Healing is a time-honored Jewish tradition, with examples seen as far back as Biblical times. Over the millennia, Jewish tradition has produced a myriad of systems and methods of healing, ranging from the physical to the emotional to the spiritual. In the earliest of times the healing methodologies were the privilege of a select few. They may have been prophets who were chosen by God, and later those of great medical knowledge and learning. Some were rabbis and leaders who were able to attend to the needs of those in spiritual distress. Still others were mystics who, based on Torah and wisdom passed down secretly through the generations, developed esoteric methods of healing. With all of these approaches to healing of mind, spirit, and body, numerous means, rules and laws, as well as prayers emerged and evolved. Jewish Healing: Systems and Practices presents many areas of healing, along with the understanding of how and why they are practiced as they are.

Rabbi Steven J. Kaplan, Ph.D., has taught both psychology and Judaica at the college and university levels. He is the Director of the Jewish Healing and Wholeness Center, and is Dean of the Graduate Theological Institute, both in Broward County, Florida. This work is his thirteenth book.