# #193: Vaccines, Potions & Charlatans - Jewish Medicine in the 19th Century.

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/193-vaccines-potions-charlatans-jewish-medicine-in-the-19th-century
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/193-vaccines-potions-charlatans-jewish-medicine-in-the-19th-century.md
Podcast: [History for the Curious - The Jewish History Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442)
Published: 2026-05-28T10:54:14+00:00
Episode link: https://rabbiaubreyhersh.podbean.com/e/193-vaccines-potions-charlatans-jewish-medicine-in-the-19th-century/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/kyzypqaakas6hv2e/HC086_-_Ep_193_-_Medicine_Part_1_Assembled_mixdown7kdpz.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/episodes/193-vaccines-potions-charlatans-jewish-medicine-in-the-19th-century
Duration seconds: 3517

## Resource

The 1800s was an era when medicine sat at the crossroads of science, ruses and discoveries. New vaccines and medical impostors competed for public trust. People broke with tradition and created a new landscape. Mordecai Wolff Haffkine Haffkine stood out as an almost legendary figure. A Jewish bacteriologist, he developed and tested vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague, putting his life repeatedly at risk and fighting to save the lives of millions of people. Whereas Dr. Samuel Solomon showed how skilful wording and suggestion could build a reputation and a fortune. Although his contribution to public service is rather unknown, Liverpool remembers him to this day - on par with some of their other legends. We also look at what happens when medicine and surgery produce unexpected outcomes. What are the halachic ramifications? And how did the BBC cover a re-election campaign in Kentucky? Timestamps: - 0:00:00–0:00:31 — Opening advertisement read (Dr. Solomon). - 0:00:31–0:03:47 — Hosts intro: series overview and upcoming guests. - 0:03:47–0:08:36 — Start of Mordechai Wolf Hafkin biography (education, expulsion, Pasteur Institute). - 0:08:36–0:12:33 — Hafkin self‑inoculates and early cholera vaccine work. - 0:12:33–0:15:43 — Hafkin’s large vaccination campaigns in India; plague vaccine development. - 0:15:43–0:23:00 — Political opposition, 1902 tetanus deaths, inquiry and character attack. - 0:23:00–0:31:44 — Scientific exoneration, later life, return to Orthodoxy, philanthropy, death (1930). - 0:31:44–0:45:06 — Dr. Samuel Solomon biography: origins, balm of Gilead, marketing, bought MD. - 0:45:06–0:46:44 — Solomon’s social status, legacy, and mixed moral assessment. - 0:46:44–0:53:33 — Halachic case: wrong‑kidney removal that saved the patient; discussion of intent v…

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