[Avodah] Chazal accept medicinal treatments

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Thu Aug 22 14:52:32 PDT 2019


On Tue, Aug 20, 2019 at 09:58:42PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
>> Chazal didn't have double-blind testing or a field of statistics. Instead,
>> something that worked three times was considered effective 

> So 3 out of 10 (100....) is all good?

We asked this before without getting an answer.

They only talk about establishing a qemeia mumcheh or a rofei mumcheh or a
refu'ah. They don't talk about counter-evidence. And yet one doesn't need
to know that 3 out of hundreds of uses is more likely to be a fluke or
"coincidence" (if your theology allows for actual coincidences) than
proof the medicine worked.

I looked in the gemara already discussed, in the SA (OC 301:25), Tur,
and Rambam Hil' Shabbos 19:14.

Maybe someone else knows.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Take time,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   be exact,
Author: Widen Your Tent      unclutter the mind.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF          - Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm


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