Midrash & Medicine

by Cutter, William; Prince, Michele F.

• ISBN13: 9781580234849
• ISBN10: 1580234844
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-01
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Pub

Summary

This groundbreaking volume examines the spiritual shortfalls of our current healing environment and explores how midrash can help you see beyond the physical aspects of healing to tune in to your spiritual source. Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, physicians, rabbis, social workers, psychologists and philosophers investigate the role of midrashic thinking in addressing seemingly intractable social and personal issues. Topics discussed include: how metaphors and parables can aid healing; how Jewish tradition can inform and enrich health, hospice and nursing-home care; new ways of reading Jewish texts in the discussion of medical ethics; the role of community in addressing aging, loss and suffering.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. xix
Metaphors and Side Effects
L'Mashal: Metaphor and Meaning in Illness	p. 3
From Heaven to Hypochondria: Metaphors of Jewish Healing	p. 14
The Narrow Place from Which Healing Comes, and the Expansive Edge of the Continent
Surviving the Narrow Places: Judah and Joseph and the Journey to Wholeness	p. 29
Widening the Boundaries	p. 43
Lyric and Community
The Midrashic Impulse in Poems, Our Dialogue with Ecclesiastes, and Other Lyrical Interpretations	p. 49
"Psalms, Songs & Stories": Midrash and Music at the Jewish Home of San Francisco	p. 68
God in the Doctor's Office: Some Midrashic Elaborations
Talking to Physicians about Talking about God: A Midrashic Invitation	p. 85
A Physician's Response to the Midrashic Invitation	p. 97
Contexts of Suffering, Contexts of Hope
Neither Suffering nor Its Rewards: A Story about Intimacy and Dealing with Suffering and with Death	p. 107
The Experience of Suffering: A Response to Ruhama Weiss	p. 129
Midrashic Renderings of Age and Obligation
After the Life Cycle: The Moral Challenges of Later Life	p. 137
The Journey of Later Life: Moses as Our Guide	p. 160
Narrative and Loss
Words in the Dark: A Personal Journey	p. 177
Reflections on the Dark	p. 205
The Dilemmas of Psychotherapy; the Healing Response of Midrash
The Danger of Cure, the Value of Healing: Toward a Midrashic Way of Being	p. 211
Midrashic Thinking: An Appreciation and a Caution	p. 234
The Narrative Turn in Jewish Bioethics
Aggadah and Midrash: A New Direction for Bioethics?	p. 245
Jewish Bioethics: Between Interpretation and Criticism	p. 263
What Takes Place and What Can Be Changed
A Midrash on the Mi Sheberakh: A Prayer for Persisting	p. 277
The Human Body and the Body Politic	p. 281
Notes	p. 293
Credits	p. 315
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