There’s an interesting article in The New York Times this week about an exhibit at Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan, “Trail of the Magic Bullet: The Jewish Encounter With Modern Medicine, 1860-1960.” The exhibition offers a rare look at a topic few patients ever stop to consider: the emergence of European and American Jews as innovators in medicine, despite their status as outsiders frequently scorned by the medical establishment.

While some religions place ultimate responsibility for healing in divine hands, “Jews don’t see a conflict between faith and medicine,” said Alan M. Kraut, a professor of history at American University who helped put together the exhibition and has written extensively about immigration and health. Read more…