An Orthodox Jewish School has taken a hard stance against the anti-vaxxers who refuse to vaccinate their children.
YWN has confirmed that the Visnitz Monsey Girls School made the bold announcement on Thursday afternoon. The decision was made after 2 childen were confirmed to have Measles. One child is in preschool and one in elementary school.
Any child who is not immunized, can’t return to school for 21 days. No “religious exemption” is accepted. A religious exemption does not work when there is a measles outbreak.
If the school identifies another measles case, the 21 days will start over.
On Wednesday, YWN published a story about a measles outbreak in New York, with 6 residents of Williamsburg and seven residents of Rockland County confirmed to have the disease. An additional eight suspected cases in Rockland County were being investigated involving a mix of adults and children. Many are linked to recent travel to Israel which has been dealing with the disease for months.
Two weeks ago, YWN reported about the Menahel of Breslov Mosdos in Tzefas having been infected with the measles. He was listed in critical condition at the time of the news story.
There have been dozens of stories published by YWN in the past few months of measles alerts issued by authorities involving Frum people who have not been vaccinated.
Health officials have said anyone at the following locations in Rockland, Westchester and Bergen counties may have been exposed to the measles:
- Congregation Bais Elazer in Monsey, N.Y. on Oct. 4
- Mia’s Reflexology in New City, N.Y. on Oct. 4
- Lifetime Gym in Montvale, N.J. on Oct. 5
- Wesley Kosher in Monsey N.Y. on Oct. 5
- Congregation Borov in Monsey, N.Y. on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6
- Costco in Nanuet, N.Y. on Oct. 7
- Care 365 in Monsey, N.Y. on Oct. 8
- Westchester Medical Center’s Emergency Room in Valhalla, N.Y. on Oct. 11
Lack of immunizations have been blamed for outbreaks within other Orthodox Jewish communities. In 2013, the largest measles outbreak in the United States in 17 years spread through Orthodox families in two Brooklyn neighborhoods.
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For those who believe they may have been exposed and have further questions, a toll-free hotline has been established: 1-888-364-4837. The hotline is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Measles is highly contagious, so anyone who is not protected against measles is at risk of getting the disease.
People who are unvaccinated risk getting infected with measles and spreading it to others, and they may spread measles to people who cannot get vaccinated because they are too young or have specific health conditions.
Individuals are considered protected or immune to measles if:
• they were born before 1957
• have received two doses of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine
• have had measles confirmed by a health care provider
• or have a lab test confirming immunity
Symptoms include a fever, rash, cough, conjunctivitis or runny nose, and they could appear 10 to 12 days after exposure.
The virus can remain in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.
To prevent the spread of illness, health officials are advising individuals who may have been exposed and who have symptoms consistent with measles to contact their health care provider, a local clinic, or a local emergency department before going for care.
(Charles Gross – YWN)
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14 Responses
Someone just called right before this story came out that we should not allow unvaccinated children into Shul.
Not surprising that visitors at the Reflexology “clinic” were exposed to Measles. The Anti Vaxxers love Reflexology, Flower Therapy, Homeopathy, Natropathy, etc…
this is NOT a bold move by the school, as the article mentioned…
This is a directive from the New York State Health Department.
The school is legally required to expel unvaccinated students for 21 days if any student in the school contacts measells. This includes exemptions and not up-to-date in your vaccinations.
א גוט מארגען.
Halivy they were on top of things even when the issues at school are not necessarily a liability.v’Hamavin yavin.
Misleading headline, they only banned them for 21 days, not permanently as the headline implies.
And yet there are some major rabbonim who are still against vaccinations. how many more measles outbreaks have to occur in frum venues before there is an attitude change towards vaccines. why did it take the Visnitz Yeshiva until now to ban those who aren’t vaccinated – those who aren’t vaccinated should have been banned from attending school from day 1.
Please people, chill out. Measles is not a deadly disease. I contracted the disease as well as the rest of my siblings years ago. BAH, we are alive and well. All the CDC wants to do is to spread fear into our communities to punish those who refuse to vaccinate their children due to pikuach nefesh. There are many dangerous toxins in these vaccines that have caused damage to young children, physically and mentally. Listen to Rav Chaim who gave his p’sak to Lakewood Rabbanim a few years ago: Schools are not allowed to refuse unvaccinated children. People love to talk about what a gadol B’Torah Rav Chaim is, and we should listen to his p’sakim. But when it comes to this, we ignore this great man? Chuzpah, mamash!
Exactly who paskened that there are religious reasons for not vaccinating? There are rabbonim who said that people who believe it is dangerous to their children are entitled to refuse vaccination… But probably all poskim agree that schools are entitled to refuse admission to the unvaccinated.
This is not really a halcha issue at all. Just happens to be that many in our community distrust science, and believe like Michali above that there are toxins in vaccines. She happens to be frum but she does not claim that her position is halacha.
I saw in 2013 a fine yeshiva bochur who became sick with measles at age 25 and was hospitalized in serious condition… once recovered there is a possibility of permanent sterility. When young children caught it it rarely did any harm, but when adults catch it could be very serious.
michali
October 18, 2018 5:08 pm at 5:08 pm
Please people, chill out. Measles is not a deadly disease. I contracted the disease as well as the rest of my siblings years ago. BAH, we are alive and well. All the CDC wants to do is to spread fear into our communities to punish those who refuse to vaccinate their children due to pikuach nefesh. There are many dangerous toxins in these vaccines that have caused damage to young children, physically and mentally. Listen to Rav Chaim who gave his p’sak to Lakewood Rabbanim a few years ago: Schools are not allowed to refuse unvaccinated children. People love to talk about what a gadol B’Torah Rav Chaim is, and we should listen to his p’sakim. But when it comes to this, we ignore this great man? Chuzpah, mamash!
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Its also chutzpah mamash on your part for cherry picking his psak . We all know his psak on going on the internet , yet you chose not to listen to him.
Hypocrisy at its best!
As far as i know all my friends who contacted measles and other childhood diseases were left unaffected. So why should we care about these diseases? Well, when I said that all were left unaffected, that is – all except for – me. I was a very young child at the time. I still remember being in the hospital in a crib that was surrounded by plastic so that I could be given pure oxygen – an oxygen tent. When I got older I was told that I had been indeed very sick. Before my mother was nifter she told me that one day when she came into my hospital room to see me, I did not recognize her. She clearly was so traumatized by that experience, that she was unable to even speak about it and tell me, until the end of her life.
About 25 years ago, here in Monsey, a frum nice five year old girl caught chicken pox and died of it. (Note that years earlier, when we were kids, the parents would bring their own kids over to those with chicken pox so that they’d catch it young when the dangers of chicken pox were less serious than when contacted as adults. Of course, at that time there were no vaccines for such diseases).
The saying of chazal is, “lo ro’eenu eino ra’aya”, which means,”saying that something is not a problem or doesn’t exist, because you never saw it (lo ro’eenu) is not accepted as proof of its non-existence (eino ra’ayo)”. Similarly, one cannot argue that, just because I never met a frum alcoholic, doesn’t mean they don’t exist or that there’s not a major alcoholic in the frum community – or even in my own shul or type of religious circle. Those who are in the know do know about it and are the ones who should guide us in consultation with the rabbonim. Often, they are the rabbonim themselves who people confide in.
We must be very careful that our strenuous efforts to guard ourselves from the manifold negative influences of secular society – and especially of its morality and self-gratification – do not cloud the knowledge that Hashem has granted secular society in pursuit of true scientific and medical endeavors. Chochmoh Bagoyim Taamin. We should not be afraid of accepting chochmoh from goyim – even notwithstanding that it may change from generation to generation.
When my shver was sick at the end of his life, and traditional “treatment” was failing, i asked the Gaon Rav Shimon Schwab, if we should pursue alternative medicine. HIs reply was that Hashem wants us to pursue accepted medicine of the medical establishment of the day – that is what He wants of us. Please, I do not wish to discourage those who, according to their regular and accepted family Rov, do look into alternative medicines. BUT, either way, standard accepted medical practice is the FIRST LINE OF FIRST DEFENSE and should be accepted by all of use. Chochmoh Bagoyim Taamin, should be accepted by us just like other ma’amorie chazal.
We anyway need to daven regularly, that the individuals in our people should use seichel in their actions.
Rabbi Wein said years ago, that Jews are very religious – whether it’s about our belief in Hashem and in Torah, or in strong opinions that we take upon ourselves. It seems that there are those who have almost made a religion out of this. This has now entered our own community. Why ours?? Why not others?? Shev ve’al taaseh is not necessarily the correct response when it comes to something so clear.
I plan to ask all my children to inquire in their schools and playgroups, what the vaccination policies are. Any such group that does not require vaccination, is putting all the other children at risk, and is abrogating their
best wishes.
please add the word “responsibility” to the end on the comment i just sent you.
Michali, the same argument could be made by a family of cancer survivors.
Michali
I haven’t been on this website in years. I finally came back to people like you and I’m totally irked.
First of all, the research about these so called “toxins” in vaccinations has been disproved by the person who came out with it.
Second of all, it is extremely pompous of you to say that measles isn’t a deadly disease. One of the reasons vaccinations are so important, is because there are people around us who cannot be vaccinated (pregnant, young babies, sick people, people with low white blood cell count, the elderly and the list goes on). If an everyday person who doesn’t fall into any of those categories, chooses not to vaccinate their children, they put THOSE people at risk for getting the illness, and DYING. We are all so happy for you and your siblings for making it out of having measles. But many many MANY people aren’t as lucky as you.
Furthermore, it’s so great that you and your family put fate into Hashem hand. By not vaccinating you are saying to Hashem we trust that you will save us from this disease. Do you also choose not take antibiotics when you have a bacterial infection? Would you also not take chemo if you Chas veshalom had cancer? Would you also step out onto a road without looking twice, because Hashem will just make sure all the cars stop for you?
There is a joke. A flood hits a man’s town and he is the last survivor. He climbs up to his roof and waves to Hashem for help. He says, “Hashem send me a sign, come save me”. Suddenly a boat arrive at his roof top and the man says “hop in!”. He says, “Nah, Hashem will save me!” The water rises to his waist. Suddenly, a hot air balloon flys above him, “hey can we help you out?”, And the man says”nah Hashem has got this”. The water rises to right below his mouth. Suddenly an army plane is hovering above him with a ladder, “climb up, well save you”, “nah, Hashem will save me!’. Next thing you know the water covers his head and the man is standing in the courts in shomayim. “But why didn’t you save me Hashem!”, Says the man. Hashem responds ” I sent you a boat, a hot air balloon and a jet plane, what more could you ask for”.
our torah:
you are 100% correct. we all must give vaccines to ourselfs and kids, inorder to do our hishtadlus of protecting us and others.