I mentioned in passing in my last post, about the issue of medications on Shabbat. The ancient rabbis forbade medication on Shabbat, as the herbal medicines used in those days (and by modern day practitioners of herbalism), often involved grinding an herb, and then cooking it. Grinding is one of the thirty nine melachot. But what if one already has an herbal formula prepared? The rabbis feared that someone experiencing pain or discomfort might be so agitated that he might prepare such a remedy on Shabbat. Therefore, they forbade the use of a remedy, even if it had been prepared before Shabbat. Jewish law recognizes three degrees of illness. One who is, or might be, dangerously ill (holeh sheyesh bo sakanah), one who is not in danger, but is experiencing pain all over his body, or else is so uncomfortable that he must lie down, or else is so uncomfortable that he is unable to sleep. (Holeh she'ein bo sakanah), and lastly, someone who has a localized, not unbearable pain (miktzat holi, or meihush).An example would be a moderate or slight headache. In the first case, nearly all commandments, even Biblical commandments, may be, and must be violated, if necessary in curing the person. (Exceptions are idolatry, adultery, incest, murder). In the second case, no Biblical command may be violated, but rabbinic commands may be, including taking already prepared medicines. In the third case, we may violate nothing. Both Ashkenazi and Sepharadic rabbis agree that even now, when medicines are rarely made from herbs, the prohibition still applies, based on the principal of "lo pelug" (no differentiating). That is, if the rabbis forbade "medicine", they made no distinction. It is also clear that they made no distinction between a medical preparation made at home, and one purchased from a physician or herbalist. However, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (1920-2013), in my opinion the greatest halachic authority in the last seven hundred years, issued a responsum shortly before his death, that all medications are now permitted. His reasoning was that we not only do not makje our own medicines, but don't even buy them from an herbalist. We buy them from a store, that in turn buys them from a pharmaceutical company, that makes it in a factory, that is connected with a laboratory, There is no longer any reasonable fear of making it up on Shabbat. We are at least five steps removed from the person who prepares the formula. This is even too far to apply the principle of "lo pelug", as this is way beyond a reasonable doubt that our sages could have envisioned. He did not present this as a "heter", a dispensation for an emergency situation. Rather, he felt that this is an absolute reality in modern circumstances, that must be accepted. This has been a great boon to allergy sufferers, people with an annoying itch, as well as countless others. Strictly speaking, this is not a Sepharadic-Ashkenazic issue, but it illustrates the willingness of great Sepharadic rabbis to meet the challenges of new realities.