According to some views it would appear that the dietary advice given by Chazal is not divinely inspired but rather a measure of the medical knowledge of their time.

The Poskim all state that one should not try the remedies mentioned in the Talmud, since one cannot understand them and may come to mock the words of the sages (Maharil Likutim, Yam Shel Shlomo Chulin 8:12). Does this mean that there is a deeper level to these remedies? Are they received from Sinai and do they have some measure of divine truth? This is the approach of Rabbeinu Tam and Rashba. Both of them reject empiric evidence which contradicts the words of Chazal- Rabbeinu Tam regarding the heliocentric system (Shita Mekubetzes Kesuvos 13b) and Rashba (Teshuvos 1:98) regarding the subject of Tereifos.

Rav Sherira Gaon, Rambam and his son R. Avraham take a different view. They maintain that one cannot rely on Talmudic remedies unless modern science has proved them effective. Rav Sherira (quoted in Otzar Hageonim 10:376) says that "these remedies are not commands" and Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:14) stresses that these medicines were not received from prophets but rather learned from the wise men in the time of Chazal and "the scholastic knowledge at the time was lacking."

Rivash (447) accepts the principle of Rav Sherira but adds that we should not dismiss the words of Chazal since in many cases they themselves were the arbiters of medical knowledge and were proved right hundreds of years later. He cites a number of examples of how Chazal preceded modern medicine, such as the issue of marital relations in the final trimester and which parent contributes to fetal development. Other examples of Chazal's superior knowledge include hemophilia which they diagnosed some 1500 years before it was noticed by modern medicine and jaundice in infants.

Yoel Domb