a Hebrew expression for “to plan ahead”

ByAmi Steinberger

לְהַקְדִּים רְפוּאָה לְמַכָּה

My dentist focuses on preventative dentistry – רפואת שיניים מונעת
.

Now, רפואה מונעת
– preventative medicine – is a Modern-Hebrew expression. But there’s another expression, a much older one but still very much alive today: להקדים רפואה למכה
– to precede the antidote (the medicine) to the blow. Basically, to plan ahead.

For example:

אגרנו קופסאות שימורים כדי להקדים רפואה למכה.

We amassed cans of food (preservative cans) in order to prepare for the blow.

The root ק.ד.מ
means before, so להקדים
is to make earlier – or to preempt. 

Doctor is רופא
, while medicine in the general sense is רפואה
.

To hit is להכות
, while a hit or a plague is מכה
.

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