beard as a cure for sore eyes or washing being harmful to aching teeth. As
a treatment for toothache salt, pepper and a little garlic were mixed, and the
mixture was left on the pulse overnight.
A couple of years ago the actress Gwyneth Paltrow made headlines when
wearing a backless dress showing the marks from having cupping during an
acupuncture treatment. Today cupping is most commonly used to treat
coughs, asthma, and muscle aches and pain, especially back pain, but it has
been used in cultures across the world for centuries and was especially
popular in eastern European Jewish traditional medicine, where it was
known as bahnkes. Cupping was especially popular as a treatment for weak
and obese patients and pregnant women. Despite the enduring popularity of
the procedure, the old Yiddish proverb, Es vet helfen vi a toiten bahnkes, ‘it
will help like applying cups to a dead person’, indicates a more sceptical view
of its efficacy. Cupping techniques vary but bahnkesinvolves the use of small
cups containing a small amount of alcohol which is heated and a vacuum is
produced by the absence of oxygen (Figure 11.6). The cup is then pressed
tightly against the skin. This suction is thought to draw out noxious
substances from the body, thus restoring the balances of bodily humors.
Numbers also played an important part in healing. The numbers 3, 7 and
9 were particularly efficacious and invocations used were similar for Jews
and Christians with the wording adapted to the sensitivities of the patient.
Sefer Hasidim,a book of mediaeval pietistic literature, records that a person
who has been harmed by a demon needs to have the charm repeated nine306 | Traditional medicineFigure 11.6 Cupping glass.