Asaph the Jew (Hebrew: אסף היהודיAssaf HaYehudi), also known as Asaph ben Berechiah and Asaph the Physician (Hebrew: אסף הרופאAsaph HaRofè) is a figure mentioned in the ancient Jewish medical text the Sefer Refuot (lit. “Book of Medicines”). Thought by some to have been a Byzantine Jew[1] and the earliest known Hebrew medical writer,[2] he is however a rather uncertain figure who some have suggested is identifiable with the legendary mystical vizier Asif ibn Barkhiya of Arabian folklore, associated with King Solomon.[3] Scholars in favor of Asaph’s historicity suggest that he might have lived somewhere between the 3rd and 7th Centuries CE, possibly in Byzantine Palaestina or Mesopotamia. However, the text itself from which Asaph is known seems to place him between Hippocrates and Pedanius Dioscorides, which if chronological would imply that he might have been thought to have been between the 5th Century BCE and 1st Century CE, though this is very uncertain. The Sefer Refuot, the only known historical Jewish text to mention Asaph (and which he may have written or contributed to), is the earliest known Hebrew medical work, and thus of great historical significance.[4] The "Oath of Asaph" found in the text resembles the Hippocratic Oath[2][5] and was taken by medical students at their graduation.[6]
The Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center of Israel was named after him until 2017.
^Holo, J. Byzantine Jewry in the Mediterranean Economy 2009, p. 174
^ abRosner, Fred (1995). "Oath of Asaph". Medicine in the Bible and the Talmud: Selections from Classical Jewish Sources. KTAV Publishing House. pp. 182–186. ISBN 9780881255065.
^Lieber, Elinor (1984). "Asaf's "Book of Medicines": A Hebrew Encyclopedia of Greek and Jewish Medicine, Possibly Compiled in Byzantium on an Indian Model". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 38: 233–249. doi:10.2307/1291508. ISSN 0070-7546. JSTOR 1291508.
^Shatzmiller, Joseph (1994). Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society. University of California Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780520080591.
^Vaisrub, Samuel; A. Denman, Michael; Naparstek, Yaakov; Gilon, Dan (2008). "Medicine". Encyclopaedia Judaica. The Gale Group.
^"Oath of Asaph". Encyclopedia of Bioethics. The Gale Group Inc. 2004.
AsaphtheJew (Hebrew: אסף היהודי Assaf HaYehudi), also known as Asaph ben Berechiah and Asaphthe Physician (Hebrew: אסף הרופא Asaph HaRofè) is a figure...
Psalms of AsaphAsaphtheJew, sixth-century Jewish physician, author of: The Book of Asaph Saint Asaph, first bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph in Wales...
of Tel Aviv, Israel. The Medical Center was named after AsaphtheJew, author of the Oath of Asaph and an early medical text. The facility was established...
Western Europe The Book of Remedies, the earliest medical text written in Hebrew, to AsaphtheJew, dates to the seventh or eighth century. The text comprises...
Hebrew. Attributed or dedicated to Asaphthe Physician (also known as Asaph ben Berechiah; possibly a Byzantine Jew; or possibly identifiable with Asif...
over demons, control of the wind, reliance upon AsaphtheJew, and confederacy with the vulture are all well-attested themes in the Quran and subsequent...
The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes (Greek: Ῥωμανιῶτες, Rhomaniótes; Hebrew: רומניוטים, romanized: Romanyotim) are a Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community...
sources; only one Arabic plant-name occurs. He cites AsaphtheJew. In addition, he wrote a commentary to the Sefer Yetzirah, dealing almost wholly with astrology...
formulation says that theJews as a people have no future without a "spiritual center" in the Land of Israel. The earliest publication of the concept in Zionist...
Asaph, the sons of Korah, and Solomon, David's authorship is not accepted by most modern Bible scholars, who instead attribute the composition of the...
passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city...
about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Primarily set in Judaea and Galilee in the 1st century, the series centers on Jesus and the different...
throughout the Roman period and that the Roman Imperial treasury collected a good deal of the profits. Asaph Goor, in his 21-page article History of the Date...
unto Asaphthe keeper of the king's orchard (pardes), that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house...
of the year win". CNN. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019. St. Asaph, Katherine (19 December 2017). "The 20 Best...
peculiarities. The form Asaph seems to identify King Asa with the psalmist Asaph. Likewise, some see the form Amos for King Amon as suggesting the prophet Amos...
the force of this quotation 'I said ye are gods.' It is from theAsaph Psalm which begins 'Elohim hath taken His place in the mighty assembly. In the...
Psalm of Asaph, is the 50th psalm from the Book of Psalms in the Bible, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath...
that the sepulchers of David, Ezekiel, Asaph, Job, Jesse, and Solomon were located near Bethlehem. The Gospel of Matthew Matthew 1:18–2:23 and the Gospel...
did in 2022), Jews in Israel and Reform Jews read the parashah following Passover one week before Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora. In such...
Jews. The Talmudic sages wrote that every Jew should mourn the destruction of the Temple. The origin of the midnight time for prayer and study lies in...
Pretended Antiquities Relating to Britain, in Vindication of the Bishop of St. Asaph, New Ed., pp. 77 ff. Wm. Straker (London), 1840. Giraldus Cambriensis [Gerald...
(Hebrew: אלתר יצחק לוין; 4 January 1883 – 4 October 1933), also known by the pen name Asaph ha-Levi (Hebrew: אסף הלוי), was a Hebrew-language writer and poet...
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