When I was an infant about three months old, my eyes were
affected and were never completely restored. A certain woman
tried to cure me when I was about three years of age but she
added to my blindness to such an extent that I remained confined
to the house for a year, being unable to see the road on which
to walk. Then a Jewess, a skilled oculist, appeared on the
scene. She treated me for about two months and then died. Had
she lived another month, I might have recovered my sight fully.
As it was, but for the two months’ attention from her, I might
never have been able to see at all. With these words, found in
the collection of ethical wills edited by Israel Abrahams, R.
Yehudah ben Asher introduces us to the woman oculist in
thirteenth century Cologne who preserved his sight. This unnamed
woman was just one of the many Jewish women who practiced
medicine throughout Europe and the Middle East during the Middle
Ages. In the medieval period, Jewish women doctors were found in
most of the countries of western a