SEFER MA‘ASEH TOVIYYAH (TREATISE ON SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY), TOBIAS COHN, VENICE: STAMPARIA BRAGIDINA, 1707

During the seventeenth century, the only Jews in Central and Eastern Europe who had an opportunity for advanced secular education were those who trained as physicians. In 1678, Tobias ben Moses Cohn (1652-1729) succeeded, with the intervention of the great elector, Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688), in gaining admission to the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. When the Lutheran faculty refused to admit Jewish students to doctoral examinations, however, he was unable to obtain his degree and so went to Padua to complete his training. He later practiced medicine in Poland and in Turkey, where he became physician to five successive sultans in Constantinople, before retiring to a life of Torah study in Jerusalem.

Sefer ma‘aseh toviyyah, Cohn’s magnum opus, is an encyclopedia treating theology, astronomy, cosmography, geography, and botany, with medicine occupying about half of the work. The author describes the system of Copernicus but rejects it on religious grounds. On the other hand, he enthusiastically endorses William Harvey’s newly-discovered system of blood circulation. He also stresses the chemical aspect of stomach ailments, in contrast to the then-still-prevalent conception of Galen. He further discusses at some length plica polonica, a disease of the hair then common in Poland, as well as his theories relating to infant care and pediatrics, which were advanced by the standards of his era.

Although Cohn adheres to a traditional model of medicine, he is fully conscious of new trends, especially in surgery and in chemistry. He applies exact measurements in his scientific work, especially in thermometry. One of Cohn’s innovations is the comparison of the human body to a house. The head was the roof, the ears were the spires, the eyes were the windows, the nose was the closed windows, and the mouth and lips were the doorway to the upper story; the shoulders were the top of the middle story, the liver and gallbladder were the stove and oven, the stomach was the kitchen, the spleen was the cellar, and the legs were the foundations. He subscribed to many popular remedies, such as laxatives, emetics, cupping glasses, and bloodletting, but he argued forcefully against superstitions. 

Profusely illustrated, Sefer ma‘aseh toviyyah is also rich in historical references. For example, Cohn describes the lingering effects of Sabbatianism; in a seeming reference to his own brother-in-law, Rabbi Jair Hayyim Bacharach (1638-1702), he writes, “Even many of the sages of the land and the great renowned rabbis, whom I would not want to mention publicly, accepted [Shabbetai Zevi] as master and king over them.”

A full-page copperplate portrait of the author appears on the verso of the first title page. On the following leaf is a poem in honor of Cohn written by his teacher at the University of Padua medical school, Solomon Conegliano (Conian; 1642-1719), who also contributed the preface to the book. Several pages of approbations include rabbinic haskamot as well as a number of tributes from fellow physicians, in both poetry and prose.

Literature

Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, Sifrei yesod: sifrei ha-yesod shel ha-sifriyyah ha-yehudit ha-toranit (n.p.: Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, 2019), 146 (no. 513).

Vinograd, Venice 1572