Monday, November 27, 2006

Cutting into Sacred Territory

"Soon after I started my medical studies, I was standing before a long metal table with three other medical students one day when I faced my ultimate challenge.

On the table was a long black bag with a zipper running down the middle. In the air around us, assaulting our sinuses, was the sharp chemical smell of formaldehyde. Inside the bag was a dead person -- a cadaver.

It had been assigned to our group, and we were expected to dissect it, organ by organ, limb by limb, learning by touch, sight, and firsthand experience the contours, textures, colors, and inner realms of the human body.

I had known this was coming. We all did, and everyone felt some degree of discomfort about this part of our education. The cadaver stage of medical school has been chronicled profusely. Some students name their cadavers -- names like Louise, Jim or Butch. It is a tactic to relieve the discomfort of knowing that before us lies a person who lived life as we do, felt jealousy and fear, and perhaps made art, wrote poetry, raised children and sacrificed for them, decorated Christmas trees, wrapped birthday presents, had been in love and in lust, had had a broken heart.

But beyond all of this, I had to combat another level of discomfort; Navajos do not touch the dead. Ever.

It is one of the strongest rules in our culture. The dead hold ch'iindis, or evil spirits, that are simply not to be tampered with. When a person dies, the "good" part of the person leaves with the spirit, while the "evil" part stays with the physical body. That belief is so strong that before the advent of mortuaries, Navajos sought out Pueblo Indians, missionaries, white traders or other outsiders to bury their dead. When a person dies in a hogan, the hogan is destroyed. Sometimes Navajo people nowadays bring their dying relatives to the hospital simply to prevent them from dying in their home. In many other cases hospitals are avoided. Navajo people know that death lies inside hospital walls, and therefore hospitals are filled with ch'iindis."

- "The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing" by Lori Arviso, M.D., and Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt

Excerpt from an excerpt from here.


I haven't read this book at all and I'm not trying to promote it. I just saw this excerpt and I thought it was rather fascinating given that I was looking up the Halachic considerations regarding dissections of Jewish cadavers. Could make you think.

14 comments:

Billie Jean said...

Interesting stuff!

I do remember reading a wacky theory somewhere that all religions, including such far flung ones as Native American beliefs, really have sources in Judaism.

I don't really think that's true, but I do think that religion has the same source in the mind, and the same function in society, and therefore there will always be these "freaky" similarities. Religion is so focused on death in some ways, it seems natural that there would be accidental overlap on how death is approached.

PS - thanks for the link. I've been so busy I haven't stopped in for ages and just noticed it now!

Orthoprax said...

Billie,

Well, I don't think the beliefs between Judaism and Navajo religion regarding death are all that similar. Malevolent evil spirits and spiritual impurity really aren't the same thing.

I was coming more from the 'breaking taboos' perspective. Suppose only Jewish cadavers were available for medical school students. I suspect many otherwise observant Jews would be going through a similar experience as the Navajo author describes.

Baal Habos said...

Daniel, I assume you're not a Cohen, simply because you did not mention that fact. Being Orthoprax, had you been a Cohen, would that have kept you away from the medical profession?

Orthoprax said...

Baal,

No, I'm not a Cohen. But if I had been I probably wouldn't have considered going into medicine as a child in the first place because it is so taboo. I think I'm like most people who aim for medicine - the idea doesn't spring from adult experience but is founded in childhood.

Orthoprax said...

Though a bigger question would be if suppose I found out today that I was adopted and my real father was a Cohen, would I still go through medical school and be a doctor? Tough question. I think I probably would.

Baal Habos said...

> Tough question. I think I probably would.

I would expect as much. So is this a break in the Praxy? I wonder sometimes how committed one can be without the dox, in the event of new Nissayon. I'm ok with the old stuff because I lived thru it for many years. And existing deprivation/expenditure of energy is my baseline, so it's livable. But new Nisayon? It's difficult to imagine passing the test. Can I really call it a test? There's no one testing me except my own mind. Somewhat disconcerting, eh?

Orthoprax said...

Baal,

Well, it really isn't that big of a test. There are some minority Halachic views that would allow a Cohen to study medicine.

Further, it is well understood, though often not publically acknowledged, that technically doctors-in-training will often be doing melacha on Shabbos that would not be allowed under the allowance of pikuach nefesh since as trainees their presence or absence does not effect patient care. It doesn't necessarily happen to all medical students or interns, but it is not an uncommon event. It's the price of doing business and rabbis tend to look the other way.

Although the Cohen issue is a true Halachic matter, it's force is really social and stigmatic.


Though on a very different matter, I've already thought about it and if I'm offered a seat on a space mission then I'm going to take it. ;-)

Billie Jean said...

I guess in a very vague sense I see them as the same. They both reflect our fear of death, and a justification for it.

I know cohanim who are doctors. I thought they just gave up their rights to duchen.

Orthoprax said...

Billie,

"I guess in a very vague sense I see them as the same."

Sure, in a general sense they are similar. It's just that the metaphysical assumptions underlying each belief is very different.

"I know cohanim who are doctors. I thought they just gave up their rights to duchen."

Hmm, I don't know much about rules regarding duchening. Is this their personal choice or is it Halacha?

Billie Jean said...

Unfortunately I have no idea!

Anonymous said...

new jersey car insurance
car insurance for mexico
online car insurance rate
compare car insurance quote
cheap car insurance quote uk
general car insurance
low cost car insurance online
texas car insurance
auto cheap insurance
car insurance for woman
car insurance rats
car insurance coverage
car insurance rate
aig car insurance
diamond car insurance
washington car insurance
car insurance quote uk
direct car insurance
in car insurance
cheap car insurance for young driver
car insurance n
car insurance rate
geico car insurance
diamond car insurance
free car insurance quote
washington car insurance
online auto insurance quote
norwich union car insurance
free car insurance quote
car insurance broker

http://cheap-car-insurance.quickfreehost.com

Random Keyword: :)
auto cheap insurance

Anonymous said...

Hello, great site, I found a lot of useful information here, thanks a lot for Your work!
With the best regards!
David

Anonymous said...

Great job done, keep it up!with the best regards!

Orthoprax said...

David, Anon,

Thanks very much.