Abstract
The Hebrew Book of Asaf (Sefer Asaf), considered to be the earliest Hebrew medical text, begins with a fascinating origin narrative in which Asaf’s medicine is presented as a renewal of a lost antediluvian book. This narrative is linked with a broader topos found in many proto-scientific ancient Hebrew texts of steles or books in which a legendary or pre-historic figure inscribed some form of human knowledge, to be discovered at a later time. This talk will discuss the Asaf narrative and bring some relevant Semitic parallels. Raising a few points of comparison with Tibetan gter ma texts, the paper will also discuss the possible purpose of such narratives.
Publications
(i) Yoeli-Tlalim, Ronit, 2018. “Exploring Persian Lore in the Hebrew Book of Asaf.” Aleph, 18(1), pp. 123-146. ISSN 1565-1525 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/aleph.18.1.0123)
(ii) Yoeli-Tlalim, Ronit, 2021. “Exploring Eurasian transmissions of medical knowledge: cues from the Hebrew Book of Asaf,” in: Lennart Lehmhaus, ed. Defining Jewish Medicine: Transfer of Medical Knowledge in Jewish Cultures and Traditions. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 295-311. (https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/22094)
