ABSTRACT
Judaism, the oldest monotheistic religious system and the first textually-based religion in the Western world, has a fundamental identification and concern with life, health, and healing. Judaism is a system of deed, not creed. Although Judaism does include a number of central tenets, its fundamental system is one of commanded actions, not commanded beliefs. Judaism's fundamental belief is that God is one. Judaism professes values of the sanctity of life and respect for the body. Of all the commandments in the Torah, all except three of them may be violated for the sake of saving a life. Judaism's festival sequence follows its particular, lunar calendar, with each day commencing and ending at sundown. Kashrut is the name of the Jewish dietary system. Foodstuffs which are deemed proper for eating are called kosher, and those which are disallowed are termed treif. This chapter presents a case study of a 14-year-old child who was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia.
