Tikvah
Subscribe
MosaicImage of Mosaic
Editor's Pick

September 17, 2015

Following an Ancient Custom, Israeli Cancer Patients Take New Names

Would a patient by another name really be as sick?

Moses Maimonides, citing the Talmud, suggests changing one’s name as a way of repenting for sin. It is a measure also traditionally taken by the gravely ill. Benjamin Corn, an oncologist who works in Israel, estimates that some 15 percent of his patients change their names. He writes:

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Get the best Jewish ideas and conversations. Subscribe to Tikvah Ideas All Access for

Login or Subscribe
Save

September 17, 2015

  1. The State Department’s Mealy-Mouthed Response to UNRWA’s Anti-Semitism

    The message: we don’t care.

  2. What Is Russia Up To in Syria, and Why Is the U.S. Standing Idly By?

    Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin share an agenda of reducing American influence in the Middle East.

  3. Confronting the Past in Jedwabne

    Telling the truth about an infamous massacre in Poland.

  4. Following an Ancient Custom, Israeli Cancer Patients Take New Names

    Would a patient by another name really be as sick?

  5. Mahmoud Abbas’s Failed Attempt to Revive the PLO

    He is now threatening to renounce the Oslo Accords.