Passover and Vaccines and Miracle

Primary Jewish Sources on Vaccination Compiled by Rabbi Lynn Liberman and Rabbi Jill Crimmings

Taken from HM 427:8.2021a, Vaccination and Ethical Questions Posed by Covid-19 Vaccines, Rabbi Micah Peltz The commands us to “Be careful and watch yourselves,” (Deuteronomy 4:9) which is understood by the to mean that we should avoid danger whenever possible. (B’rakhot 32b) Elsewhere in Deuteronomy, we find the of placing a parapet, or guardrail, around one's roof. (Deuteronomy 22:8) This is understood to mean that we should actively take steps to protect ourselves and others. (Maimonides Hilkhot Rotzea 11:5-6) As Rabbi Moses Isserles clearly articulates in the Shulhan Arukh, “one should avoid all things that endanger oneself, as we treat physical dangers more stringently than ritual prohibitions.” (Shulchan Aruch YD 116:5) The Torah emphasizes that we need to take responsibility for the well-being of those around us when it says, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” (Leviticus 19:16) This is understood to mean that we do everything we can to safeguard the health of others.

Taken from HM 427:8.2021b, Does Halakhah Require Vaccination Against Dangerous Diseases such as Measles, Rubella, Polio, and Covid-19, David Golinkin As is well known, pikuah nefesh supersedes (Yoma 85a-b and parallels), kashrut ( Yoma 8:4 = fol. 83a), (ibid., 8: 5 = fol. 82a), and all the commandments in the Torah except idol worship, incest, and bloodshed (Ketubot 19a; Sanhedrin 74a). The Amora Shmuel learned the above from the verse “ ‘and you shall keep My statutes and laws, which man shall do, and live by them’ (Leviticus 18:5) -- and not die by them”. And if a person is commanded to transgress all the mitzvot in the Torah to save his friend’s life, how much the more so is it a mitzvah is to get vaccinated in order to save his own life! In other words, if pikuah nefesh supersedes Shabbat, kashrut, Yom Kippur, and almost all the mitzvot in the Torah, how much the more so does it supersede the infinitesimal risk (see below) of getting vaccinated.

Taken from CCAR 5757.10, Compulsory Immunization Jewish tradition regards the practice of medicine as a mitzvah, a religious obligation. It is an aspect of pikuach nefesh, the preservation of human life, a mitzvah that takes precedence over virtually every other requirement of the Torah. Even the rules of Shabbat and Yom Kippur are superseded in order to save life, and medicine falls under this instruction. Should an expert or competent physician (rofe uman or rofe baki) prescribe a remedy for a patient with a serious illness, the patient must accept the remedy even if its preparation and application would normally violate the prohibitions of those holy days. One who refuses this treatment on the grounds that he or she prefers to observe the laws of Shabbat is a pious fool (chasid shoteh). This is not an act of piety but of suicide. He is compelled to do what the physicians prescribe. Although our tradition speaks of a variety of acts that might be undertaken by and on behalf of the sick, such as teshuvah (repentance), tefilah (prayer), and tzedakah (giving to the poor), we are nonetheless required to follow the law of nature and to call the physician when we fall ill. Whoever refuses medical treatment in favor of the other, non-natural responses, is guilty of the sin of arrogance, of assuming that one deserves to be healed by way of a miracle. 1

Opinions on Compulsory Vaccination Compiled by Rabbi Lynn Liberman and Rabbi Jill Crimmings Taken from HM 427:8.2021a, Vaccination and Ethical Questions Posed by Covid-19 Vaccines, Rabbi Micah Peltz From an halakhic perspective, the question is whether each of the COVID-19 vaccines, even though they were approved under emergency processes, would be considered a refuah b’dukah, an established treatment. In The Observant Life, Rabbi Reisner writes that “the halakhic concept of an ‘established’ treatment is much narrower than the current concept of an approved medication...From the vantage point of halakhah, an established treatment must be known to be generally effective.”18 Rabbi Golinkin shows that the testing of the COVID-19 vaccines, though not as rigorous as usual, still meets the requirement of refuah b’dukah, and therefore we would be required to vaccinate.19 Additionally, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America have also ruled that there is a requirement to be vaccinated for COVID-19.20 It is important to note that all of these obligations vaccinate also require the individual to do so in consultation with their personal health care provider. Given all of this, it is clear that all those whose doctor recommends vaccination are obligated by halakhah to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Taken from “COVID-19 Immunization: Should it be Mandatory? A Conversation.” Rabbi Mark Washofsky

All of this suggests that Rabbi Yaakov Emden (18th-century Germany), and the entire tradition upon which his words are based, would regard the COVID-19 vaccines as mandatory medical treatment. This is because immunization, unknown in Emden’s time, is now accepted as proper medical therapy and because the COVID vaccines have been established as effective – “definitive” and “proven” therapies – by the consensus opinion among epidemiologists. On the strength of this scientific opinion, the halakhic opinion is clear: these vaccines should be mandatory for all, excepting those for whom the vaccines could pose serious and unacceptable health risks.

Should the COVID-19 immunization be mandatory? Yes, it should; no other response is halakhicly correct or morally appropriate. But let the words of Rabbi Yaakov Emden remind us that in practice it is people – millions upon millions of individual people – who hold the power to decide whether to do the right thing. Our job is to persuade them to do so. We can do that, in part, by insisting that governments and institutions enforce vaccine requirements. We can do it as well through the personal example that we set through our own behavior. But we must also take the time to listen, with empathy and real concern, to those who resist that obligation. Unless we actually listen to them and try as hard as we can to engage them in productive conversation, we will never begin to rebuild their trust in science and in the expertise of physicians, the ones qualified to tell us just what counts as proven and tested medicine.

2 Additional Sources and Articles (beyond those linked above) on the Topic of Vaccination With gratitude to Rabbi Jason Levine

Why Vaccinations are Kosher and Required (Roger Price, 2014) https://jewishjournal.com/news/131215/why-vaccinations-are-kosher-and-required/ Statement on Vaccinations from the OU and Rabbinical Council of America (2018) https://www.ou.org/news/statement-vaccinations-ou-rabbinical-council-america/ Resolution on Mandatory Immunization Laws (Union for Reform Judaism, 2015) https://urj.org/what-we-believe/resolutions/resolution-mandatory-immunization-laws Compulsory Immunization in Jewish Day Schools (Rabbinical Assembly, HM 427:8:2005) https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/20052010/p rouser_immunization.pdf

The Miracles of Vaccinations and Passover Freedom

Miracle : an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs. ~Miriam Webster

רודיס כשא נ ז , ימי לוח , פת י תל חש ר י ת , מע י הד , ,Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit םידומ א׳ Amidah, Thanksgiving 1 (א) מו ִדים ֲא ַנ ְחנוּ ָל ְך. ׁ ָש ַא ָּתה הוּא ה' ֱאל ֵקינוּ ֵואל ֵקי We gratefully thank You, for You, O Lord (1) ֲאבו ֵתינוּ ְלעו ָלם ָו ֶעד. צוּר ַח ּיֵינוּ. ָמ ֵגן ִי ׁ ְש ֵענוּ ַא ָּתה הוּא ,our God, are our fathers' God for all eternity רודְל ָודור: נו ֶדה ְּל ָך וּ ְנ ַס ּ ֵפר ְּת ִה ָּל ֶת ָך ַעל ַח ּיֵינוּ our Rock, our Shield of salvation generation ַה ְּמסוּ ִרים ְּביָ ֶד ָך. ְו ַעל ִנ ׁ ְשמו ֵתינוּ ַה ְּפקוּדות ָל ְך. לַעְו to generation. We thank You and recount Your praise for our lives. We trust our lives ִנ ֶּסי ָך ׁ ֶש ְּב ָכל יום ִע ָּמנוּ. ְו ַעל ִנ ְפ ְלאו ֶתי ָך ְוטובו ֶתי ָך ׁ ֶש ְּב ָכל into Your loving hand. Our souls are in Your תֵע . בֶרֶע רֶקבָו םִיָרֳהָצְ ו : ַה ּטוב ִּכי לא ָכלוּ ַר ֲח ֶמי ָך. custody and Your miracles are with us every ְו ַה ְמ ַר ֵחם ִּכי לא ַת ּמוּ ֲח ָס ֶדי ָך. ֵמעו ָלם ִק ִוּינוּ ָל ְך: day and Your wonders and goodness are with us at all times: evening, morning and noon. You are good, for Your mercies never fail us, and the Compassionate One, for Your loving kindness never ceases; forever we have placed our hope in You.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” - (Attributed to) Albert Einstein

Ramban on Hidden Miracles

From the great and public miracles a man recognizes the hidden miracles, which are the 3 foundation of the entire Torah, for a man has no part in the Torah of Moshe our teacher unless he believes that all our things and occurrences are all miracles and have no nature or the way of the world in them, whether communally or individually......

Yehudah Amichai

From a distance everything looks like a miracle but up close even a miracle doesn’t look like that. Even someone who crossed the Red Sea when it split saw only the sweating back of the man in front of him and the swaying of his big thighs, or at best, in a hasty glance to one side, fish in a riot of colors inside the wall of water, as in a marine observatory behind panels of glass.

The real miracles happen at the next table of a restaurant in Albuquerque: two women sat there, one with a diagonal zipper, altogether lovely, and the other said, “I kept it together and didn’t cry.”

And after in the red corridors of the foreign hotel I saw boys and girls who held in their arms tiny children born of them, and they held sweet little dolls.

תישארב הבר ה ׳ :ח׳ Bereishit Rabbah 5:8 ּבַר יִ ןָתָנ םֵׁשְ ּב ּבַר יִ אָחַא ּבַרְו יִ הָיְכֶרֶּב םֵׁשְ ּב ּבַר יִ קָחְצִי R Natan in the name of R Acha, and R רַמָא ( תישארב זי , א :) יִנֲא לֵא ּדַׁ ש יַ , יִנֲא ּתְרַמָאֶׁ ש יִ :Berechiah in the name of R Yitzchak, stated ׁשַל ּ יַמָ םִ ץֶרָאָ ו יַ ּד , אֵלָמְלִאֶׁ ש ןֵ ּכ ּויָה םיִחְתֹומ ןיִכְלֹוהְ ו דַע Bereishis 17:1) I am Almighty God. I am the) ויָׁשְכַע . ,One who told the heavens and earth "Enough!" Because if not, they would have continued growing until now.

From "Sacred Fire" (Aish Kodesh) of Rabbi Kalonymos Kalmish Shapira Miketz: December 9, 1939

God created the world so that His sovereignty should be revealed through it. But since he has 4 created the world to run according to the laws and designs of nature, through cause and effect, there are times when a lengthy delay occurs while a situation evolves and develops before salvation comes and G-'s sovereignty is revealed. An example of this is when God's sovereignty and salvation are revealed through his healing of the sick. Since salvation and healing are camouflaged and dressed in causality, they may take the form of a particular medication or particular doctor. The doctor must pay his visit and the medication must be purchased, etc, and the who process develops and evolves. But when, God forbid, the sick person is in so much danger that he will not survive while the process takes its time to evolve, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "Enough" (dai) to development and evolution. Then the salvation and sovereignty of heaven are revealed immediately and straight away.

Wonder is a state of mind in which we do not look at reality through the latticework of our memorized knowledge, in which nothing is taken for granted. Spiritually we cannot live by merely reiterating borrowed or inherited knowledge. Inquire of your soul what does it know, what does it take for granted. It will tell you only no-thing is taken for granted; each thing is a surprise; being is unbelievable. We are amazed at seeing anything at all, amazed not only at particular values and things but at the unexpectedness of being as such, at the fact that there is being at all." — Abraham Joshua Heschel Man Is Not Alone

Rabbi Yannai would examine the ferry and cross. The Rabbi Yannai acted in accordance with his reasoning stated elsewhere, as he said: A person should never stand in a place of danger saying that God will perform a miracle for them, lest if God does not perform a miracle for them. And, moreover, even if they do perform a miracle for them, they will deduct it from his merits.

Duties of the Heart

As so too, it is not appropriate for a person to put themselves in danger while trusting on the decree of the Creator [that he will live a set time], drinking poisonous drink or going to battle lions or other dangerous animals without necessity, or to cast himself into the sea or into fire, or other similar things that a man is not sure of them and puts his life in danger. And the verse has already warned us in saying "You shall not try God" (Devarim 6:16), because either one of two things will happen.

הדנ א״ל א : י ״ ז 31a:17

5 יהו י נ ו רמאד יבר רזעלא יאמ ביתכד ( םילהת בע , חי ) And this statement is identical to that which השוע תואלפנ ( תולודג ) ודבל ךורבו םש ודובכ Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of על ו םל וליפא לעב סנה וניא ריכמ ב סנ ו that which is written: “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who does wondrous things alone; and blessed be His glorious name forever” (Psalms 72:18–19)? What does it mean that God “does wondrous things alone”? It means that even the one for whom the miracle was performed does not recognize the miracle that was performed for him.

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From Tefilah L’Moshe:Leket Ma‘asiot, Tefilot, Segulot, U‘Refuot. (Jerusalem, Israel: Bet Midrash Or Shalom 1989) Translated by Rabbi Marc Rudolph

Marvels of the Amulet

Great are the Deeds of the Righteous

Many have already been privileged to use this amulet and have seen the great and marvelous miracles that have been wrought by it, in which the ill are healed, barren women concieve, and many saved from all sorts of sorrows and troubles. With God’s help, may he be blessed, these stories will continue to be told. Below, we will tell of a number of wondrous events where we were eye witness to the miraculous power of the amulet and to the merit of the Righteous One, may his virtues stand us in good stead.

…..Who Supports the Fallen

A young girl from Jerusalem, a year and one half, suffered heart contractions every time she had a fever. Notwithstanding the finest treatment, the doctors were unable to prevent her from passing out, a situation that deteriorated so much that she began to pass out a number of times each day. The parents were at their wits end in dealing with the serious condition of their daughter.

When the girl reached three years of age, the doctors threw up their hands in despair, and reported to the parents that they were powerless to help their daughter, that she would certainly become disabled, and that she had little prospect for living a normal life.

One day I was thrown in with the parents in the hospital waiting room, and they told me about their sick daughter. I advised the parents to use the amulet. Being that the parents were moored to their daughter’s bed at the hospital, I volunteered to bring them the amulet. To tell the truth, even though they described to me the gloomy situation of this child, she looked seven times worse when I saw her than I had imagined; I trembled as I saw her having heart contractions right in her parents’ arms. I took out the amulet from its case and passed it to her father, so that he would place it on the child and recite the formula of the prayer.

However, the father froze in his tracks and was unable to do this, so I read the supplications

7 and prayer, that, through the merit of our Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, may his virtue stand us in good stead, God would send Refuah Shelmah, complete healing, to the girl immediately. Afterward the parents passed the amulet over their daughter as they fumbled through a prayer that help would come speedily before I went on my way! I told the parents about the strength of my belief in God, May He Be Blessed, and of His saving power which was close at hand.

Indeed, that very day it was noted that the girl took a turn for the better, in that her heart contractions diminished. After a few days, the parents asked me if they could use the amulet for a full night, and thus began a decisive change in the girl’s situation. To the astonishment of the doctors and the medical team, the contractions diminished in intensity until they ceased completely. The girl was released from the hospital and regained her strength, until, after a short period of time, she completely recovered and began nursery school.

It is difficult to find words to describe the joy of the parents when they personally witnessed the great saving power of God on their behalf, through the holy amulet, through the merit of the Light of the Seven Days of Creation, our Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, of blessed and saintly memory.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel -- Over the last decade or so the appearance of charismatic religious personalities who claim unusual powers of healing and reveal divine communication which foretell future events have become more and more numerous even here in Israel. These wonder-working rabbis offer instantaneous remedies for a plethora of ills. If anything, the rational world that I grew up in - the "Brisk-Soloveitchik" intellectual vision of a religio-legal system which emphasizes rigorous analysis and individual responsibility and demands an unflinching commitment to serve the Divine - has given way to vials of holy water, special amulets for barren women and the mortally ill, promises of good fortune for those who vote for the proper political party, and the discovery of ways in which the divine can best serve our specific needs. At times it seems that the revelation at Sinai wasn't in the form of a nation struggling to perfect itself and the world with the help of of obligation but rather a mumbo- jumbo catalogue of magic cures, formulas and potions for every conceivable ailment or desire in the world. The snake-oil charmers of yesteryear have found a new public.

With Shavout, the festival of the giving of the Torah at Sinai, upon us, we should be aware that there is more than one way to dance around a golden calf, to succumb to simple, magical solutions for profound and existential problems......

This second view is rooted in the Talmud and provides an added significance to the festival of the Revelation at Sinai. There is a fascinating difference of opinion between Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages as to the purity of a specific type of oven, and - although Rabbi Eliezer's was a lone voice against the majority- he was convinced that his position was the correct one. Frustrated by the refusal of the Sages to accept his opinion, Rabbi Eliezer finally declares: "If the law is in agreement with my opinion, let a voice from heaven prove it!" Immediately a Heavenly Voice

8 (bat-kol) cried out, 'Why do you dispute with Rabbi Eliezer seeing that in all matters the halacha agrees with him.' Nevertheless, the Sages reject Rabbi Eliezer's ruling since "(the law) is not longer in heaven; "The Torah has already been given at Mount Sinai, and so we pay no attention to a Heavenly Voice..." (B.T. Bava Mezia 59b).

The powerful message of this exchange leaves no room for doubt; the festival of Shavout celebrates the moment in time when God gave the Torah to the Israelites - and from then on our lives must be conducted based upon a logical and this-worldly interpretation of the sacred text, and not on the basis of heavenly voices or mystical amulets. file:///G:/Senior%20Project/Ohr%20Torah%20Stone%20- %20Rabbi%20Riskin's%20Shabbat%20Shalom%20-%20Shavuot.htm

From: Kemiah : A Survey of Amulets and Healing from Biblical Times to Modern Israel Unpublished Manuscript Rabbi Marc Rudolph 2004

The use of amulets continued in societies that were not touched by the Enlightenment -- including the Arabic speaking societies which were the ancient homes of the Jews of the Orient, and the traditional communities of Eastern Europe. They are the heirs of the tradition of the Hida, Hayyim Joseph David Azulai.

Today in modern Israel, many people turn to rabbis in times of crisis. Professor Felix Umansky, head of neurosurgery at Hadassah University Hospital Ein Kerem, notes that 90 percent of his patients, "religious and non-religious; professional and not professional" turn to rabbis for advice about which surgeon to use or simply to get a blessing. “I know some of these mystic, kabbalistic rabbis, who give patients a hamsa [a type of amulet] or special oil or small prayer books to put near the body," he says "They are not so acquainted with medicine. But I think it helps the patients psychologically." Gelford, Lauren. “Second Opinion” Jerusalem Post 29 June 2001 Internet edition www.pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/

From Kemiah op.cit,

Fred Rosner, a professor of medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, has written extensively on the subject of medicine and religion in contemporary and ancient practice. He writes that “quackery, superstition, sorcery and withcraft are abhorrent practices in Judaism” but that “certain complementary or alternative therapies,” including the use of amulets, are sanctioned by Judaism. From a medical standpoint, he sees no problems with the use of amulets as alternative forms of healing, as long as they take their proper place alongside traditional scientific medicine.[1] Rosner writes about a case he treated in 1962 of a five year old Sephardic

9 girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She was critically ill and near death. One afternoon, he came to her room and found that she had a little leather tune wrapped in plastic hanging around her neck:

I asked her parents, “What is that?” Somewhat startled, they replied, “That is a kemiya which the chacham [Sephardic rabbi; literally, “wise person”] wrote and which she must wear at all times, and it will cure her.” I skeptically nodded in acquiescence.[2]

The child survived this critical illness and thrived. Rosner asks a question that we must all wonder about:

Would she have been cured without the amulet? As a scientist, I would answer that the systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy produced a long survival. As an orthodox Jew, I wonder how much of a role, if any, this complementary therapy played in the cure of this girl’s leukemia. The parents firmly believe it played a major role. Yet they complied with all the medical treatments and follow-up.

[1] Rosner, Fred, M.D. “Complementary Therapies and Traditional Judaism” The Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine 66 (1999) 102-105 [2] Rosner, Fred, M.D. “Can an Amulet Cure Leukemia?” Journal of the American Medical Association 281 (1999) 307

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