Avodah Zarah Daf 28 עבודה זרח דַף 28

Rebbe Yochanan said (according to one version): כל מכה של חלל – for any internal affliction, which is life-threatening and permits desecrating Shabbos to heal, one may not receive treatment from a pagan doctor. Rebbe Ami defines an “internal” affliction as מן השפה ולפנים – from the lips and inward. Rebbe Elazar asked: ככי ושיני מאי – what is the status of gums or teeth? Since they are hard, are they considered external, or since they are inside the mouth, they are considered internal? The Gemara presents a proof: Rebbe Yochanan once suffered from צפדינא (a tooth ailment). He went to a noblewoman for treatment the whole week, and asked her how to treat himself on Shabbos if necessary. She made him swear he would not reveal the cure to anyone, and he swore, "לאלקא ישראל לא מגלינא" – “To the G-d of Yisroel, I will not reveal it.” Still, he taught it publicly the next day, because he only swore not to reveal it to the G-d of Yisroel, but could reveal it to His people, Yisroel. He informed her immediately that his shevuah was ineffective, to avoid חילול השם. In any event, his taking treatment on Shabbos proves that a tooth ailment is a מכה של חלל! The Gemara answers that צפדינא is different, because it ends in the intestines.

The Gemara wonders how Rebbe Yochanan accepted treatment from the pagan noblewoman, since Rebbe Yochanan himself ruled that life-threatening conditions may not be treated by a pagan doctor!? It first answers: אדם חשוב שאני – a prominent person is different, because the doctor is afraid to harm someone with government connections. However, the Gemara objects that when Rebbe Abahu, who was an אדם חשוב, was “treated” by Yaakov the מין for a leg condition, his leg would have required amputation if Rebbe Ami and Rebbe Assi had not licked the “medicine” off his leg!? Therefore, the Gemara answers that Rebbe Yochanan’s doctor was a רופא מומחה – an expert doctor, who is afraid of harming his reputation by killing his Jewish patients. Although Rebbe Abahu’s doctor was also a רופא מומחה, the מינין were willing to risk their reputation to harm him (because of their great hatred for him), applying to themselves the passuk: תמות נפשי עם פלשתים – “Let my soul die with the פלשתים.

The Gemara proceeds to enumerate many ailments and their cures. Rav Yehudah permitted למיכחל עינא בשבת – anointing an afflicted eye on Shabbos. Rav Shmuel bar Yehudah declared: מאן ציית ליהודה מחיל שבי – “Whoever listens to Yehudah is desecrating Shabbos!” Eventually, Rav Shmuel himself suffered an eye affliction, and sent to Rav Yehudah to ask if he could heal it on Shabbos. Rav Yehudah responded that it was permitted for everyone except him, since he had ruled it was forbidden. Rav Yehudah explained that his ruling was based on Mar Shmuel’s: his maidservant’s eye became enflamed on Shabbos, and she cried out in pain, but no one helped her, and the eye burst. The next day, Mar Shmuel taught: עין שמרדה מותר לכוחלה בשבת – one may anoint an eye which rebelled, on Shabbos, דשורייני דעינא באובנתא דליבא תלו – because the eyesight is connected to the muscles of the heart.