Oath of Asaph

Sefer Refuot (Hebrew: ספר רפואות, "The Book of Medicines"), also known as Sefer Asaph (Hebrew: ספר אסף, "The Book of Asaph"), is the earliest medical book written in Hebrew, ascribed to Asaph ben Berechiahu and Johanan ben Zabda, who lived in Israel between the fourth and sixth century CE. The book discusses illnesses, treatments and prevention. Some of the ideas are still used today, such as exercise, eating healthy food, and staying clean. The book draws upon a wide geographic scope of learning: knowledge from southern Europe, northern Africa, Mesopotamia, and southwest Asia. It shows concern for providing medicine for the poor and an interest in fostering medicine as a distinct profession. The book seems to include interest in a solar calendar different from the lunar calendar that most Jews used.

The work notably includes the Oath of Asaph, a code of conduct for Jewish physicians, strongly resembling the Hippocratic Oath. It was taken by medical students at their graduation.

The Israeli hospital Assaf HaRofeh is named after the author. Excerpts from the book appear in a modern Hebrew edition by Suessman Muntner.

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