Lust and Leprosy: Confusion or Correlation?

Abstract

While the bible and later rabbinic literature were never intended to be medical texts, a wealth of information regarding Syro-Palestinian medical practices and folk beliefs can be ascertained from their study. True leprosy, or Hansen's disease as it is called today, is well known to the lay public because of its biblical association. Few are aware, however, that biblical leprosy was not the leprosy we know of today. When Hansen's disease eventually arrived in the eastern Mediterranean region there was much confusion regarding its etiology, due partly to the complicated way in which the disease manifests itself. As a result, erroneous assumptions correlated the disease with forbidden sexual practices. That confusion eventually led to the disease being used metaphorically by various religious communities to slander one another.

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