[Avodah] Book review: Alternative Medicine in Halachah

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger asked:

> And yes, Chazal predate double blind experiments and rely on
> chazaqah. Do we necessarily switch when we come up with better
> standards for testing medicine?

R' Joel Rich responded:

> The following statement was made , "The rabbis of the Talmud
> certainly didn't use a chi-squared test or regression and
> correlation analysis as we know it, they did operate with
> sophisticated levels of statistical analysis, the best of what
> was known to them in their time."
>
> I'd appreciate specific examples

I recently tried to learn a bit about Techum Shabbos. I was very
surprised to find an entire siman (#399, with eleven se'ifim), giving
details of exactly how the techum is to be measured. For example, the
first se'if specifies that we must use a linen rope exactly 50 amos
long. I was very surprised that the halacha would write such things,
rather than simply presuming that we'd be smart enough to use whatever
procedures are generally accepted as accurate.

This question is ask by both the Mishna Berura and Aruch Hashulchan,
who observe that there is nothing better for this purpose than a
surveyor's chain made of barzel (whatever barzel is... ;-)  However,
they answer, Chazal learned from Navi that *this* is proper way to do
it.

The relevance to this thread: My guess is that the MB and AhS might
agree that current technology can/should be used when it offers better
procedures for determination of objective facts (such as measuring
distances), provided there are no Chazals that specify a particular
procedure. But even though statistical analysis is an objective
science, the question of "Is this medicine reliable?" is a subjective
one, and tradition might rule.

Akiva Miller