Q&A: Studying Medicine
Studying Medicine
Question
Hello. Seemingly there is a commandment to preserve one’s health. If so, why is studying medicine not considered Torah? Like any study that is a way of fulfilling a commandment?
Answer
There is also a commandment to sit in a sukkah. So why isn’t studying carpentry Torah? Not to mention studying baking, since there is the commandment of having two loaves.
Two mistakes here: 1. You can fulfill the commandment without studying medicine. Simply get guidance from doctors. 2. Even if it were impossible to fulfill it otherwise, not every study of such a thing is Torah. The study is perhaps a means to fulfilling a commandment, but it is not Torah.
Discussion on Answer
Well, that’s a question I can’t answer here. I’ve devoted articles and books to it. You can, for example, look at the lecture series currently being given on study and halakhic ruling, especially the last few lectures (I’ve now given lecture 22). You can also look at columns 582–3.
What, in your view, is the conceptual definition of “Torah”?