Dysmorphology in the Bible and the Talmud

This article enumerates the congenital anomalies mentioned in the Bible and the Talmud, the two holiest and oldest texts in Judaism. Most of these con ditions were described to regulate attributes that would disqualify a Pries t from performing religious rituals in the Temple in Jerusalem. However, th e cultural atmosphere in Biblical and Talmudical times was one in which phy sical deformity did not necessarily evoke a negative aesthetic reaction, an assumption of ill health, or the expectation of economic dependence. (C) 2 001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.