The Oath of Maimonides is a traditional oath for physicians attributed to Maimonides. It is not to be confused with the more lengthy Prayer of Maimonides. It is often used as an alternative to the Hippocratic Oath.
THE OATH
"The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. May the love for my art actuate me at all time; may neither avarice nor miserliness, nor thirst for glory or for a great reputation engage my mind; for the enemies of truth and philanthropy could easily deceive me and make me forgetful of my lofty aim of doing good to Thy children.
May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain.
Grant me the strength, time and opportunity always to correct what I have acquired, always to extend its domain; for knowledge is immense and the spirit of man can extend indefinitely to enrich itself daily with new requirements. Today he can discover his errors of yesterday and tomorrow he can obtain a new light on what he thinks himself sure of today.
Oh, God, Thou has appointed me to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures; here am I ready for my vocation and now I turn unto my calling."
Who is Maimonides and why was there a specific Maimonide oath for practicing medicine?
Maimonides, Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: משה בן-מימון), or Mūsā ibn Maymūn (Arabic: موسى بن ميمون)
A cute acronym is formed from the initials of his name: RaMBaM (Hebrew: רמב"ם – for "Rabbeinu Moshe Ben Maimon". ("Our Rabbi - Teacher Moses Son of Maimon")
Moshe Ben Maimon was a pre-eminent medieval Spanish, Sephardic Jewish philosopher, astronomer and one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physician of the Middle Ages.
Was he a good guy or a bad guy? To me he was what I will term a bad guy for this argument. Maimonides didn't like poetry or creativity and was extremely legalistic so to me this is a person in history who influenced history but was not truly enlightened although many thought he was.
His abject dislike for the beautiful art of poetry shows us this because poetry is the language of philosophers since time immemorial, but he didn't like it and found it to be false because it was born from the person and therefore was just a story.
When Maimonides was ten years old, the area where he lived Córdoba, was invaded by the Berbers.
A Berber dynasty, the Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148, and abolished the dhimma status (i.e., state protection of life and wealth) in some of their territories. The loss of this protected status threatened the Jewish and Christian communities with conversion to Islam, death, or exile.Source: Wikipedia
The historical records of abuses against Jews in the immediate post-1148 period are subject to different interpretations.
Many Jews were forced to convert, but due to suspicion by the authorities of fake conversions, the new converts had to wear identifying clothing that set them apart and made them subject to public scrutiny.
So why did they have a different oath? Because they were Hebrew that is why and the Hebrews observed special holidays / holy days in their healing.
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
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