They Mocked Him - Until People Stopped Dying

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by tora anytime.com. >> A Torah Anytime original series. Today, hospital operating rooms are the very image of cleanliness and [music] sterile and precise and controlled. Every glove, every mask, every instrument is sanitized and spotless. But 150 years ago, the world didn't exist. It's almost impossible to imagine. But 100 years ago, nearly half of all surgical patients died after their operations. Not from the procedure itself, [music] but from infection. As the famous saying went, the operation was a success, [music] but the patient died. A mother giving birth in a hospital was five times more likely to die than one giving birth at home. And doctors were bewildered. Now, in those days, doctors didn't wash their hands. They didn't sterilize their tools. They went [music] from one patient to the next. From dissecting corpses to delivering babies, sometimes still wearing the same bloodstained apron. And no one knew why people kept dying. Because back then, the concept of germs, those invisible killers, [music] was a mystery. The greatest minds in medicine laughed at the idea that something unseen could cause death. So then what was causing all the death in the hospitals when all the surgeries were being done successfully comes along a man named Joseph Listister a quiet deeply [music] religious English surgeon and he was horrified by the number of people dying in his care and as he searched for an answer he came across a part of the Tyra where Hashem commanded Israel to wash themselves after coming in contact with the sick or the dead. Now obviously that mitzvah is about to tumahara [music] spiritual purity. But Listister wondered perhaps hashem and his infinite wisdom was also teaching something deeper. Perhaps the same act that cleansed spiritually could also protect us physically. So combined with the new discoveries of Louis pasture listister realized that the terra's ancient [music] command might actually hold the secret to saving lives. So he took a stand. He told surgeons to start washing their hands, to sterilize their instruments, to [music] keep the operating rooms clean, and they mocked him. They called him eccentric and delusional and a religious fanatic. Even his nurses complained about the extra work. But Listister didn't care. He believed that God had revealed the truth, and he wasn't going to back down. And slowly, the results [music] spoke for themselves. The death rates in his ward plummeted and patients who once would have died were now living and the world began to notice and soon hospitals everywhere adopted his methods and modern surgery was born. In the world of health there is before listister and there's after listister. That's how much he [music] changed medicine. Even Listerine, that mouthwash, was named after him, a nod to the man who brought cleanliness [music] and life and healing because he dared to follow the truth when the rest of the world laughed at him. But here's what really hit me. List stood alone because he had conviction, because he believed in the truth even when no one else did. And that that courage to stand up for the truth is the heartbeat of the Jewish people. For thousands of years, we've been the same way. The world goes one way and we go another. They mock and they laugh and they scorn and yet we stand tall. We see corruption and moral decay and falsehood. [music] And like Averina, we stand on one side of the river while the entire world [music] stands on the other. We speak truth. We defend morality. We bring light even when it's unpopular, even when it's dangerous. Because that's who we are. We are Ben Aram, the people who crossed over. We don't follow trends, we define them. We don't bend to the world, we elevate [music] it. We don't raise the bar, we are the bar. So the next time the world laughs at what you stand for, remember Joseph Listister. Remember Ara because we are the nation that has stood for truth no matter the cost. And we will keep standing and keep roaring and keep lighting up the world no matter who stands against us. You've just experienced [music] another Torah class brought to you by tora anytime.com.