The Bone Called Luz

EDWARD REICHMAN and FRED ROSNER

HE Hebrew or Aramaic word luz has several mean-

ings. It refers to a city in ancient Israel and another city
in the land of the Hittites. It also means nut, almond,
hazel, hazel nut, or nut tree. Luz also means to turn,
twist, or bend. It also connotes libel or disrespectful
talk.1 Finally, luz refers to a bone, said to be at the bot-
tom of the spinal column, which is the subject of this essay.
THE CITY OF LUZ

Luz is the Canaanite name of the city known to the Israelites as Beth El
(literally: the house of G-d) because of Jacob's dream there.2 Beth El is
also called Luz when Jacob returned there.3 In his blessing of Joseph's
sons, Jacob again refers to Luz where G-d appeared to him.4
In the description of the borders of Ephraim, Beth El and Luz seem
to be separate entities as it is written: And it went out from Beth El to Luz
and passed along unto the border of the Archites to Ataroth.5 The biblical com-
mentary by Rabbi David Kimchi (i 160-1235) suggests that this was a
different Beth El. Another interpretation is that Beth El was outside the
city of Luz and represented the outskirts of the city. This thesis is sup-
ported by a later biblical verse: And the border passed along from thence to
Luz, to the side of Luz—the same is Beth El—Southward.6 Thus, when
Jacob had his dream, he spent the night on the outskirts of Luz to avoid
the danger of entering a strange town at night.7

1. M . Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babii and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature
(New York: Pardes Publishing House, 1950), vol. 2, pp. 695—96, R. Alcalay, The Complete Hebrew-
English Dictionary (Hartford: Prayer Book Press, 1965), p. 1106.
2. Genesis 28:19.
3. Genesis 35:6.
4. Genesis 48:3.
5. Joshua 16:2.
6.Joshua 18:13.
7. J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftoralis (Landox: Oxford University Press, 1929), vol. 1, Genesis,
p. 244.

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ISSN OO22-5O45 VOLUME 51 PAGES 52 TO 65

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 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 53
Another city called Luz was built by one of its inhabitants in the land
of the Hittites, one of the seven nations of Canaan. This man delivered
the city as described in the Bible:
And the house ofJoseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and the Lord was
with them. And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el—now the name
of the city beforetime was Luz. And the watchers saw a man come forth out of
the city, and they said unto him: "Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the
city, and we will deal kindly with thee." And he showed them the entrance into
the city, and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man
go and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built
a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day.8
This explains how a city by the name of Luz should have existed in
the days of the judges so far away from Canaan. It was built in memory of
the original Luz. According to later sources such as Eusebius, Luz and Beth
El are the same city. Some scholars conclude from the above biblical ref-
erences that Luz remained the name of the city until the time of Jero-
boam and that Beth El was originally the name of the Sanctuary to the East
of it. More probable is the view that Luz was the ancient name of the
neighboring town of Ai and that Beth El inherited the role and area ofAi.9
Later legend invested the city of Luz with marvelous powers. Senna-
cherib and Nebuchadnezzar were unable to conquer it, and no one who
stayed within its walls died because the angel of death had no power
there.10 It is also the place where the blue dye was made for the fringes."
The pertinent talmudic passage is as follows:
And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name
thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day. It has been taught: That is the
Luz in which they dye the blue; that is the Luz against which Sennacherib
marched without destroying it, and even the Angel of Death has no permission
to pass through it, but when the old men there become tired of life they go
outside the wall and then die.12
The Talmud proves from the words which is the name thereof unto this
day that the city survived destruction and still exists. This indestructibil-
ity of the city of Luz is probably the source for the legend that the bone
called luz is also indestructible as described below.
8. Judges 1:22-26.
9. C. Roth, ed., Encyclopedia Judaka (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971), vol. 11, p. 593.
10. I. Landman, ed., The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: 1942), vol. 7, p. 244.
11. Numbers 15:38.
12. Sotah 46b.
54 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January igg6
THE BONE CALLED LUZ IN JEWISH SOURCES

The homiletical interpretation of the Scriptures known as Midrash de-

scribes the luz as an indestructible bone of the spinal column, probably
shaped like an almond. It is from this bone that the resurrection of the
dead will take place. Even if the rest of the body decays and disintegrates,
the luz bone remains intact and will provide the starting point for the
reintegration of the body at the time of the resurrection.
Commenting on the biblical verse, And the almond tree shall blossom,"
the Midrash states the following:
Rabbi Levi says it refers to the nut (luz) of the spinal column. Hadrian, may his
bones be crushed, asked Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah: whence will man sprout
in the Hereafter? He replied: from the nut (luz) of the spinal column. He said
to him: prove it to me. He had one brought; he placed it in water but it did
not dissolve, he put it in fire, but it was not burnt, he put it in a mill but it was
not ground. He placed it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer; the anvil
split and the hammer was broken but all this had no effect on the luz."
A nearly identical Midrash is found elsewhere including the conver-
sation between Hadrian and Rabbi Joshua.15 Only once in recorded his-
tory was the luz bone destroyed and that was during the Flood when the
Lord destroyed the entire world except for Noah and his family and the
animals in the ark. The Bible records that the Lord said, I will blot out
man whom I have created.16 The Midrash comments on this verse as follows:
Rabbi Levi said in R. Johanan's name: Even the nether stone of the millstone
was dissolved . . . Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Simeon B.
Jehotzadak: even the nut (luz) of the spinal column from which the Holy One
blessed be He will cause man to blossom forth in the future [that is, at the res-
urrection] was dissolved."
The Talmud states that a hen lays its eggs for twenty-one days and
corresponding to a hen is the almond tree (luz) among trees.18 This
means that from the time of its blossoming until the fruits ripen, twenty-
one days elapse. A similar statement is found in the Jerusalem Talmud.19
The Midrash, in two separate places, also makes the pronouncement
13. Ecclesiastes 12:5.
14. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 12:5.
15. Leviticus Rabbah 18:1.
16. Genesis 6:7.
17. Genesis Rabbah 28:3.
18. Bechorot 8a.
19. Jerushalmi Taanit 4:68.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 55
that the almond tree (shaked) takes twenty-one days from the time it
blossoms to the time when its fruit ripen.20
It is thus clear from these sources that the luz bone is located in the
spinal column and is shaped like an almond. Whether the luz represents
the coccyx or lowest bone in the spinal column, as many writers sug-
gest, cannot be established with certainty. Non-Jewish scholars in the
Middle Ages accepted the legend of the indestructibility of the bone
called luz and spoke of the Jews' bone or Juden-knoechlein. They identify
it as the last vertebra of the spinal column, the sacrum, the coccyx, the
twelfth dorsal vertebra, wormian bones in the skull, or one of the
sesamoid bones of the great toe. 21 These various opinions are discussed
in the next section of this essay.
T h e 248 bones of the human body are enumerated in the Mishna. 22 It
is unclear from whence the Rabbis derived this number. In the only tal-
mudic case which resembles a postmortem examination, 252 limbs or
bones were found. 23 Although the bone called luz is not mentioned in
the two aforementioned passages, there is mention in the Talmud 24 of a
small bone at the end of the spine. Some have identified this bone as the
luz bone. 25 According to Preuss, this unusual little bone, which can only
refer to the coccyx, was sought in various sites of the body by the
anatomists of the Middle Ages without their being able to find it.26
THE BONE CALLED LUZ IN NON-JEWISH SOURCES

A number of non-Jewish sources discuss the notion of an indestructible

bone. The sources vary from theological to literary to anatomical. Some
of these sources attribute the notion to Rabbinic tradition, others do not.
As each source merits its own discussion, they are addressed individually
and in chronological order.
Sebastian Muenster (1489—1552)"
Sebastian Muenster was an outstanding Christian Hebraist of the six-
teenth century. His proficiency in the Hebrew language earned him the
20. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 12:7 and Lamentations Rabbah, poem.
21. F. H. Garrison, "The bone called 'luz'," N.Y. Med.J., 1910, 92, 149—51.
22. Oholot 1:8.
23. Bechorot 45a.
24. Berachot 28b.
25. E. Rokeach, Sefer Rokeach Hagadol, laws of prayer.
26. F. Rosner, tans., Julius Preuss' Biblical and Talmudic Medicine (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co.,
1978), p. 65.
27. See Roth, (n. 9) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 12, pp. 505-06.
56 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January igg6
position of professor of Hebrew at Basel University in 1528. He au-
thored a number of grammatical treatises as well as Latin translations of
Hebrew works, including the Bible.28 Amongst his many works is a small
book of Christian-Jewish Polemics entitled Sefer Ha- Veekuakh or The
Messiah of the Christians and the Jews.29 This work is a continuation of the
tradition ofJewish-Christian debate in the Middle Ages and is derivative
from earlier similar works.30
It is in the context of this work that there appears a passage on the in-
destructible bone.31 The work is structured as a dialogue between a
Christian and a Jew and this section is excerpted from the statement of
the Christian.
But in the world to come and resurrection of the dead, it is farre otherwaies
[sic] with us; for then man shall be by the resurrection, a new creature, and re-
newed upon their former bones, like that vision in Ezekiel, when the Lord
G-d did raise up His people, saying I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring
up flesh upon you, and will cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye
shall live. Wherefore, your Rabbis have said in the secrets of the Law, that there
is in the neibe,32 z very stirTe bone, which being put in the fire, is not hurt by it,
and being put into the ground, doth not putrifie, and they affirm the resurrec-
tion of the body doth increase by that. So also it is in Genesis, and the Lord
made; I say upon the bone, sinewes, flesh and skin, and breathed into her the
breath of life, and brought her to Adam, that by this mystery he might fore-
shew, although man should dye, yet hee should rise in the same body and
should be made a building of nerves, bones, and flesh joined together, which
should not be dissolved, wherefore Adam called her bone of my bone, because
the resurrection of man should be in his first bones of eternal life.33

28. The earlier editions of Muenster's works are often sold at contemporary Judaica and Hebraica auc-
tions. Meunster's Bible translation was recently sold at auction in Swann Galleries on 16 December 1993.
29. Sebastian Muenster, Sefer Ha-Veekuakh (Basel, 1539). This book was originally published as one
volume in both Hebrew and Latin. However, a number of libraries, including the British Library and
the New York Public Library, only possess the Hebrew section of this work. For further bibliographi-
cal details, see J. Prijs, Die Busier Hebraischer Drucke (1492-1866) (Basel: Urs Graf-Verlag, Olten und
Freiburg, 1964), pp. 91-93.
30. Prijs, (n. 29) Hebraischer Drucke, p. 92. See also, D . Berger, The Jewish-Chnstian Debate in the High
Middle Ages (a critical edition of the Nizzahon Vetus with an introduction, translation, and commentary
by David Berger) (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979), p. 377.
31. This passage does not appear m the British Library copy of Sefer Ha- Veekuakh, which lacks a title
page, consists of only the Hebrew section of this work, and appears to us to be an abridged version of
Muenster's original. We were unable, however, to make a direct comparison between the British Li-
brary copy and other copies.
32. The Hebrew term is tzavar, which means neck. We were unclear as to the etymology of the word
"neibe" and have been unable to locate it in either English or Latin language dictionaries.
33. This passage is excerpted from the translation of Muenster's work by Paul Isaiah which was pub-
lished in London, 1655.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 57
Muenster refers to the indestructible bone, but does not ascribe to it
the name luz. In addition, he quotes the source of this notion as being
from the "secrets of the Law" which likely refers to mystical or kabbal-
istic literature. Muenster was familiar with the works of Menahem
Recanati,34 an early fourteenth-century Italian kabbalist and halakhic au-
thority, but his notion of the indestructible bone could not have derived
from Recanati as the latter places the bone at the bottom of the spine,
not in the neck.35 Other kabbalistic sources, however, do describe the
bone as being in the neck.36

Andreas Vesalius (1514-64) 37

Vesalius, the master of Renaissance anatomy, makes mention of an inde-
structible bone in his monumental work De Humani Corporis Fabrica.™ The
relevant passage is found in a discussion on the sesamoid bones of the foot.
Another one of these bones is that which the magicians and followers of occult
philosophy so often call to mind as being fashioned like a chickpea, liable to no
decay, and which, buried in the earth after death, will (they affirm) reproduce
man like a seed on the day of the Last Judgment. This may perhaps be the bone
on either side, but is more likely to be the exterior, which is somewhat like a
pea; for on bringing both bones in apposition we should obtain a whole pea.
Then the internal ossicle is so large in men of great stature that a die might eas-
ily be made out of it. These bones differ, however, from those noted by the
Arabs in that they may be burned or broken like other bones, as well as in be-
ing surely liable to decay to some extent, although of durable structure. But the
dogma which asserts that man will be regenerated from this bone, of which we
have just narrated the immense fiction, may be left for elucidation to those
philosophers who reserve to themselves alone the right to free discussion and
pronouncement upon the resurrection and the immortality of the soul. And
even on their account we should attach no importance whatever to the mirac-
ulous and occult powers ascribed to the internal ossicle of the right great toe,
however much one may be concerned about it. At our public dissections and
even as an amateur, we have often obtained a better supply of these bones than
those truculent male strumpets of the Venetian horde, who to obtain the bone
34. E.IJ. Rosenthal, "Sebastian Muenster's Knowledge and Use of Jewish Exegesis," in Essays in
Honor of the Very Rev. Dr. J. H. Hertz, eds. I. Epstein, E. Levine, and C. Roth (London: Edward
Goldston, 1942), pp. 351-69, especially p. 355.
35. See Commentary of Menahem Recanati to Exodus 25:30. We thank Jay Zachter for referring us
to this source.
36. Aaron ben Moses Modena, Ma'avar Yabok (Bnei Brak, Israel: Yashpe, 1966), pp. 201-02.
37. For a comprehensive biography see C. D. O'Malley, Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514—1564
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1965).
38. Andreas Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Basel: Joannis Oporini, 1543), p. 126.
58 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January 1996
for purposes of comparison, as also the heart of an unpolluted male infant
[pueruli virginis masculi], lately killed a child, cut the heart from its living body,
and was punished, as they richly deserved, for the foulest of crimes. Moreover,
this ossicle, called Albadaran by the Arabs and the truly occult and obscure
philosophers alluded to, is less known to actual students of anatomy than to cer-
tain superstitious men who are capable of likening the fourth carpal bone [quar-
tum brachialis os] to a chickpea.39
Vesalius mentions the notion of the indestructible bone and the belief
that it serves as the nidus for resurrection on the day of the Last
Judgment. However, he cites it as a tradition of the magicians and oc-
cult philosophers, and later mentions it in the name of Arabic tradition.
It is quite possible that by this time the luz bone of Rabbinic teachings
had been filtered through Arabic sources.40 What is particularly interest-
ing is that Vesalius himself employs Hebrew terminology in this very
work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, as well as in the early anatomical
work, Tabulae Anatomica Sex.41 One might, therefore, expect Vesalius to
have been familiar with Jewish anatomical tradition, in which case he
should have quoted the tradition as one ofJewish origin, referred to the
bone as the Luz42 instead of Albadaran, and located it in the neck or spine
rather than in the big toe of the foot.
What was, in fact, the nature of Vesalius' training, if any, in the
Hebrew language? It is speculated that he may have attended the lectures
on Hebrew by Joannes van Campen43 at the Pedagogium Trilingue in
Louvain.44 What is known for sure is that Vesalius was tutored in
Hebrew by Lazarus de Frigeis, who assisted him with the Hebrew ter-
minology used for the Fabrica.^ Vesalius explicitly acknowledges his as-
sistance in the introduction to this work.
I have decided to give in the index principally a simple list of the names of the
39. Translation by Garrison, (n. 21), p. 151.
40. Ibid. Garrison also quotes an introduction to the Koran published in 1821 which mentions the
incorruptible bone, the seed for the future edifice, as being part of Islamic teachings. They call the bone
al ajb, which is synonymous with the coccyx.
41. For a detailed study of the Hebrew terminology used by Vesalius, see the articles by Mordecai
Etziony, "The Hebrew-Aramaic element in Vesalius' Tabulae Anatomicae Sex," Bull. Hist. Med , 1945,
18, 413—24; idem, "The Hebrew Aramaic element in Vesalius," Bull. Hist. Med., 1946, 20, 36-57.
42. Although Vesalius himself does not mention the term "luz," some historians refer to the above
quoted passage as the passage of the bone of luz. See L. Clendening, Source Book of Medical History (New
York: Dover Publications, 1942), p. 150.
43. See Roth, (n. 9) EncyclopediaJudaica, vol. 5, p. 76.
44. O'Malley, (n. 37) Andreas Vesalius, p. 33.
45. Ibid., pp. 119—20. De Fngeis apparently appears as one of the observers of Vesalius' dissection on
the famous frontispiece of the Fabrica. See ibid., p. 142.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 59
bones,firstpresenting those I use in the text; then the Greek; then, any others
in Latin taken from authoritative writers, and all that in such way that it may
have value. After these will follow the Hebrew, but also some Arabic, almost
all taken from the Hebrew translation of Avicenna through the efforts of
Lazarus de Frigeis, a distinguishedjewish physician and close friend with whom
I have been accustomed to translate Avicenna.46
Returning to the notion of the indestructible bone, Vesalius categor-
ically rejects it because "these bones . . . may be burned or broken like
other bones." He leaves the discussion of resurrection to the domain of
the philosophers. Vesalius' attention to dissection and experimentation
enabled him to rectify a number of errors perpetuated by the teachings
of Galen (2nd cent. C.E.)47
Girolamo Maggi (d. 1572)48
Biographical information on Maggi is scant,49 but it is known that he was
an Italian engineer who wrote a number of books on theology, includ-
ing De Mundi Exustione et Die Iudicii (concerning the Burning of the
World and the Day ofJudgment). This book was published in Basel by
the same printer who, some twenty-three years earlier, printed Sefer ha-
Veekuakh by Sebastian Muenster.50 The passage relevant to our discus-
sion is found in Book Five, Chapter One, on the topic of resurrection.
Some occult philosophies, or rather followers of Philomoria [lit., "Love of
Foolishness"], indeed admit resurrection, but they say that a man must be re-
stored from a certain bone of the foot, as if from a seed. Andreas Vesalius, chap-
ter 1, summary of his books concerning the structure of the human body,
speaks thus on this topic . . . The heretical Talmudists and other Hebrew au-
thors blab out not dissimilar things. For they think that on the last day a man
must be restored and regenerate from a certain uncorruptible bone (this, they
have written, is indeed, next to the base of the calvaria, or in the base itself or
the so-called nut [nuca]; others say that it is thefirstof the twelve vertebrae from
which the thorax has its beginning, which when we bend our head and neck,

46. Vesalius, (n. 38) Fabrica, p. 166. Translation by O'Malley, (n. 37) Andreas Vesalius, p. 120.
47. F. H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed. (Philadelphia. W. B. Saunders,
1929), p- 219.
48. Maggi is also known synonymously as Hieronymus Magius.
49. See Benjamin Vincent, ed., Dictionary of Biography Past and Present (London: Moxon, 1877),
p. 371; Mario Emilio Cosenza, Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of the Italian Humanists and the
World of Classical Scholarship in Italy, 1300-1800 (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1962), pp. 2070-71; De M. Le
D'Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle Biographe Generate (Paris: Firmin Didot Freres, 1863), pp. 698-99.
50. Girolamo Maggi, De Mundi Exustione et Iudicii (Basel: H e n n c Petne, 1562). We thank Dr. Louis
Feldman for translating both the title and the subsequent passage from the original Latin.
60 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January igg6
sticks out and swells out a very great deal) which they themselves call Luz. But
it will be worthy of effort to refer to what is written in chapter 28 of the book
which is called Bereshith Rabbah, in explanation of these words of Genesis, chap-
ter 6 which we cite: I shall destroy from the face of the earth the man whom
I have created, etc. Rabbi Joanan [Johanan] in the name of Rabbi Shimon the
son ofjozadach [Jehozadak], mentioned also that the bone of the back and that
vertebra whose name is Luz has been destroyed, from which the Lord G-d, at
the future time of resurrection, will cause a man to shoot up. Hadrian asked
Rabbi Jesue [Joshua], son of Anina [Hananiah], from which thing the Lord
G-d in the future time is going to produce a man. He replied: from a certain
bone of the human back, which is called Luz. When Hadrian asked him,
whence he knew this, Jesue asked him to order the aforementioned bone to be
brought and that he would reveal the matter through an experiment. That
bone which is below the jawbone was not able to be rubbed away and rubbed
out; when placed in fire it was not burned; when cast into water it was not dis-
solved; and finally, when it was placed on a forge and struck with a hammer it
was so far from being able to be worn out and diminished in any part that the
anvil was split and dashed to pieces and the hammer was broken before any-
thing was lacking to the bone. The author of that book says these things: that
they are true no one is going to persuade me, for although bones according to
the witness of Plato, are especially long lasting, nevertheless we see every day
that they are crushed and rubbed out by stones and hammer by a slight effort
into the shape of dust, that they are dissolved by the force of water and old age
into dirt, and turned into ashes by flames, unless teeth (as Pliny in Book 7,
chapter 16, testifies and antiquity noticed and observed) survive, which at last
a longer-lasting fire, like all remaining things, subdues and abolishes. But let the
Hebrews depart with their lies; let us return to our subject.51
Maggi cites Vesalius but then mentions the independent Rabbinic
tradition of the indestructible bone. Maggi is the first of our sources to
explicitly use the term luz.52 In addition, he quotes the exact Rabbinic
source for this tradition. As little is known of his education, we can only
speculate as to how he obtained such detailed knowledge of Rabbinic
sources.53 Apparently, Maggi, at some point, worked in the printing shops
of Venice.54 Venice was a major center ofjewish culture and Hebrew print-
51. Ibid., pp. 170—71
52. In Maggi's work which was printed in Latin, the word luz is printed in Hebrew characters, as are
the words Bereshith Rabbah. In the entire book, there are perhaps less than ten words printed in Hebrew
characters. As mentioned above, Maggi's De Mundi was printed by Hennc Petne, who also printed
Hebrew language works at his press. Hebrew letters were therefore likely available for discriminate us-
age in the printing of De Mundi.
53. Maggi quotes Rabbinic sources multiple times throughout his work and, in his index of sources,
which appears after the table of contents, a number of Rabbinic sources can be found.
54. Cosenza, (n. 49) Dictionary, p. 2071.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 61
ing in the Renaissance. Ironically, Christians owned and operated many
of the Hebrew printing shops where Jewish scholars were employed as
editors." It is possible that Maggi came into contact with some of these
scholars, or perhaps simply befriended Italian Jews, who comprised a sig-
nificant portion of the Italian population at that time. We need not even
postulate that Maggi had contact with the Jews, for this was a thriving
period for Christian Hebraists, many of whom also worked at Italian
printing shops.56
Regarding the location of the Luz bone, Maggi cites two differing opin-
ions, both in the name of the Hebrew or Talmudic tradition. Some say it
is located at the base of the skull or the so-called nut (nuca) while others
identify it as the first of the twelve thoracic vertebrae. The term nucha
or nuchal is used by anatomists to refer to the nape of the neck. The word
nucha means nut, as does the word luz (hazelnut). In addition, it is true,
as Maggi and Muenster state, that some Rabbinic sources locate the luz
in the area of the nape of the neck. It is, therefore, possible that the anatom-
ical term "nucha" may ultimately derive from the Rabbinic bone of luz.
Similar to Vesalius, Maggi rejects the notion of an indestructible bone
because it does not stand the test of experimentation. In addition, he has
less than kind words to say about the Jewish tradition. He concludes,
"but let the Hebrews depart with their lies."
Caspar Bauhinus (i 560-1624)

Bauhinus was a native of Basel, where he ultimately became professor of

anatomy and botany in 1589. His work on anatomy, Theatrum
Anatomicum, was a popular text in its day because it was systematic and
provided adequate coverage of the ancient authorities.57 According to
Fielding Garrison, the first reference to the name luz in any work on
anatomy is to be found in the 1621 edition of the aforementioned work
by Bauhinus.58
However, in his book, History of Medicine, Garrison erroneously states
55. See, e.g., David Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (London: Holland Press, 1963)
56. Roth, (n 9) Encyclopedia Judaiaca, vol. 8, pp. 9—71.
57. Leslie W. Dunlap, ed., Heirs oj Hippocrates: The Development of Medicine in a Catalogue of Historic
Books in the Health Sciences Library, the University of Iowa (Iowa City: Friends of the University of Iowa
Libraries, 1980), pp. 123-24.
58. Garrison, (n. 21), p. 149. Garrison points out that the passage about luz does not appear in the
earlier editions of Bauhinus' Theatrum Anatomicum. We were able to consult the 1605 edition, where in
fact, this passage does not appear. We were unable, however, to obtain a copy of the 1592 edition, which
coincidentally was printed in Basel by none other than Hennc Petri, the printer of Meunster's Sefer ha-
Veekuakh and Maggj's De Mundi.
62 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January 1996
that Bauhinus' work is the first in which the term luz appears outside
Rabbinic literature.59 The publication of Maggi's De Mundi, discussed
earlier in this article, predates the Theatricum Anatomicum by fifty-nine
years. Bauhinus writes as follows:
Hebrew writers affirm that there is a bone in the human body just below the
eighteenth vertebra which cannot be destroyed by fire, water, or any other el-
ement, nor be broken or bruised by any force; this bone G-d shall, in His ex-
ceeding wisdom, water with the celestial dew, whence the other members shall
be joined to it, coalescing to form the body, which breathed upon by the
Divine Spirit, shall be raised up alive. Such a bone they call Lus (not Luz); and
its site, they say, is in the spine, from the eighteenth vertebra to the femur. The
author of this fable is the Rabbi Uschaia, who lived 210 A.D., about which time
he wrote the book called Bereschit Rabbi, i.e., Glossa magna in Pentateuchum, from
which many later Rabbis have taken this fiction. This bone, they say, can never
be burned or corrupted in all eternity, for its ground substance is of celestial ori-
gin and watered with the heavenly dew wherewith G-d shall make the dead to
rise, as with yeast in a mass of dough. They insist, moreover, that this bone will
outlast all the others because it does not assimilate food as they do and because
it is harder than the rest, being the fundamental part of the body, from which
it is built up. We read further that the Emperor Hadrian once asked Rabbi
Joshua, the son of Chanin, how G-d would resurrect man in the world to
come. He made answer: From the bone Luz in the spinal column. Whence
Hadrian asked him how he came by this knowledge and how he could prove
it. Whereupon Rabbi Joshua produced the bone so that he could see it. When
placed in water it could not be softened; it was not destroyed by fire, nor could
it be ground by any weight; when placed on an anvil and struck with a ham-
mer, the anvil was broken in sunder but the bone remained intact. Munsterus
says the Rabbins believe it to be located in the neck. But Vesalius writes that
this ossicle is called Albadaran by the Arabs, resembling a chickpea in size and
shape, and he questions whether, being notably hard, it may not be the ossicle
between the two bones of the great toe. Heironymus Magius represents that,
according to the Talmudists and other Hebrew commentators, the real bone is
near the base of the skull, whether it be in the base itself or in the spine. To
others it stands apart as the twelfth of the dorsal vertebrae with which we in-
cline the head and bend the neck. But what Joshua said to Hadrian the
Emperor, no one can be persuaded to believe. For if bones as Plato bears wit-
ness, are highly durable, nevertheless we see daily that they can be pulverized
by hammer or stones or reduced to ashes by fire; as Plato [Plinius]60 testifies and

59. Garrison, (n. 47) History ofMedicine, p. 230.

60. Garrison inadvertently wrote Plato instead of Pliny, which appears in the original text. This is ob-
viously borrowed from Maggi.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 63
the ancients point out, only the teeth can survive, being more enduring than
the fire which subdues and effaces all other remains.61
Thus these circumcised fathers are accustomed, when they are unable to ex-
plain the true reason of a more difficult thing, to take refuge in fables which
they gulp down on behalf of the articles of their holy faith, lest they seem to
have been ignorant of anything. But let the Hebrews depart with their lies; also
let the magicians and the followers of occult philosophy depart; let the
Cabbalist depart who both jest and impose so impudently in manifest matters.62
Bauhinus quotes all three of the aforementioned sources, two of
which are theological and not anatomical. He cites the same reference
from Bereshith Rabbah as does Maggi, but differs in his information about
the Rabbinic tradition regarding the bone's location. Bauhinus says that
"Hebrew writers affirm that there is a bone in the human body just be-
low the eighteenth vertebra which can not be destroyed . . . " It is clear
that Bauhinus' information about the Rabbinic teachings did not derive
exclusively from the works of Maggi and Muenster as neither of these
sources identify the luz bone in this location. As with Maggi, we can
only speculate about his education in Jewish literature. In his youth
Bauhinus trained in Padua. For various reasons the University of Padua
was the major center of medical training for European Jews in the
Renaissance.63 Could the young Bauhinus have interacted with Jewish
students at the university and thereby gained his knowledge of Rabbinic
sources? It is possible. Alternatively, his knowledge might well have
been obtained in Basel, which, although not a center for medical train-
ing, was a center for Hebrew printing in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.64 As, by law, no Jews were allowed to reside in Basel at this
time, special permits had to be secured for Jewish scholars who came to
Basel to proofread the Hebrew works printed at the Christian printing
presses.65 In addition, the tenure of Bauhinus at the University of Basel

61. Up to this point, the translation is by Garrison, (n. 21), p 149. The passage beginning with "thus"
was not translated by Garrison in his article and was translated for us by Dr Louis Feldman, whom we
thank for his efforts.
62. Caspar Bauhinus, Theatrum Anatomicum, 3rd ed. (Basel: Hennc Petri, 1621). Dunlap, (n. 57) Heirs,
p. 123.
63. Much has been written on the history of the Jews at the University of Padua. See, e g., C. Roth,
"The medieval university and the Jew," The Menorah Journal, 1930, 19, 128—41; J. Shatzky, "On Jewish
medical students of Padua," J. Hist. Med. Allied Sri., 1950, } , 444—47; A. Modena and E. Morpurgo,
Medici E Chirurghi Ebrei Dottorati E Lkenziatai Nell'Universsita Di Padova dal 1617 al 1816 (Bologna, 1967);
D. Ruderman, "The Impact of Science on Jewish Culture and Society in Venice (With Special
Reference to Jewish Graduates of Padua's Medical School)," in Cli Ebrei e Venezia (Venice, 1983).
64. See Roth, (n. 9) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 4, p. 304. See also Pnjs, (n. 29) Hebraischer Drucke.
6$ Roth, (n. 9) Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 4, p. 304.
64 Journal of the History of Medicine : Vol. 51, January 1996
coincided with that of Johannes Buxtorf I (1564-1629), a renowned
Christian Hebraist who, in 1591, became professor of Hebrew at the
university, a position held earlier in the century by Sebastian Muenster.66
Buxtorf was well-versed in the full spectrum of Rabbinic literature and
could easily have been the provider of information for Bauhinus.
Much like Maggi, Bauhinus concludes his discussion of the luz bone
with less than kind words for the Jewish tradition. He even quotes a phrase
verbatum from De Mundi, "but let the Hebrews depart with their lies."
Samuel Butler (1612-80)
Another reference to the luz bone outside Rabbinic literature appears in
the literary work of Samuel Butler entitled Hudibras. In the context of
this satirical poem lampooning Puritan rule, Butler has occasion to em-
ploy the Rabbinic luz bone for the purpose of metaphor.
The learned Rabbins of the Jews
Write there's a bone which they call Luz
In the rump of man, of such a virtue,
No force of nature can do hurt to;
And therefore at the last great day,
All the other members shall, they say,
Spring out of this, as from a seed
All sorts of vegetals proceed;
From whence the learned sons of art
Os sacrum justly style that part.
Then what can better represent
Than this Rump Bone, the Parliament,
That after several rude ejections,
And as prodigious resurrections,
With new reversions of nine lives,
Starts up and like a cat survives?67
Butler clearly identifies the Os sacrum as the luz bone. As this bone
(luz) is associated with resurrection, the use of the religious term, "the
sacred bone," makes this identification palatable. A contemporary anat-
omy book has perpetuated this notion of the origin of the term sacrum.
SACRUM = holy or sacred; it looks like the pile of ashes after cremation (the sa-
66. Ibid., vol. 4, p. 1543.
67. Garrison, (n 21) also quotes this passage from Butler, which appears in Part 3 Canto 2 of Hudibras.
Samuel Butler, Hudibras (London, 1663—78). Garrison misquotes the date of this work as being
1615-1630. In fact, Butler was only born in 1612 and the 3rd part of Hudibras appeared in 1678. See M.
H. Abrams, ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 3rd ed. 1 (New York, 1974), p. 1965.
 Reichman & Rosner : The Bone Called Luz 6$
cred bone). It was supposed to resist decomposition longest and to be the seed
from which the body was resurrected.68

CONCLUSION

The notion of the bone called luz, or the analogous concept of the in-
destructible bone, is clearly of Rabbinic origin. Although it has been as-
cribed to other traditions, including those of mystics, philosophers, and
Moslems, the earliest recorded source is that of the Midrash (400-600
C.E.), and all subsequent sources either quote the Midrash explicidy or
allude to it, whether knowingly or unwittingly.
The theological import of this bone, by virtue of its association with
resurrection, has fueled continued discussion about it throughout the
ages. Despite its religious significance, however, it is quite evident from
the above sources that the location of this elusive bone remains obscure,
even to this day. Clarification of this latter issue may have to wait until
the very time of the resurrection.