The Vizhnitzer Rebbe fiercely condemned anti-vaxxer leaders on Shabbos while saying Divrei Torah at the Shalosh Seudos tisch.
“They are irresponsible people, they think they know better than doctors,” the Rebbe said.
The Rebbe mentioned polio which broke out 70 years ago, emphasizing: “People are still suffering from it until this very day.”
The Rebbe also encouraged his chassidim to increase their tefillos for the pandemic to end “so it will possible like in the past to live a full Torah life and simcha without any disturbances.”
On Sunday, a special vaccination drive will be held in Kiryat Vihznitz for everyone who hasn’t yet been vaccinated.
Last week, the Rebbe instructed that all bochurim over age 16 should be vaccinated.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
Anti-Vaax is a term that is not actually applicable here. The majority of people who are concerned about the covid-19 vaccine are not in any way aligned with “mainstream” Anti-Vaaxers.
The gemora clearly states that “the best of doctors go to Hell”. In Parshas Mishpatim we learned that doctors have permission to heal, but experimental drugs on healthy people does not necessarily fall into the category of healing. Finally, Jews have a commandment to guard their health very well, and many of them feel that the chances of this vaccine damaging their health are greater than the chances of the virus damaging their health – hence they abstain.
I respect the Rebbe’s opinion and certainly would not call him irresponsible. Why would he call his fellow Jews irresponsible when they are also trying to follow the Torah?
Levs – Agree or disagree with the Rebbe or doctors on taking the vaccine, but I would think a position that has been pretty uniformly advocated by Gedolei Yisroel of all stripes (and this position is consistent with what was said in the past, such as with the Measles vaccine) is more in-line with Orthodox Jewish tradition then what you suggest others trying to follow the Torah are doing.
Sorry Levs, the Rebbe Shlita is 100% right! We rely on the opinion of a doctor to decide whether to forbid someone the right to fast on Yom Kippur! These decisions are not for the layman to make! We must follow the Gedolei Torah and the experts in the medical field. It seem s like a slam dunk! At the Shira we learned about Emunas Chachomim. This is just that!
People have to know to stop following the main stream and start doing stuff on their own. could someone explain me how could they approve a vaccine in just a few months and give to millions of people and they dont
know if its even going to work? plenty of people have died shortly after taking the covid vaccine make your own research you will fid out.
@Pekak and Levs: If they are not Anti-Vaxers and are just trying to follow the Torah, why is there as a strong and militant movement to sabotage the vaccination drive by spreading conspiracy theories and booking appointments without intention to show up in order for thousands of valuable units to go to waste?
@Levs: well said.
The best doctors go to hell, refers to those doctors that become egoistic and belive they have the power to heal. Instead of remembering that it comes from Hashem, they feel that they are the healers.
In regard to vaccination, you should listen to your Rebbe and do what the Torah wants you to.
Kudos to the Rebbe for speaking the truth! ii
“many of them feel that the chances of this vaccine damaging their health are greater than the chances of the virus damaging their health”
Their “feelings” are not based on any data. The truth is that the vaccines are incredibly safe and the virus is deadly.
“Why would he call his fellow Jews irresponsible when they are also trying to follow the Torah?”
Because they aren’t following the Torah. For a thousand years, since Rav Sherira Gaon, we have followed the advice of medical experts. Anti-vaxxers are essentially heretics.
Hi Levs!
The Torah demands that we follow daas torah. It seems like the gedolim are saying to get the vaccine. So it would be irresponsible and not following the
daas torah to do otherwise. Maybe that is what the rebbe meant
@Levs, Totally agree, Very well said.
This vaccine is experimental with extremely limited research and zero liability offered to its recipients.
Aside from this, citing the polio vaccine–either one of them, is unfortunately to cite another ineffective and unsafe vaccine campaign that was forced upon the US public in 1958 (and in other places in multiple time frames).
The earlier Salk ‘dead-virus’ polio vaccine was a fiasco starting and not ending with the early Cutter Incident–where the virus came alive after an average of just a few months storage–despite that the neurotoxic formalin (a formaldehyde compound) had been placed within the serum to maintain the virus’s dead state.
Other preservatives contained in both versions of these vaccines were mercury and aluminum ‘adjuvants’–provocative deep immune system stimulants that much research has shown is correlated with the current autism epidemic (unacknowledged by the world’s governments and by Big Pharma); and correlated as well, with other autoimmune disorders, overweight, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
The preservatives and adjuvants list present in the CV vaccines is not very different than many other vaccines–also containing polysorbate 80, MSG and other allergy-producing substances. Consider that most people were not allergic to peanuts before vaccine ‘therapy for instance.
Levs: the Torah commands us to follow the gedolei harabbanim’s rulings. So, some wiseguys think they are obeying the Torah by disobeying the rabbonim. Is this not irresponsible?
@Levs
I didn’t realise you were a posek? Don’t we trust our poskim to give us psak halacha, rather than taking a random Gemora and a drosho from a possuk and making up our own psak? Interesting version of yiddishkeit you have…
There is a clear halacha, undisputed by all major poskim, that we follow the majority of doctors on medical matters. The vaccine is not an “experimental drug”, as it has passed all clinical trials and has now been administered to many millions of people with no reports of major side-side effects at a greater frequency than expected. Therefore, it is a drug like any other and falls into the halachik category of every other medicine, which we always follow the majority medical opinion for.
Legs, you are totally out of your league. Are you claiming that the Rebbe שליט”א doesn’t understand the Torah while you’re antivaxxer friends, do? You are as nonsensical as them. When someone claims the whole world is wrong and he is right, we call that individual a meshugana, the same applies to the antivaxxers.
Vaccines are NOT controversial there is no evidence of dangers or long term affects, it is one of the oldest and most studied of medical cures in history.
Bottom line: Ask YOUR LOR, not what you read on the Internet that a Rebbe said.
We all saw this from the WZO voting fiasco that was an historically massive chilul shem Shamayim that was immediately followed by the Corona pandemic.