See “Covid-19: Study that claimed boys are at increased risk of myocarditis after vaccination is deeply flawed, say critics” in “The BMJ”.

The study used VAERS data to determine the rate of myocarditis in vaccinated teens. VAERS is a terrible data source as it’s all self-reported by people claiming vaccine related injury.

@philosopher “Only a small minority of frum men and women are vaccinated” Maybe in your community. Even in frum places with atrocious vaccination rates (which is perhaps one or two major frum communities in the US), they rarely drop below 40%. I think something like 75% of eligible Chareidim in Eretz Yisroel are vaccinated, only slightly less than the national average.

Also, I’m pretty sure that when tens of thousands of frum people got COVID nebbuch, plenty of them were niftar or left too weak to have children for the time being. Not to mention pregnant women who miscarried.

So despite what you claim, we actually do have enough information to determine that the shema of getting COVID is still far worse than the vadai of getting a vaccine.

@ujm Right now? Pretty likely. Especially if they hadn’t had COVID in over a year and they are in a place with low vaccination rates and don’t socially distance.

Please stop with this misleading hypothetical question narischkeit. No, the vaccine does not effect fertility. Ten months of millions of women taking it has proven that much. It is not “too soon to say”, it’s literally false.

COVID, on the other hand, can potentially impact fertility. So perhaps if someone doesn’t take the vaccine, gets COVID, and now can no longer have babies they’ve been oiver on pru u’revu? Maybe they are also oiver on Lo Sa’amod by convincing someone not to get vaccinated and then watching them get hospitalized?

Yes

I don’t know which direction the sarcasm is going or coming. But for those questioning, the vaccine doesn’t prevent you completely from getting COVID. It helps to prevent it, helps to prevent you from spreading it, and helps to prevent you from getting sick from it. Most fully vaccinated people only know they have COVID because they took a mandatory test, not because they felt sick.

@daas-yochid I’m dismissive of Rabbeinu Bechaye as a source to state that one can, in contemporary times, use gemstones to heal or protect from injury or illness. If you read what is written, he seems to imply that the healing properties are based on the knowledge of the time, and that Teffilah and Torah work better as a medicine. I don’t know of any major poskim, mainstream or otherwise, that promote gemstone healing. If there were, I doubt Or Emunah would be forced to resort to that single shakey “haskamah” I mentioned earlier.

@CHOOSID That, of course, is a gem that has wonderful healing properties.

@ADHD According to the Or Emunah website, the only haskama is from Rav Wosner SHLITA. And it’s not much of a haskama, all it really says is that energy healing isn’t Avodah Zara and it isn’t halachically problematic to do it.

@rightwriter That’s a whole divrei Torah you’re asking for. There’s literally libraries written about the specific significance of every material Hashem told us to use for the Mishkan. Zahav Tahor, Shoham, T’cheiles, Tola’as Shani, Sheis, Argaman, etc. I suggest you look up Rav Hirsch on Shemos, there’s basically a whole sefer about each and every thing in the Mishkan and what it represents.

Absolutely generational. In my workplace mincha you can see a clear age line in who puts in a yarmulka when they come in and who is wearing one already.

In previous generations there was a lot of anti-semitism and anti-frumkeit that people had to deal with. So Chaim Goldberg became clean shaven Harry Gold who is a vegetarian. Baruch Hashem it isn’t nearly as much of an issue today as it used to be. People feel more comfortable being openly frum and aren’t afraid that there will be some form of backlash for it.

@rightwriter Rav Hirsch speaks about the specific stones, as do several other meforshim. I don’t have any seforim in front of me, so I suggest you look it up. I’ve never heard of the stones significance being for healing before reading the Rabbeinu Bechaye quoted in a link above.

@rightwriter And the reason I said that you had an agenda is because you asked very specific questions which you already had answers to that you only mentioned once people responded in a way contrary to the answers you had in mind.

@AviraDeArah I didn’t say that Chazal’s refuos were based on folk remedies, I said that a Rishon did. Which is absolutely not problematic to say in any context. For that matter, the Gemara discusses many many strange sounding refuos, especially in Mesechtas Gittin. But I don’t recall any of them mentioning gemstones in particular. So it sounds to me, that when Rabbeinu Bechaye discussed the healing properties of the gems in the Choshen, he was basing it off of common knowledge.

@rightwriter The fox tooth is in the same sugya as the scary mask which I already commented on. Your questions about the significance of the Choshem stones was also answered, look it up in Rav Hirsch. There are multiple other Rishonim and Acharonim who discuss it, I’m sure you can find one or two in a Mikraos Gedolos.

What about when Bnei Yisrael had to gaze at the bronze snake to get healed?

Ayin Mishnayos mesachtos Rosh Hashonna (and the London School of Jewish Song song using those words).

Im sure there are plenty more sources in Judaism.

I’m sure there aren’t based merely on the fact that none of these gemstone salesmen mention them. The strongest source seems to be Rabbeinu Bechaye. All the other sources mentioned do not state that gemstones have healing properties, such as Avrohom Avinu which I mentioned in an earlier comment.

@rightwriter I would suggest not believing everything you’ve read on the internet. That “Or Emunah” site is highly questionable and seems to be more based on Eastern mythology than Torah. The “Kibitz” link is just trying to sell chintzy chotchkes. The only good source seems to be this Rabbeinu Bechaye which the Chabad site that quoted it stresses that the true healing is the Torah and Tahara.

I’m not sure what your agenda is, though it’s clear you have one. But other than one Rabbeinu Bechaye (who stresses that Torah is the ikkar and also seems based on the folk medicine of his time), there is no basis in Yiddishkeit that gemstones have some magical healing properties and can be used to supplement (or substitute) actual medical help.

@rightwriter

The Gemara in Shabbos is in the context of folk remedies, like wearing a scary mask to scare away diseases or healing amulets. Most Rishonim agree that the remedies aren’t actual cures, but psychological calming devices that we allow on Shabbos because of the placebo effect.

See the MAHARSHA on Baba Basra who says that the Gemara about Avrohom Avinu having a healing stone. The Gemara says that when he was niftar, Hashem put the power of the stone into the sun. The MAHARSHA explains that it’s a moshol. Avrohom Avinu had the knowledge of how to heal people and after he was niftar, Hashem gave the sun a certain koach that people will be healthy by spending time in the sunlight.

Read the studies you linked. HCQ and Ivermectin probably work as effective remedies to lessen the symptoms of COVID-19. But they are far from a silver bullet. Even if they were being used widespread in all COVID cases, the most optimistic studies show that it would have only had a 10-20% change in how many people died. Maybe.

The best remedy is still prevention. Get vaccinated if you haven’t had a positive COVID test in the last few months. If you can’t or won’t vaccinate, avoid contact with people and wear a mask when leaving your house.

I’m not a Talmid Chacham, but every book on Shalom Bayis I’ve seen has numerous quotes from Chazal about how it’s a chiyuv.

@rightwriter The links you posted confirm that it’s far safer to take the vaccine than to rely on having had COVID a year ago.

@rightwriter You keep harping on vague statements like “ineffective” and “rare”. Look at the actual numbers as to how effective vaccinations are compared to someone who tested positive for antibodies months ago.

@rightwriter So the answer to my question is yes. You are just ignoring my response to your flu comparisons.

@rightwriter Are you intentionally avoiding my responses to your questions? Like how COVID is nothing like the flu?

Antibodies are a fine substitute to the vaccine. But you can’t expect everyone to have antibodies, so those who haven’t had COVID in some time (three months I think they say) need to get the shot.

@rightwriter COVID-19 is far deadlier than the flu. For one, it’s far more likely for a healthy person to end up in the hospital and/or face long term health problems from COVID-19 than the flu. But more importantly, it’s much much more contagious.

And I am counting natural antibodies. Someone who had COVID already and shows a high number of antibodies in a test is fine and doesn’t need a vaccine. But unless they’re getting tested every two weeks, they will need a vaccine at some point.

Oh and I work in a place that researches robotic appendages and AI. So I guess I’m at the center of whatever maelstrom is brewing up.

@rightwriter I’ve said this in previous threads, maybe to you maybe to someone else.

Those who don’t take precautions against COVID (vaccines, social distancing, etc.) are like people speeding on a road. The biggest danger is to themselves (crashing into a wall), the second biggest danger is to others like them (crashing into a speeding car). But they are also endangering those who are trying their best not to speed.

So if a speed limit is impinging on your personal liberties and freedom of choice, then fine! Go to the Great Salt Flats or the German Autobahn or somewhere else where you’re allowed to speed. Otherwise, follow the law and keep other people safe.