Alternative and Bio-Medicine in Israel

Judith T. Shuval is Rose Professor of Sociology and director of the program in the sociology of health at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a joint appointment in the department of sociology and in the School of Public Health. Her books include: Immigrants on the Threshold; Social Functions of Medical Practice; Newcomers and Colleagues: Soviet Immigrant Physicians in Israel; Social Dimensions of Health: The Israel Experience; and Immigrant Physicians: Former Soviet Doctors in Israel, Canada and the United States.

An impressive new English-language book, written by a veteran Hebrew University professor (emerita) of sociology and a young HU researcher with a newly minted doctorate in the field, is the result of a decade of joint research. Titled Alternative and Bio-Medicine in Israel: Boundaries and Bridges, the volume does not judge whether CAM is effective or has been proven by scientific evidence. Instead, Prof. Judith Shuval and Dr. Emma Averbuch – supplemented by nine academic contributors – provides a fascinating historical analysis of CAM in pre-state and contemporary Israel. It is also a formidable examination of how CAM is carried out by physicians and those without formal medical credentials; the cultural and political context; conflicts and partnerships; and recommendations of where to go in the future.