In an upcoming episode of the Mosaic podcast, Yehudah Halper will discuss the medical works of Moses Maimonides, which continued to be studied by Jewish scholars in the centuries after his death. Later generations of Jews added their own contributions to the Jewish medical corpus, of which the most influential was likely a book titled Ma’aseh Tuviah by Tuviah Cohen, also known as Tuviah the Healer (1652–1729). Edward Reichman recently uncovered some documents related to Tuviah and his close friend and fellow physician Gabriel Felix. In his mind, the documents cast a very interesting light on the beginning of these two Polish Jews’ medical educations:

Tuviah and Gabriel were the very first Jewish students allowed to attend a medical school in Germany, the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. This was only possible through the intercession of Friedrich Wilhelm, the “great elector” of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia, who ruled from 1640 to 1688. Part of the arrangement in exchange for Tuviah and Gabriel’s matriculation, as explicitly stated by the duke, was for them to provide instruction in Hebrew language and grammar to the German university students. Tuviah and Gabriel happened to be particularly proficient in this area. Another transparent intent was for these young impressionable Jews to become “enlightened” and ultimately convert to Christianity.

Tuviah’s medical application took the form of a poem he wrote for the duke. . . . The choice of Hebrew as the language of the sonnet betrays the duke’s linguistic interests in Tuviah’s matriculation.

Unfortunately, the social experiment was a resounding failure. Not only did the young Jewish students soon transfer to the University of Padua; it would also be some years till another Jewish medical student set foot on campus.

Robert Satloff has some harsh words for the U.S. government in this regard, words I take especially seriously because Satloff is someone inclined to political moderation. Why, he asks, have American diplomats failed to achieve anything in their endless rounds of talks in Doha and Cairo? Because

there is simply not enough pressure on Hamas to change course, accept a deal, and release the remaining October 7 hostages, stuck in nightmarish captivity. . . . In this environment, why should Hamas change course?

Publicly, the U.S. should bite the bullet and urge Israel to complete the main battle operations in Gaza—i.e., the Rafah operation—as swiftly and efficiently as possible. We should be assertively assisting with the humanitarian side of this.

Satloff had more to say about the hostages, especially the five American ones, in a speech he gave recently:

I am ashamed—ashamed of how we have allowed the story of the hostages to get lost in the noise of the war that followed their capture; ashamed of how we have permitted their release to be a bargaining chip in some larger political negotiation; ashamed of how we have failed to give them the respect and dignity and our wholehearted demand for Red Cross access and care and medicine that is our normal, usual demand for hostages.

If they were taken by Boko Haram, everyone would know their name. If they were taken by the Taliban, everyone would tie a yellow ribbon around a tree for them. If they were taken by Islamic State, kids would learn about them in school.

It is repugnant to see their freedom as just one item on the bargaining table with Hamas, as though they were chattel. These are Americans—and they deserve to be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.