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Stanley M. Fried, MD
Southern California Permanente Medical Group Long Beach

JAMA. 1984;251(18):2348-2349.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Being a physician who strongly advocates the traditional observance of biblical laws, I found the recent letter entitled "Rare Medical Occurrences in Jewish Traditions"¹ to be very interesting.

But what struck me most (in a sadly humorous way) was that in a one-sentence, nonmedical judgment at the beginning of the letter ("Jewish religion has developed a set of practices and mores aimed at protecting health"), the authors managed to incorporate two of the biggest misconceptions about the Jewish way of life. If their statement were true, then the reporting of the cases that followed in their letter would be extremely threatening and destructive to Jewish faith. (Yet, after 3,500 years, Jewish faith is undaunted and unshaken, even strengthened, by episodes of physical suffering.)

Rather, Jewish observances are based on divine decrees, not "developed" by man. And the purpose of the observance of these laws is the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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