It is hard to imagine the healing profession without Jews. The deeply rooted connection between Jewish society and medicine had its beginnings in the biblical statement: "Therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). It continued into medieval and early modern periods when Jewish physicians served as an important link of transmission of Arab medicine to Europe. In the modern period, Emancipation allowed Jewish physicians to play an active role in the development of new fields of medical research. More recently, Jewish thinkers and practitioners have grappled with the perplexing and challenging dilemmas resulting from devastating illness and persecution on the one hand, and from revolutionary advancements in technology and health care on the other.

The conference will explore various themes that define the Jews' historic encounter with medicine and healing: biblical religion and folk remedies, the emergence of medicine as a distinctive profession, the image of the Jewish doctor, the Jewish medical response to catastrophe and Jewish approaches to the distribution of health services.

Sunday night's program at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield will feature a keynote address by David B. Ruderman, Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History and director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Monday's three conference sessions will be hosted at McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the campus of Wayne State University.

For more information or to register, contact Sandy Loeffler, Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies, at (313) 577-2679. Media representatives should contact Steven Townsend, WSU School of Medicine, at (313) 577-1429.

Co-sponsored by The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies and the School of Medicine at Wayne State University