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*1986 General Foods Corporation

IT COULDN'T BE ANYTHING BUT MAXWELL HOUSE:

68

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1988

LOOKING BACK

Talmudic Rabbis Had
Alcohol Awareness

Jerusalem — Alcohol abuse
is not necessarily a modern
phenomenon. In the first cen-
tury C.E., the rabbis of the
Talmudic period were con-
scious of the danger to the
Jewish community of ex-
cessive drinking, said a lec-
turer at a recent symposium
at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem on "Medicine in
Bible and Talmud."
Speaking on the theme of
"The Roots of Jewish Sobrie-
ty," Prof. Leon D. Hankoff, of
the New Jersey Medical
School, said that the rabbis'
concern for excessive drink-
ing of wine is expressed in
various Talmudic references,
indicating that the problem of
alcohol excess during the first
and following centuries must
have been of some social con-
sequence. A complex set of
controls and cultural in-
fluences were marshalled to
produce an effective pattern
for moderation in drinking
among Jews, said Hankoff.
While Judaism rejects
drunkenness, it does not ad-
vocate abstinence, and as a
result a system of preserving
the pleasure of moderate
drinking while abhorring ex-
cessive drinking was con-
structed, he said. The various
influences within Judaism
which have served to preserve
a moderate approach to
drinking, according to Prof.
Hankoff, include: a stress on
the ceremonial use of wine,
which may, indirectly, inhibit
casual drinking of a non-
ritual nature; an ancient cau-
tionary heritage against
drinking to excess, such as
that to which Noah and Lot
fell victim in biblical ac-
counts; a theme throughout
Jewish literature which por-
trays the drunkard as a
negative stereotype; contact
with ascetic traditions; com-
mandments which curb ex-
travagent or ostentatious con-
sumption; and restrictions in
Jewish law regarding wine
and other substances which
might lead to social inter-
course with non-Jews, thus
limiting opportunities for
social drinking.
In another paper presented
at the conference, author
Helen Wessel of the Apple
Tree Family Ministries, La
Mesa, Calif., argued that the
"curse of Eve" concept — that
woman was "cursed" with
childbirth pain because of
Eve's sin in the Garden of
Eden — arises from a
misinterpretation of the Bi-
ble. She said the "curse" in-
terpretation can be traced
back to the early Christian

church, which viewed all sex,
even within marriage, as sin-
ful and thereby leading to
pain.
This negative concept was
heightened during the 16th
and 17th centuries, when
there was a large migration
to overcrowded and un-
sanitary cities in Europe and
when childbirth did indeed
present great risks to the
health and even life of the
mother, said Wessel.
A true rendering from the
Hebrew of the biblical ac-
count of Eve teaches us that
toil or labor would be a more
accurate translation for the
passage- that speaks of
childbirth following the
banishment from Eden, said
Wessel. Indeed, she said,

The "curse"
interpretation can
be traced back to
the early Christian
church, which
viewed all sex as
sinful.

nearly all accounts of
childbirth in the biblical
literature tell of the joy of the
mother at the time of birth,
and in only one instance, that
of the birth of Benjamin to
Rachel, is there a case of
childbirth death.
of
practice
The
"Shunamitism" — the use of
a young woman to warm an
old man and thus allegedly
contribute to his state of
health — was described by Dr.
Danielle Gourevitch of the
University of Paris as a kind
of pseudo-medical prescrip-
tion that was fashionable in
decadent French society in
the 17th and 18th centuries.
The practice takes its name
from the biblical story of King
David, who in his old age was
attended to by Avishag, the
Shunamite. David's advisors,
said Dr. Gourevitch, had
hoped that the young maiden
would restore the king's
potency, and that health per
se was not a consideration. It
was only in later generations
that some medical practi-
tioners, borrowing on the
story of David, claimed that
"Shunamitism" — utilizing
the warmth of a young body
— would counteract the lack
of body heat in the elderly
and contribute to health and
longevity, she said. In truth,
she added, there is no real
historical connection between
the story of David and
Shunamitism.

