daf bit: Gittin 69

[cellio]

The mishna teaches that if a man is seized with delerium his instruction to write a get is disregarded. The gemara asks what delerium is. From this begins a discussion (several pages in length) of various medical conditions and their cures. Some examples from today's daf:

• For cataracts, take a scorpion with seven colors of stripe, dry, mix with stibium, and drop in the eyes. (Careful not to use too much!)
• For night-blindness there is a complex ritual involving tying one's leg to a dog, processing through the streets with children calling out, and feeding the dog from different houses.
• For toothache, crush garlic, put it on the thumbnail (on the side corresponding to the tooth), and wrap it in dough, but do not let it touch his flesh lest it cause leprosy.
• For stomach pain, drink 100 grains of long pepper in wine daily for three days.

(67b mishna, 69a-b gemara)

(I suggest that this last one will at least alter your stomach-ache. :-) As for the scorpion... err, what?)

Comments

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

I don't follow. You indicate that the spirit forbids "addictive qualities." Wouldn't that still preclude caffeine?

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

The revelation specifies "hot drinks" which at the time (1833) meant coffee and tea, and not caffeine per se as an individual ingredient. So in theory foods and drinks that include caffeine, like Coke and chocolate, are acceptable as long as one is not addicted to them.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

"...as long as one is not addicted to them."

This is a slippery slope that ends with, "But I can quit at any time!"

Thanks for the clarifications below. Very instructive.

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

Ah, human nature!

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

This explains it a lot better than I can!
http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/Word_of_Wisdom_Caffeine_and_Hypocrisy.html