In this issue we have articles, in Hebrew, by Professor Avi Ohry, on sanatoria in the Land of Israel, and by Reuven Gafni, on Russian-born Olga Feinberg who served the Arab and Jewish communities in Jericho during the British Mandate until forced to leave, with the destruction of her home, during the riots of 1936–1939. Dror Hubara looks at the example of providing quality medical care in a poor neighborhood in Israel, that of the old Yemenite settlement of Kfar Shiloaḥ close to the Mount of Olives, which came to an end in 1939. Moshe Pinchuk considers Hippocratic and Mesopotamian medicine in the texts of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. In her intriguing article Adaya Hadar looks at how the human pulse and its rhythms were understood by the early Hassidic masters, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, in different spiritual and metaphysical ways. Zipora Shehory-Rubin and Shifra Shvarts contribute an important addition to our understanding of school doctors from the Ottoman period till the end of the British Mandate. This saw the beginnings of provision of health services to students, pioneered by physicians like Dr. Hillel Yaffe (1864–1936) and Dr. Mordechai Brachyahu (1882–1959), first hygienist physician in Israel. In the English section Samuel Kottek also looks at medicine in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, reviewing several texts on medicine and hygiene, while Edward Reichman features an unusual medical halachic case tried many times as a ritual murder and focusing, partly, on the religious practices of Jews regarding removing a fetus at the time of death, or soon after. Much has been written about Mordechai Gumpel (Gumpertz) Schnaber Leviso(h)n and his role in the early Haskalah movement but Kenneth Collins’ paper concentrates on the years he spent in London and the links he established there with Christian Hebraists and freemasons, as well as on his medical studies with the famed Hunter brothers and his London medical practice and writings. His short Historical Note examines the question whether the early enlightenment rabbi, Baruch Schick of Shklov, was in London in the early 1770s during the time of Levisohn’s period there. Ephraim Nissan looks at the life and death of the Polish-Jewish neurologist Maksymilian Rose (1883–1937), considering the causes of his sudden death in prewar Vilna, which still has significance some eighty years later. Prof. Avi Ohry offers an important account of the career of Berthe Neoussikine (Batia Nose-Chen), a largely forgotten figure from rehabilitation medicine and electro-physiology in France and Israel. Korot has been carrying articles from the regular workshops and conferences on Medicine and the Shoah organized by Boaz Cohen, Miriam Offer and Shmuel Reis and, following the international event held in Akko last year, we plan to publish several papers on this topic in our next issue.

The present volume 23 of Korot has as main topics, first, embryology in Jewish and ancient Middle Eastern sources, and second, medicine in the Holocaust. The section on embryology consists of six articles, four of which were presented in a symposium entitled “On Fetuses, Infants and everything in-between through the Ages,” which was held at the Van Leer Institute on March 30, 2015. The meeting was sponsored by the Israel Society for the History of Medicine and by Korot, and organized by Dr. Israela Nili. Three of the papers concentrate on ancient Mesopotamia: Dr. Couto-Ferreira describes embryological data in Akkadian and Sumerian texts, Prof. Klein expounds embryological issues in the omen literature, and Prof. Fleishman discusses some of the legal aspects of parenthood. Prof. Cohen analyzes the influence of Septuagint translation in the debate concerning abortion. Two additional papers deal with later Hellenistic sources: Prof. Kottek and Dr. Paavilainen discuss the contribution of Philo the Alexandrian and Prof. van der Horst examines Hellenistic Christian sources, respectively. The section on the Holocaust includes three studies. Dr. van den Ende’s paper describes the ethical dilemmas faced by the Jewish doctors in Holland during the Nazi occupation. It was first presented in the workshop of the 15th Nahariya Conference on Medicine and the Holocaust (May 6, 2015), convened by Prof. Shaul Shasha. Dr. Schwoch deals with the same issue from the point of view of the Jewish Krankenbehandler in Germany. Dr. Offer’s bibliographical review, the first part of which has been published in Korot, volume 22, describes the development of academic research in Jewish medicine in the Holocaust from the third decade after the Holocaust until the first decade of the 21st century. The rest of the articles presented in this volume concentrate on the life and work of several Jewish physicians, the only exception being Prof. Nissan’s paper on hybrid animals in Jewish sources. Prof. McDonald analyzes the story of the Jewish personal physician of Charles the Bald, accused by later authors of having poisoned the king. Prof. Gath discusses a similar topic: Jan III Sobieski and his Jewish physician, who was later blamed for having caused his death. Dr. Nevins casts new light on the mystery of Vesalius’ Jewish friend and adviser in Hebrew medical terms. Prof. Shḥori-Rubin’s work on Dr. Fanny Lvova continues her series of articles on Jewish pioneer women doctors. Dr. Paavilainen describes Isaac Israeli’s way of diagnosing the complex symptoms of consumption. Prof. Freudenthal summarizes the different pressures affecting medieval Jewish physicians and explains on the basis of a contemporary source why science did not thrive among the Jewish scholars of Provence. The volume is, as usual, bilingual (12 articles in English, 4 in Hebrew), with contributions from Spain, Holland, Germany, Britain, USA, France, and of course Israel.

This issue discusses two main topics: "Serpents in Jewish Lore" - a trans­cultural topic treated as such in four essays and Holocaust Medical Studies. The latter will henceforth be considered a regular topic in KOROT , and will include a selected number of studies presented at the annual meetings of the Nahariya Conferences on Medicine in the Holocaust, convened by Prof. Shaul Shasha. Contents EDITORIAL The Serpent in Medicine, Medical Culture and the Jewish Tradition Ephraim Nissan The Cyclical Snake in Jewish Sources: An Examination of Occurrences of the Ouroboros Samuel Kottek The Serpent in the Talmud Kathleen Walker-Meikle Toxicology and Treatment: Medical Authorities and Snake-Bite in the Middle Ages Helena Paavilainen Viper Bite Therapies in Maimonides‘ On Poisons and the Protection against Lethal Drugs Holocaust Studies Miriam Offer The Study of Jewish Medicine during the Holocaust: Its Creation and Preliminary Steps Etienne Lepicard True Friendship or Relation against Nature? The Libman-Carrel Correspondence, 1923–1934 Peter Schwarzand and Wolfgang Neugebauer Medicine without Humanity: A Brief Outline of the History of Nazi Euthanasia in Vienna, Austria, 1938­1945 Kenneth Collins Practicing Humanity: Four Medical Practitioners and their Holocaust Legacy Varia Moshe Feinsod A Distant Reflection: The Physician in the Eye of the Jewish Medieval Satirist Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1287­1337?) Zalman Greenbergand and Anton Alexander Professor Israel Jacob Kligler: Listof Publications HISTORICALNOTES Kenneth Collins Samuel Levenston: An Historical Footnote Avi Ohry Jewish Physicians and Scientists' Historical Contributions to Society Korot of the Past Joshua O. Leibowitz The 25th Anniversary of Koroth L. Wislicki The Day of Nazification of a Hospital in Berlin BOOK REVIEWS Wolfgang Uwe Eckart: Medizin in der NS­Diktatur: Ideologic, Praxis, Folgen, 2012. Danielle Gourevitch: Limos kai Loimos: A Study of the Galenic Plague, 2013. Regis­Nessim Sachs: Medecins juifs du Xe au XVIIe siecle, 2014. Robert Weston: Medical Consulting by Letter in France 1665­1789, 2013.

The production of this issue of Korot has marked the completion of a lengthy program of study in aspects of infectious diseases in the Holy Land over the past century or so. My own studies in the management of trachoma by the Yishuv during the British Mandate illustrated many of the features which characterized the Zionist movement of the period. These included the sense of community care and of nation building and the concern to create a new society. For some years there had been plans to bring together the research conducted by various Israeli academics working in a range of university settings on aspects of infectious diseases into one printed forum. Therefore, this issue of Korot represents the fruits of many areas of study into many different diseases as they have affected the population of the Land of Israel, with an introduction by Nadav Davidovich and Rakefet Zalashik, who have long shared my determination that this collection of essays should be published within a single volume, which sets the scene for the essays which are included here. Korot has long had a reputation for stimulating research into many aspects of the Jews and medicine, and I have relished the opportunity afforded to me to work in Jerusalem as an active member of the Editorial Board in close conjunction with Professor Samuel Kottek and with Dr. Helena Paavilainen. Medical history in Israel continues to flourish in a number of different settings, and research continues in many contemporary fields, whether it relates to social aspects of health and disease, medicine and the Holocaust, or as we portray here, to the wider impact of infectious diseases on the land and its peoples. Having a special collection of essays in this issue is an occasion of significance for the study of medical history in Israel, and it underlines the importance of this journal in showcasing the best of Israeli studies in the history of medicine. This theme of infectious diseases is also represented in this issue by a collection of essays resulting from a Symposium entitled “A Leper is Like a Dead Person,” which was held at the Van Leer Institute on June 2, 2010. The meeting was sponsored by the School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University (Ein Karem campus) and by the National Center for Hansen’s Disease at Hadassah Hospital. Organized by Dr. Yisraela Nili, it brought together many different aspects of this enigmatic medical and sociological phenomenon from ancient times to modern Israel. As the editor of Vesalius: the Journal of the International Society for the History of Medicine I have had a first-hand opportunity to see the vitality of medical history studies around the world. Israeli researchers have taken a prominent role on the world stage whether in the Congresses and Meetings of the International Society or in the submitted articles to Vesalius. Professor Samuel Kottek has long been an honored figure in the International Society, and Professor Shifra Shvarts is the Society’s Business Manager. It was interesting to see at the recent International Society Congress in Padua/Abano the continuing presence of Jewish historical issues, from the enduring presence of Jewish medical students to the role of the converso physician. While there may be no independent entity of “Jewish medicine,” the confluence of the Jews and medicine remains an area of fascination which retains the power to excite, to instruct, and for us all to learn and to share. Thus, the Editorial Board of Korot is always open to original contributions and communications on the history of Jews and medicine, medicine in Jewish sources as well as medical history topics relating to Israel. Dr. Kenneth Collins, Guest Editor

Korot is unique as the only journal devoted to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science. To quote Prof. Leibowitz (z”l), one of the first initiators of Korot, the purpose of the publication is: ...preference for topics based on sources not readily accessible to our colleagues abroad in their researches. Avoiding, as far as possible, a narrow parochial approach, we hope to enlarge the knowledge of medical historical facts and concepts in a field often regarded as somewhat esoteric.1 It is our hope that the present volume of Korot has succeeded in this endeavor. Our special thanks are due to Dr. Kenneth Collins for his kind assistance in the proofreading stage. Our next issue will emphasize the subject of Jews and medicine in the Renaissance period, e.g., Tuviah Cohen and Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo. Our readers are warmly invited to submit articles connected with these subjects, but also any other historical essays related to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science, for publication. Letters to the editor and brief historical notes are also welcome.

The publication of Korot 2007–2008 has to our regret been seriously delayed. There has, however, already been considerable interest toward the next issues, and thus we trust that Volume 20 will appear within the annual timetable. The main part of this issue of Korot consists of research reports from a workshop on the subject “History as Argument in Biomedicine: Representations of National Socialist ‘Euthanasia’ Between Politics and Historiography, ca. 1945–2000.” This workshop was part of a research project in the context of the Coordinated Research Program “Cultures of Memory” (Sonderforschungsbereich “Erinnerungskulturen”) located at the University of Giessen, Germany. The meeting took place in Beit Hagath in Ein Karem, Jerusalem, on January 29th, 2007. Other themes presented in this volume include questions on the experimental method and on reproductive choices as seen in Talmudic literature, on medieval Jewish physicians in the Arabic cultural area, on Karaite physicians, and on the relationship between modern medicine and the Kabbala, ending with the early stages of the medical profession in Eretz Israel. They thus cover nearly 2,000 years of Jewish medical history. The volume is, as usual, bilingual (English and Hebrew), with contributions from Germany, France and Finland, in addition to Israel. Korot is unique as the only journal devoted to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science. To quote Prof. Leibowitz (z”l), one of the first initiators of Korot, the purpose of the publication is: ...preference for topics based on sources not readily accessible to our colleagues abroad in their researches. Avoiding, as far as possible, a narrow parochial approach, we hope to enlarge the knowledge of medical historical facts and concepts in a field often regarded as somewhat esoteric.1 It is our hope that the present volume of Korot has succeeded in this endeavor. Our special thanks are due to Dr. Kenneth Collins for his kind assistance in the proofreading stage. Our next issue will emphasize the subject of Jews and medicine in the Renaissance period, e.g., Tuviah Cohen and Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo. Our readers are warmly invited to submit articles connected with these subjects, but also any other historical essays related to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science, for publication. Letters to the editor and brief historical notes are also welcome. Helena Paavilainen Guest editor

Korot is devoted to the study of the philosophical, sociological and ethical aspects of the history of medicine and Judaism. The topics covered by the Journal include: medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi period. Korot is published annually. Each volume contains mostly English-language articles, together with some Hebrew contributions (abstracted in English). The "Historical Notes" and "Notes and Events" sections cover recent important developments and events in the above mentioned topics around the world. Each issue also includes several reviews of noteworthy books and contributions to the field. Korot is sponsored by The Dr. Manuel & Helen Glazier Memorial Fund of The American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel, and the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage. Its editorial board comprises scholars from the USA, France, Germany, UK and Israel. Korot is the organ of the Israel Association of the History of Medicine, of the Harry Friedenwald Chair of the History of Medicine and of the M. Glazier Institute of the History of Medicine, Jerusalem. Its past editor was the late Professor Joshua O. Leibowitz and the present editor is Professor Samuel S. Kottek, M.D.

Korot is devoted to the study of the philosophical, sociological and ethical aspects of the history of medicine and Judaism. The topics covered by the Journal include: medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi period. Korot is published annually. Each volume contains mostly English-language articles, together with some Hebrew contributions (abstracted in English). The "Historical Notes" and "Notes and Events" sections cover recent important developments and events in the above mentioned topics around the world. Each issue also includes several reviews of noteworthy books and contributions to the field. Korot is sponsored by The Dr. Manuel & Helen Glazier Memorial Fund of The American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel, and the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage. Its editorial board comprises scholars from the USA, France, Germany, UK and Israel. Korot is the organ of the Israel Association of the History of Medicine, of the Harry Friedenwald Chair of the History of Medicine and of the M. Glazier Institute of the History of Medicine, Jerusalem. Its past editor was the late Professor Joshua O. Leibowitz and the present editor is Professor Samuel S. Kottek, M.D.

Korot is devoted to the study of the philosophical, sociological and ethical aspects of the history of medicine and Judaism. The topics covered by the Journal include: medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi period. Korot is published annually. Each volume contains mostly English-language articles, together with some Hebrew contributions (abstracted in English). The "Historical Notes" and "Notes and Events" sections cover recent important developments and events in the above mentioned topics around the world. Each issue also includes several reviews of noteworthy books and contributions to the field. Korot is sponsored by The Dr. Manuel & Helen Glazier Memorial Fund of The American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel, and the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage. Its editorial board comprises scholars from the USA, France, Germany, UK and Israel. Korot is the organ of the Israel Association of the History of Medicine, of the Harry Friedenwald Chair of the History of Medicine and of the M. Glazier Institute of the History of Medicine, Jerusalem. Its past editor was the late Professor Joshua O. Leibowitz and the present editor is Professor Samuel S. Kottek, M.D.