• Democracy/Halacha Pamphlet
  • Orr Party
  • Talk Reason
  • Reference
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
שפות
  • enEnglish
    • heעברית
    • ruРусский
    • yiYiddish
    • frFrançais
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
Is one permitted to drink donkey urine as a cure for jaundice?
Home » Daily Peppers
Yaron Yadan Yaron Yadan 07/25/2009
Is one permitted to drink donkey urine as a cure for jaundice?

It was customary, in Talmudic times, for those suffering from jaundice to drink donkey urine as a cure.
The sages asked: is one permitted to drink donkey urine, said to cure jaundice? Why should one ask specifically about donkey urine? It is clear to us that the urine of camels and of horses is permitted for drinking since their urine is clear and is, in essence, the water which they drank. Water went in, and water came out. The donkey’s urine comes out cloudy. There are grounds to permit it and grounds to forbid it. What are the issues under debate? On one hand, the urine is cloudy, and one might suppose that its cloudiness stems from the process of urine production, which is similar to the process of milk production, from the donkey’s own body. Just as one is forbidden to drink the milk of an ass, so is one forbidden to drink the urine.
On the other hand, there is room for leniency, and the donkey’s urine may be permitted as one is permitted the urine of the camel and the horse; one may claim that the donkey’s urine does not undergo a process of production like that of milk, but that it has the status of water which went in and water which went out. The reason that it is cloudy not because something of the donkey has been mixed in, but because the donkey’s bodily vapors influence the urine and turn it cloudy.
The Talmud rules that one may not drink the donkey’s urine, but the religious arbiters are divided on the practical issue of whether one may also drink a donkey’s urine.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bechorot 7a)

About the Author

Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען View all posts by Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען (נולד בטבריה ב-8 בדצמבר 1961) הוא פעיל חברתי ומייסד ארגון "דעת אמת" העומד בראש מפלגת אור.

Additional Peppers
A cow which birthed a calf directly into the womb of another cow

A cow which birthed a calf directly into the womb of another cow

Is one permitted to rejoice at the fall of evil-doers? Who were the harlots who washed in Ahab

Is one permitted to rejoice at the fall of evil-doers? Who were the harlots who washed in Ahab

The sexual organ of Samson and the amount of his semen

The sexual organ of Samson and the amount of his semen

One digs a hole into which an ox falls and dies or in which vessels are broken

One digs a hole into which an ox falls and dies or in which vessels are broken

May a cohen marry a minor?

May a cohen marry a minor?

Who were the ravens which fed the prophet Elijah?

Who were the ravens which fed the prophet Elijah?

Definition of sexual relations for purposes of marriage and adultery

Definition of sexual relations for purposes of marriage and adultery

daat-emet-logo-white-small-2להצטרפות לרשימת התפוצה   |   תמכו בנו

מייל: daatemet.org@gmail.com
כתובת: ת"ד 1019 קרית טבעון 36015
טלפון: 6106688 - 03

© 2016 כל הזכויות שמורות לדעת אמת.
Skip to content
Open toolbar

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase Text
  • Decrease Text
  • Grayscale
  • High Contrast
  • Negative Contrast
  • Light Background
  • Links Underline
  • Readable Font
  • Reset