Abraham Nansich. Aleh Teruphah ["Leaf of Healing": Halachic responsum permitting the use of inoculation to combat smallpox, and other novellae].

The author records a conversation with the Moroccan Kabbalist Shalom Buzaglo who reported that women in his native Morocco had anticipated the use of inoculation to ward off smallpox via their unique use of folk medicine. Tragically, French-born Rabbi Nanisch (1718-96) lost two of his children to smallpox while he served as rabbi of London’s Hambro Synagogue. Inoculation against smallpox gained currency in English society due to the social-relief efforts of Lady Montagu and the British Royal Family, who adopted the practice during the smallpox epidemic that hit London in 1721. Later in 1796, Edward Jenner refined the technique with his discovery that injection of cowpox into humans could spare them the ravages of smallpox, a most fatal disease.