What’s a doctor doing on this list of occupations to avoid? TB Kiddushin 82

With today’s daf TB Kiddushin 82 we not only finish our massekhet, but also Seder Nashim. Today’s daf discusses which occupations men should avoid. Occupations like a peddler where men come into regular contact with women should be avoided because the temptation to engage in illicit sex is great. Other occupations do not have a good reputation because the temptation to sin is great. “Abba Guryan of Tzadyan says in the name of Abba Gurya: A person may not teach his son the trades of a donkey driver, a camel driver, a pot maker, a sailor, a shepherd, or a storekeeper. ” (Sefaria.org translation) According to Rashi stealing or thievery is commonplace in these occupations. For example, a shepherd will graze his sheep on other peoples’ property. A shopkeeper is tempted to gouge the customer by overcharging him.

Can you imagine a time when Jewish parents didn’t encourage their children to enter the medical profession? Until modern medicine, doctors did not have a very good reputation because they did not often have positive outcomes for their patients. Ambrose Bierce defined a doctor as a person you set your hopes on when you’re ill and your dogs on when you’re well in his book The Devil’s Dictionary. The sages in the Talmud also didn’t hold doctors in high esteem when they said, “The best of doctors is to Gehenna (Hell-gg)”(Sefaria.org translation)

This statement about doctors has been explained in many different ways. Rashi gives many different explanations. The doctor doesn’t fear the sick, feeds him inappropriate food, isn’t humble before God, sometimes he kills the patient, and finally he withholds treatment to a poor person who cannot afford his fee. Rashi’s Bet Midrash explains that sometimes the doctor will accidentally give the patient the wrong medication and kill him as well as being haughty. The Meiri writes that sometimes the doctor will prematurely despair of treating the patient and causes his death; consequently, he won’t try enough to treat him successfully. He won’t acknowledge the nature of the illness and pretends he knows. The Maharsha highlights the word “best” to say that a good doctor often has too high of opinion of himself and won’t consult with experts greater than him. Why does he inherit  Gehenna? Rabbi Akiva Eiger explained that the doctors good attributes will lead him astray. Sometimes a doctor will have compassion for his patient and not prescribe the necessary but painful procedure. Alternately he speaks the truth and reveals to the patient the seriousness of his position and is honest by telling the patient that he has no hope of recovery.

How times have changed! We are so lucky to live in an era with so many great breakthroughs in modern medicine. And everybody knows today that Jewish doctors are renown as some the best doctors in the world.

Tomorrow we begin Baba Kamma in Seder Nezikin!