There are several equivalents of Hippocratic oaths in Jewish law. At least 2 come to mind which I will label A, B. Note that these oaths are not only on educators; they are on students also.
Oath, Actually Prayer, A: See TB, Beracoth 28b (Soncino Translation) MISHNAH. R. NEHUNIA B. HA-KANEH USED TO SAY A PRAYER AS HE ENTERED THE BETH HA-MIDRASH AND AS HE LEFT IT — A SHORT PRAYER. THEY SAID TO HIM: WHAT SORT OF PRAYER IS THIS? HE REPLIED: WHEN I ENTER, I PRAY THAT NO OFFENCE SHOULD OCCUR THROUGH ME, AND WHEN I LEAVE I EXPRESS THANKS FOR MY LOT.
The Talmud commenting on this elaborates with the following unabridged prayer: May it be Thy will, O Lord my God, that no offence may occur through me, and that I may not err in a matter of halachah and that my colleagues may rejoice in me and that I may not call unclean clean or clean unclean, and that my colleagues may not err in a matter of halachah and that I may rejoice in them’. On his leaving, what does he say? I give thanks to Thee, O Lord my God, that Thou hast set my portion with those who sit in the Beth ha-Midrash and Thou hast not set my portion with those who sit in [street] corners, for I rise early and they rise early, but I rise early for words of Torah and they rise early for frivolous talk; I labor and they labor, but I labor and receive a reward and they labor and do not receive a reward; I run and they run, but I run to the life of the future world and they run to the pit of destruction.
Oath, Curse, B: See TB Nedarim 81a, BM 85a, b: The Talmud equates the blessing on the Torah, required of all Jews to say each morning prior to learning, as an oath. It affirms that the learning is not to amass knowledge but to enter relationship with God. Failure to do so, objectifies the Torah and makes it devoid of God-Human (I-thou) relationship. Here is the actual source which quite startlingly blames the destruction of the Israel on lack of recitation of a blessing!
For Rab Judah said in Rab's name: What is meant by, Who is the wise man, that he may understand this [. . . for what is the land destroyed etc.] (Jer 9:11)? Now, this question was put to the Sages, Prophets, and Ministering Angels,12 but they could not answer it, until the Almighty Himself did so, as it is written, And the Lord said, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein (Jer 9:10): but is not have not obeyed my voice identical with, neither walked therein? Rab Judah said in Rab's name: [It means] that they did not first recite a benediction over the Torah.
This is further amplified in my paper, "Towards a Definition of Torah," Vol. 3,4, 1975, www.Rashiyomi.com/torah-science.pdf . There I cite the Rav (Rabbi Dr. Joseph Dov Solveitchick) who cites Rambam, Hilcoth Talmud Torah 1:8 that **all** people must study the Torah even if they are elderly, sick, weak, or disabled. The Rav responded, "Really? How can one concentrate if one is elderly, sick, weak or disabled?"
The Rav resolved this problem by citing a Leviticus Rabbah 19:2 talking about a King who ordered his servants to fill pails with water. The catch is the pails had wholes. The foolish servants asked, "What point is there in filling these pails: Whatever goes in will go out?" But the wise servants pointed out that by filling the pails, the insides of the pails would get washed.
The Rav then introduced two functions for learning Torah: 1) Amassing knowledge and 2) Cleansing the soul by relating to God. The Rav said that the Rambam believed there is a commandment to learn even if the learning is not retained (so to speak the learning enters one side of the head and leaves the other). The purpose of the learning is spiritual cleanliness.
Thus, we see that we have several sources - the prayer and prior blessing - that point to an oath indicating our serious obligations when learning.
Russell Jay Hendel; Ph.D., A.S.A., www.Rashiyomi.com/
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2017 07:28AM by mlb.
