Chicken Soup

Dear Tanta Golda,

With all the cold and flu germs going around I was wondering: does chicken soup really help?

Congested and coughing on the couch

My darling Congested,

Why-of course! Look, a little chicken soup certainly never hurt anyone, and we do know that hot liquids are soothing to the throat and open up those sinuses to drain. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, aka - Maimonides or Rambam (goodness, what a lot of names for one person!), a 12^th century Torah scholar and renowned physician, wrote on numerous occasions on the therapeutic benefit of chicken soup in balancing the humors. 

Chicken soup is deeply rooted in the Jewish traditions associated with Shabbat among the Ashkenazi Jews in the shtetls  Europe. At a time when many were poor, a chicken, or part of a chicken boiled together with vegetables, made a soup that could be shared and delighted in for the Shabbath.

Now, if you were wondering, the Talmud describes the therapeutic value of “six foods that provide a permanent cure for illness: cabbage, beets, an extract of sisin (don’t ask Tanta Golda what this is, I haven’t a clue), the stomach of an animal, the womb of an animal and the large lobe of the liver of an animal...” (Berachot 44b)  It seems a rather limited list when we know about the beneficial properties of other foods which contain anti-oxidants, beta-cartotene, and such. And really, how could those eminent Torah scholars have left out chicken soup? Perhaps they felt it was so basic that there was no need to mention it.

So my stuffy soul, sip some chicken soup, blow your nose, and wash your hands often!

Love as always - Tanta Golda