It’s been all over the news how good Israel has been doing with its vaccination program. And the effort can even be seen among the haredi (ultra-orthodox) sector. I was in a haredi hospital last week (for work 😀) and i noticed this magazine they had printed. The title is a play on the Hebrew word for vaccine – חיסון – chisoon, where the first syllable is in Hebrew, and the last syllable – the “soon” part – is in English – as if to say, “get vaccinated soon.” It’s promoting vaccination, has questions and answers, and most interestingly, has an article by a rabbi answering halachic questions about the vaccine.
The article by the rabbi, no doubt the main article of interest for this population, reinforces the idea that any possible theoretical danger from the vaccine is much smaller than the known danger of the disease. He goes on to bring a halachic principle that if one sees a person in danger, and the danger is certain and severe, and he can save that person but in doing so will have to subject himself to a much smaller danger; he is obligated to do so. In other words, even if there is a small theoretical danger from the vaccine, because by becoming vaccinated ourselves we can save others from the certain danger of the disease, we are therefore obligated to take the small risk and vaccinate ourselves.
I’m sure there was much more in the article, but that was most of what I could get out of it with my limited Hebrew 😂.
But its good to see that:
A) not only are Jewish values alive and well in the discussion, but
B) actual Jewish law (halacha) is alive and well in the technological modern world, being applied to new developments as they occur in real time. And that
C) contrary to what you might think, the haredi sector (at least as represented by this haredi hospital and rabbi) are behind the vaccine, and are not, as is sometimes reported in the secular press, trying to obstruct medical progress regarding the pandemic.
