condition no less than his soul.

The holism and interdependence of the universe reflects the holistic system of the Torah. “God looked into the Torah and created the universe.” There are rational, emotional, mystical, practical, and spiritual aspects of the Torah. Yet no dichotomy or conflict exists among them. Each is a component in the whole. The Gaon of Vilna taught that the mystical writings begin where the philosophical writings leave off. One continues the other – reflects it on a different plane. To disregard one aspect is to sabotage the structure. Similarly, to isolate one aspect and to focus attention upon it alone is to fail to deal with it effectively.

This is the Jewish attitude in general, and towards health in particular. Judaism will therefore take a keen interest in holistic movements such as natural nutrition and ecology. Philosophies in which the dynamic process of the entire structure is the central emphasis would be legitimated in Judaism. Exercises of meditation and relaxation, the restoration of balance and strength to the human system – these would be regarded with respect. As long as no one factor is viewed as autonomous, as long as there is an awareness of each factor’s limitations as well as its powers, Jewish medicine would consider these systems to be contributions to human health.

Structural Possibilities

Different structures are appropriate for describing different mechanisms of human behavior. Many possibilities are open. But the choice of a structure used to illustrate a system must follow the rules of structuralism. (See above) Jewish classical sources bring a number and a variety of structures as examples and illustrations of philosophical themes.

There is the sphere: A whole globe containing all of the elements of the cosmos: Heaven and earth, nature and spirit, life and death. The sphere revolves around one central axis – a human being’s relationship with God.

The circle: Its area contains the total environment. Its center point is the individual human being. Man relates outward to all the elements, reaching towards the outermost circumference of the circle, God. The imagery in the Psalm lends itself to such a structure: “All the world is filled with his glory.” The Talmud illustrates this reality with a spatial explanation: “The Holy One is the world’s place, rather than that the world is His place.

The triangle: Along the base of the triangle, all of man’s traits and potentials line up, from one extreme end point to the other. They all move upward together and simultaneously they move toward the center. All of these mutually opposing traits unify into a strong and solid structure as they approach the apex of the triangle, God.

Whatever the structure, an individual’s connection with God is both the stabilizing and the prime moving factor. We have discussed the stabilizing and balancing effect that a human being can have, but not the motive effect. Why is man a prime mover? From where is the dynamic vector derived?

From Dichotomy to Dynamism

The structure is composed of opposites, of conflicting forces held in a delicate balance of tensions. These swing constantly, in pendulum motion, towards and away from their goal. “From You, to You, I flee.” What are these tensions?

Freedom and Belonging: Man’s desire to be as God – to be totally free – is a desire to cut the branch he is sitting on. We mentioned it briefly in our discussion of Adam and human beginnings as described in the Book of Genesis. It is a basic theme in human behavior, and describes two basic and intrinsically conflicting needs. There exists a need to belong, to be a “part of”, to have a family and security. Equally compelling is the need for freedom, for the liberty to decide one’s own destiny.

Regarding this inherent dichotomy, Judaism would advise one to seek one’s own individual balance, remembering always that one may not detract from either side. Do not stress the belonging connection overmuch, or you will lose your personal freedom, and eventually you will rebel against it entirely. If you take to yourself to much freedom and reject values, family, peoplehood, you will eventually feel the panic of isolation. You will experience a sense of weakness and vulnerability – a craving for protection. Judaism emphasizes belonging combined with a relative freedom. Man does not require the vast infinite reaches of absolute freedom. He is not wholly an absolute being. He needs therefore only enough space to express himself fully, to have room in his environment for the realization of all his needs and capabilities.

Duty and Pleasure: Another dichotomy. Discipline and attention to one’s duty bring with them control over the environment. By discovering the rules and processes of the environment, one becomes capable of dealing competently with existence. Its polar opposite, pleasure, is the return to the self, which focuses on inner sensation and experience.

Overemphasis on duty brings about self-denial and self-neglect. The inner life grows dry and impoverished. Yet lack of emphasis on duty, over-involvement in pleasure, brings to a loss of contact with the outside world. The ability to utilize the environment in order to progress and to achieve becomes atrophied. Again, an individualized, personalized balance, that detracts from neither need is the solution offered by Judaism. “One lives austerely and it beautifies him. Another lives austerely and it harms him.”

From all of these tensions, dynamism and movement result. There is an effort to stabilize – to find some workable combination for these opposites that repel, yet clamor for reconciliation with one another. Is it possible? One must give way somewhere. For dichotomy is even built into the very environment. Human needs clash with environmental limitations. One of them will have to renounce its claim. There is no room: Two clashing elements cannot expand indefinitely. Conflict implies a mutually exclusive relationship. One exists at the expense of the other.

Of these dichotomies, the Talmud teaches: “When two scriptures deny each other, let the third come and arbitrate between them.” The third scripture is the essential catalyst that dissolves and resolves conflict.

We can illustrate this principle using the spatial structures of geometry. On a two-dimensional plane, two points cannot occupy the same place. One of them must disappear. However, when we add the third dimension, height, this conflict is resolved: Both points may co-exist peacefully in that space.

To translate from physical space into human terms, the two-dimensional plane is the material world – having only length and width, that is, only conflicting physical forces. In a conflict, there is nowhere to go. If two mutually antagonistic forces meet, one is destroyed and the other remains.

“Let the third scripture come…” If one adds the dimension of height, i.e. “Know what is above you,” the aspect of authority, the Godly dimension beyond the immediate here and now, space is created for mutually conflicting forces to coexist peacefully.

Conflicting human needs aimed upward toward the centripetal point of the triangle, that structure containing length, width, and height, find themselves each contributing their vitality, with neither denying the other. “From bitter shall come forth sweet.” The bitterness of conflict, where one indispensable need must give way to another, can become the sweetness of harmonious interaction. Dichotomous needs are equally, respectively fulfilled when the “third scripture”, the “dimension of height” creates abundant room for both.

The need to organize these tensions so that they will harmonize rather than clash in mutual destruction is the activating, motive force behind the entire structure. It is a structure that gradually comes into its own. Beginning with the raw material of the human being, it moves slowly toward the Divine goal. Throughout one’s life, one is building the complete structure.


Chapter Five

Mechanisms of Pain

Why do we insist on the idea of a structure? Let us throw a wrench into the works of structural dynamism, and see what happens. In the midst of the perfectly fitted cogs of interdependence, we will create a vacuum. One element or one relationship will be severed.

The metaphor of cogs in well-fashioned clockwork is appropriate. What happens there? Obviously a vacuum in such an interdependent mechanism will cause one cog after another to go haywire. They lose their balance and motion, and eventually fall out of the mechanism altogether or get stuck at a standstill. Once again, the very powerful natural process of entropy is at work here.

We have explained above that the principle of uniqueness can control entropy. But without a goal-oriented, tightly interdependent structure, particles abandon their unique functions. Characteristic relationships between elements become distorted and blurred. One component exaggerates its function. Another neglects it.

To offer examples in the medical sphere, we may point to the cancer phenomenon – the entropy of cells that have abandoned their natural unique laws and boundaries, and begun to multiply without rhyme and reason. Another example would be one element atrophying, while another struggles vainly and overworks its natural capacity in an effort to compensate – towards a heart condition and an eventual heart attack.

The vehicles as well, within the medical/physical structure, relate the elements to one another, supplying information and needs – blood circulation and blood pressure. Inadequate overall relatedness and dynamism – a concession to entropy – results in excessively low blood pressure. Exaggerated dynamism, also an imbalance in the structure, raises the pressure to dangerous heights.

In the structure of the human body there is a defense mechanism against entropy, called pain. If elements begin to lose their interactive tension, roaming in every direction, an immediate alert is sent to the localized area of the entropy: Balance must be restored. Muscles constrict and contract in an attempt to slow the momentum of disintegration. A frequent medical response is the prescription of tranquilizers for pain. This is a non-constructive response; by artificially relaxing the muscles, the tranquilizer leaves nothing to resist the entropy. No constriction occurs to oppose the random activity of undirected particles. The malfunction may even increase its momentum.

The fact that pain is an alert signal has long been known to modern medicine. Indeed, we may say that modern medicine knows all about most of the elements and all of their functions. Why then is medicine so often, in full knowledge, so helpless to act? Because there is no holistic approach. Very little importance is attached to interactions with other processes aside from the immediate, locally problematic process. Hence the popular complaint among patients: “My old symptom was cured but a new one popped up.” A profound cure was not effected. The damage was not repaired on all levels.

We must not neglect to mention that if through imbalance a local limb or organ becomes in itself deteriorated or damaged, here is the legitimate place for the modern medical approach. Local damage must obviously be dealt with locally and atomistically, in conjunction with the holistic approach.

Judaism would never deny the knowledge and validity of medical science. It maintains however that this science is incomplete. As an approach, it must be complemented, and even improved upon, by many other approaches. One must know anatomical, biological, chemical, and other physical sciences, and how the laws of each affect the body.

“From here we learn that permission is given to the doctor to heal.” (Ramban) Judaism legitimates classical medicine. But is this the whole secret of health? Local treatment of each organ as it deteriorates? Perhaps, indeed, nothing more is humanly possible. What do we mean by a total cure, a healing on all levels?

Self-Preservation versus Creativity

There is one dichotomy that permeates the entire human structure and is most directly related to illness and health. Its complex and fundamental nature will be explained at greater length in another context, and we will suffice here to explain that it follows the principle that guides all dichotomy: Man is in a perpetual state of to and fro, swinging back and forth from one extreme to another, in a pendulum-like motion and pattern; every part of human experience is permeated in varying degrees by either one or the other side of the dichotomy.

The dichotomy of creativity and self-preservation has a parallel in Jewish terminology: “The urge to create good” and “the urge to create evil.” In relation to medical phenomena, we will examine the vicious cycle of self-preservation, from which all sickness stems, and the curative powers that may be derived from creativity. We define creativity as a state in which all components of the whole human being are being utilized, with each component expressing its respective uniqueness, in service of a goal that draws from the “dimension of height”. (This refers to a goal that is beyond the immediate needs of survival, one that derives from the realm of absolute values).

In creative self-utilization and self-expression, a sense of one’s own vial existence is generated. In non-self-utilization and non-self-expression, pain is generated. What are the processes that lead to this? Failure to make use of and to express the powers of one’s self, leads one to a sense of unreality, indeed to a sense of non-existence. Man lacks a palpable sense of living when he does not affect his environment in any original manner, when the same continuities would have evolved without him. He begins to doubt whether he exists at all. And if he does, is there any purpose in continuing to exist? He then begins to experience existence as a very precarious commodity, as though it could at any moment randomly terminate. The organism’s natural response to this existential bewilderment is to immediately activate all mechanisms to preserve its own existence. Self-defense motivations become the focus of the entire structure. Yet this is a destructive focus, especially in large proportions. Ironically, self-preservation leads to self-destruction.

Why is the human organism unsuccessful when it activates its instincts of self-preservation on a large scale and on a full-time basis? Animals function in a perpetual self-preservation mode; this instinct is all-pervasive and insures their continued existence. But the human structure is not built towards this end, and it entails a use of the structure in a manner for which it was not designed.

The goal of the human structure, as mentioned above, is to answer an absolute “wherefore?” A human being who is oriented to identify fully with an absolute “wherefore” of being, and who serves it creatively (survival and physical continuity do not constitute an adequate goal; they are mere instinctual responses) may reach peak levels of effective functioning that is joyous, powerful, and utterly involved. Every individual physical organ follows the same principle. Each has its “wherefore” on the physical plane, which corresponds to emotional, psychological, spiritual goals, etc. If somewhere along the line one element becomes severed from its ultimate goal, this will ultimately cause sickness and pain.

Circles Within Circles

The mechanism of pain can be illustrated by visualizing a structure of concentric circles. Imagine pain as a small circle within the larger circle of the whole body. Around these circles, we shall describe a still larger circle, symbolizing the body’s immediate environment. Encircling the circle of the environment is the whole great circle of the cosmos. Now, consider an organ that has become detached from its goal. There is malfunction and pain. The brain responds with an immediate reflex by instructing the nervous system to protect the endangered, hurting area. When the instinct of self-preservation responds to a pain stimulus, muscles contract around the pain, and paralyze all normal, natural activity. Pain is trapped within the body, and even increased by muscular pressure and tension.

This is not a creative response, meaning that it does not relate to the whole structure, and the interaction among the parts, and the relationship to the goal. It is merely a fear alert. In response to pain, one has a choice between this self-preservation alert and creative interaction with the pain. One’s choice determines not only the subjective experience of pain, but also objective factors affecting health and recuperation.

Those who have observed women during childbirth are strongly impressed by this phenomenon. The woman may respond in either one of these two modes, and the resulting difference is radical. The normal act of the body, during labor and delivery, is to contract and then to relax, in an ingenious natural rhythm that allows the woman to rest, breath, and renew her energy between contractions. This back-and-forth interaction between pain and relaxation is crucial. If labor involved one huge contraction, the muscles of the womb would be torn and damaged, while the overwhelming pressure would crush the newborn infant. The rhythmic and delicately increasing contractions are best and uniquely fitted to the process of childbirth. When the woman is motivated by fear, her periods of muscular contraction are needlessly prolonged. She contributes tension to the muscles and prevents relaxation. Without de-contraction and renewed breathing, she does not regain the strength, nor the crucial oxygen that expedites the labor process and permits subsequent contractions to proceed at their natural pace.

In not focusing all attention upon the circle of pain, in dissipating it gradually over the entire structure, distress is naturally and effectively relieved. Studies of “biofeedback” have recently begun to explore these possibilities. By doing specially developed exercises that attempt to dissipate the tension and hyper-alertness caused by fear one becomes conscious, instead, of the functioning of the entire body. One focuses on one’s circulatory system on one’s respiratory system, etc. Pain is gradually ignored, relaxation comes, and the body’s own rhythm can begin to overcome the disturbance. The system is cybernetic, self-correcting and self-healing.

Intense concentration upon an all-encompassing goal leaves neither time nor energy for concentration upon pain. One need only consider the very creative artists and scientists. Their longevity and vitality are a well-known mystery. Is it a happy coincidence of a strong, sturdy physique that has chanced to be combined with a creative personality? This seems unlikely, since many of these “human dynamos” are thin, frail and bent. However, such people have no leisure to focus upon health problems. They find no opportunity to disturb and interfere with the self-correcting systems. They are caught up by their goal.

If someone has lost his goals, or some goals have come into conflict with some others, he must fine goals again, or reconcile conflicting ones in order that, as soon as possible, he can again identify utterly with the purpose of his being. If he does not do so, then he is allowing a vacuum to infiltrate the system. This is the real meaning of the Talmudic injunction: “If a man sees that troubles come upon him, let him search among his deeds.” If he lacks his own purpose, then wherefore his whole existence? Is he not perhaps superfluous? He begins to fear the loss of existence and to become overly conscious of his body’s vulnerability. He anxiously begins to watch his own heartbeat, rather than benignly neglecting it, as would someone who was secure in the knowledge that every organ and every moment that he possesses is dedicated to something beyond his own heartbeat, of far greater value, in the service of which his heart must surely take care of itself. If he is to be overly conscious, as human beings tend to be, then let him focus on his purpose rather than on his pain.

It is here that the “biofeedback” method falls short. Relief of pain in this system is notably short-lived. Why does it fail? It is capable of dissipating the pain from a local area over to the whole body. But what happens afterwards? One has realized one’s own body: “Ah yes, here is my whole body. A marvelous network. How magnificent it is. If course, I realize now that my pain was only functioning in service of this whole, fantastically intricate system.” The pain is now relieved. But as awareness expands, the inevitable next question comes: “Wherefore? What purpose does this cunningly crafted network serve?”

If no answer is available, the pain must return. A vacuum has been discovered in the structure; there is no goal of being. One necessarily is returned to the vicious cycle of self-preservation and pain: Perhaps one’s continued existence is superfluous, perhaps it will be randomly terminated, is one’s heart actually beating as well as it should, etc. This is why, in any such system, another focus must follow the body focus, and this subsequent focus must be above and beyond the body focus – a larger circle of orientation, such as the immediate environment. Any elementary involvement, be it picking flowers or washing dishes, by being a tangible act of the body, is therapeutic and gives the body that raison d’etre so indispensable to its well-being.

But this raison d’etre is momentary. The cycle will return again if this is the end of the goal. “My use, my function, my destiny is to be a dishwasher?” This is not enough to motivate the system on a long-range basis. One must focus further at this stage, from the immediate environment to something beyond the environment. The goal must have continued existence independent of the environment. In fact it needs to be capable of endowing the entire environment with justification. Here we see the need for the spiritual aspect – an absolute, independent answer to “wherefore?” and “to what purpose?” and similar questions of this nature. Lacking this, the environment’s continuity can no more be depended upon than one’s own vulnerable body, and then awareness boomerangs again, back to self-preservation, back to the body and finally, seeing no other recourse, back to the circle of pain.



“The wicked [son], what does he say? ‘What is this worship of yours?’ Of yours, and not of his. And since he has removed himself from the whole, he has become a heretic in the essentials [of belief].” (Passover Haggadah)

A rather extreme verdict seems to have been pronounced upon the “wicked son”. He is perhaps overly individualistic, not believing himself bound to the worship that binds his father. But this independence of spirit is not quite tantamount to being a “heretic,” which term in classic Jewish literature implies willful stupidity of apocalyptic proportions.

The key lies in the word “whole”. He has removed himself from the whole – from wholeness. Not as may be simplistically understood, that he removes himself from a social norm that the majority of his society obeys, and hence his nonconformity is condemned. Rather, he has rejected wholeness, the interconnectedness of each person, of every generation, of each and every experience and action with every other experience and action. He has rejected the cornerstone principle of monotheism, that a unified purposefulness is inherent in every atom of the universe. Ignoring the application of this principle to his own life, “he has become a heretic in the essentials.”


Chapter Six

The Triangle of Health

We will turn, now to the triangle of health, a diagram of the human structure based upon classical Jewish sources. The triangle begins with the premise, discussed above, that every medical disorder has its parallel in a life-force disorder.

The base of the triangle is a continuum line of all the human components. The line begins with the most basic, material object (or id) and ends with the infinite absolute. All of these polarities comprise a human being; they are all aligned at the base of the structure, and they all need some direction. The diagram demonstrates structurally that every single component, when aimed upward toward a spiritual goal, combines and interacts with its polar opposite to strengthen the structure. When not directed upward toward this centripetal point, each component degenerates aimlessly into destructiveness by obeying only its own isolated laws. By following its own vertical lines rather than moving diagonally towards a central target, it remains a distant parallel line to its opposite brother. Never do they meet. Never is either modified by the other’s opposing pull.

The two categories of dichotomous human tendencies can be classified by their primordial origins as matriarchal and patriarchal elements. Moving towards one another, they are well balanced. Patriarchal elements such as consciousness, will power and authority are modified by the matriarchal elements to become awareness of God, self-control, and values. The matriarchal elements of emotion, love and pity are modified by the patriarchal elements to become creativity, values, and chesed. Moving along their own lines, however, pity is distorted into self-pity and egoism. Authority stiffens into rigid tyranny, emotions degenerate into emotionalism, and will power becomes compulsiveness, or an instrument for compelling others. Instead of a modifying, complementary influence exerted by each component upon its opposite, one finds exaggerated, distorted responses, excessive tendencies, and a completely split dichotomy of personal needs and abilities. It is the case of a structure that has become open-ended. With no unifying goal, it is disorganized and destroyed. It moves inexorably towards any and all emotional, behavioral and physical illness.

We may say that a great deal is demanded of the doctor who wishes to effect a lasting cure. Vast quantities of complex technical knowledge are inadequate. These only increase the growing potential for medical detachment from the patient’s existential reality. These only increase the chances for that notorious medical phenomenon: “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” On the technical level, a doctor may have every right to expect his patient to live. But what of the myriad other levels besides the technical? Judaism would demand that the doctor work in cooperation with the rabbi, the psychologist and the social worker, as well as the laboratory technician. The doctor’s consultants must be anyone who is knowledgeable in the important aspects of the patient’s life. It is only through such a holistic approach that the doctor’s valuable technical skills may realize their great potential and effect lasting cures and genuine health.



Key to diagram on following page: The area within the triangle represents healthy human behavior. The lines of ill health are delineated at right and left outside of the triangle, representing mental illness and behavioral aberration.