The Talmud on Medical Treatment by Non-Jews

[Hebrew] [One may obtain a treatment for payment from them but not for mental(health).]

What is treatment for payment, and what is treatment for mental [health]? If you say: Treatment for money [means] for money, treatment for mental [health means] for free, [the tanna] should have taught: One may obtain healing from them for money but not for free!

Rather, treatment for payment [refers to] a condition that does not involve danger, [while] treatment for mental [health refers] to a condition that does involve danger. But R. Judah said: Even for the incision of a scalpel [i.e., minor injury] one may not be treated by them!

Rather, treatment for payment [refers to] his livestock [veterinary medicine]; treatment for mental [health refers to] oneself. And this is indeed what R. Judah said: Even for the incision of a scalpel we are not to be treated by them. R. Hisda said Mar Uqva said: But if [the healer merely] tells [the patient]: Such-and-such a drug is good for it, such-and-such a drug is bad for it—it is permitted.

[Aramaic] He [the physician] reasons that [the patient] is asking him, [and] that just like he is asking him, he will also ask another person, and this man [the physician] will end up doing damage to himself [by ruining his reputation].

[Hebrew] Rava said R. Yoḥanan said—and some say, R. Hisda said R. Yoḥanan said: In a doubtful state of life or death, one may not obtain healing from them [non-Jewish physicians]; [if] death is certain, one may obtain healing from them.—[The tradition says] “dead,” but there is [still] life of an hour [remaining]!—We are not concerned about life of an hour. And on what basis do you say that we are not concerned about life of an hour? Because it is written: If we say “Let us enter the city,” the famine is in the city, and we shall die there (2 Kings 7:4, NRSV). There is [your] life of the hour! [The verse teaches that] we are not concerned about life of an hour.

They refuted: A person may not engage in commerce with the heretics, and one may not obtain healing from them—even for life of an hour.

An anecdote about Ben Dama, the son of R. Ishmael’s sister, whom a snake had bitten, and [var., heretical] Jacob the man from Kefar Sekhanya came to heal him, but R. Ishmael would not let him. And [Ben Dama] said to him, “R. Ishmael, my brother, leave him, and I will be healed by him, and I will bring a verse from the Torah that it is permitted!” But he did not get to complete his line before his soul departed and he died. R. Ishmael recited over him, “Fortunate are you, Ben Dama, that your body [remained] pure and your soul departed in purity, and that you did not transgress the words of your fellows, who used to say: And whoever breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake (Ecclesiastes 10:8). Heresy is different [from idolatry] because it attracts [i.e., people are led to follow after them].” The master had said: “You did not transgress the words of your fellows, who used to say: And whoever breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake. [Now,] this one was bitten by a snake as well! [This was] the snake of our rabbis, for which there is no remedy at all.” And what should [Ben Dama] have said? R. Naḥman bar Isaac said: And live by them (Leviticus 18:5)—and not that he should die by them. But [according to] R. Ishmael, these words [hold true] in private but not in public. For it was taught [in a baraita]: R. Ishmael used to say: Whence [do we derive] that if they tell a person, “Perform idolatry and you won’t be killed,” that he may perform and will not be killed? Scriptural tradition says: You shall not profane My holy name (Leviticus 22:32). Might this [hold true] even in public? Scriptural tradition says: You shall not profane My holy name.

Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah said R. Yoḥanan said: Any condition that we desecrate the Sabbath for—one may not obtain healing from them. And some say: Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah said R. Yoḥanan said: Any condition of the cavity, one may not obtain healing from them. What’s [the difference] between them? The back of the hand and the back of the foot are [the difference] between them, as R. Ada bar Matena said Rav said: The back of the hand and the back of the foot are like a condition of the cavity, and we desecrate the Sabbath for them. R. Zutra bar Tuvya said Rav said: For any condition that requires assessment, we desecrate the Sabbath. R. Shemen bar Abba said R. Yoḥanan said: And “burning fever” is equivalent to a condition of the cavity, and we desecrate the Sabbath for it.