To the Conference of Religious Physicians,

An official translation of a letter of the Rebbe

2nd day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 5715 (1955)

To the Conference of Religious Physicians,I was pleased to be informed of your conference, designed to create an organized body of Jewish religious physicians. Unification of religious forces was always desirable, especially in our generation, a generation confused and perplexed by the shattering events of recent years, as a result of which many thinking people have become completely disillu-sioned in the false ideas and ideologies which they had held in the past, and are now earnestly searching for the truth.
An organized body of religious physicians could make its influence felt in these circles through a declaration of their authoritative opinion on several issues, which have been the subject of confused and misleading controversy.
Such a declaration should, first of all, do away with the misconception about any conflict between science and religion. True science, the object of which is the truth and nothing but the truth, can lead to no conclusions which are contrary to our Torah, "the Law of Truth." On the contrary, the more deeply one delves into science, the stronger must grow the recognition of the truth of the fundamental principles, as well as the ramifications, of our Jewish religion.
As physicians, in particular, you are in a position to refute decisively the materialistic philosophy, as is demonstrated by the fact that so much of physical health depends on spiritual health. If in modern days emphasis was placed on "mens sana in corpore sano" [a healthy mind in a healthy body] in our days it is a matter of general conviction that even a small defect spiritually causes a grie-vous defect physically; and the healthier the spirit and the greater its preponderance over the physical body - the greater its ability to correct or overcome physical shortcoming; so much so, that in many cases even physical treatments, prescriptions and drugs are considerably more effective if they are accompanied by the patient's strong will and determination to cooperate.
This principle of "mind over matter," i.e., of quality over quantity, is further emphasized by the fact, which is continually gaining recognition, that the vital functions of the organism do not depend on quantity, inasmuch as the glands, and the hormones, vitamins, etc., which they produce, are quite minute quantitatively.
Parenthetically: It is written in our holy Scriptures, "From my flesh I visualize G-d." Recognizing the preponderance of the soul in the physical body (the microcosm), there remains but a small step to the recognition of G-d, the "soul" of the Universe (the macrocosm). And in the words of our Sages: "As the soul fills the body, vivifies it, sees, but is not seen - so the Holy One, blessed is He, fills the world, vivifies it, sees, but is not seen."
So much for speaking in general terms. Specifically, many are the questions directly relating to the practice of the physician, some of them of practical and immediate importance, on which your voice should be heard. To mention but a few:
To declare the paramount importance of the observance of the laws of Taharas HaMishpocha - Jewish marriage; the observance of kashrus - the dietary laws; circumcision.
Elimination of treatment likely to cause sterility, and substituting for it other forms of treatment; particularly, in connection with surgery on the prostate...
Postmortem: For purposes of study of anatomy, etc., it is surely possible to use artificial forms and models; for purposes of ascertaining the case of death - in many cases it is not essential; where it may be of immediate necessity to save a life (as in the case of an accusation of poisoning, etc.), mutilation of the body should be reduced to the essential minimum, and the parts should be buried afterwards.
And so on.
Needless to say, what has been mentioned above about pointing out the health benefits that are derived from the observance of the religious precepts, should not be understood as an attempt to explain the precepts by their utilitarian value. For, the Divine precepts must be observed because they are the command and will of our Creator.
However, for the benefit of those who, by reason of spiritual "sickness," cannot be induced to observe the precepts except by making them aware of their utilitarian value, we must do everything possible to urge them to observe the mitzvos in daily life, even if we have to rationalize about the Divine commands, and emphasize their physical benefits....