The Shift | Imamother

JoyInTheMorning

Fri, Jun 21 2019, 6:11 am

Note how the author calls himself a heretic in the ski-helmet respect. I find it odd that a frum woman is endorsing this sort of heresy. Orthodox Judaism wouldn't be possible without a mindset that acknowledges that it is good to accept societal shifts that are supported by major Rabbinic leaders. (I refer you to Gittin 56, and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai's successful plea to Vespasian תן לי יבנה וחכמיה, which allowed Rabbinic Judaism to live on despite the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.)

But in this case, specifically regarding vaccinations, there's no societal shift happening. There was a societal shift that happened in the late 18th- early 19th centuries when the smallpox vaccine became widespread. (There was truly a reason to be scared of vaccinations then: different techniques sucha as variolation did cause mortality; there was also evidence of contamination of syphilis, which was then an incurable, progressive, and ultimately fatal disease.) It was clear that overall the vaccine saved lives, and rabbis supported vaccination. The Jewish community has supported vaccines ever since.

What has happened? Who has led this movement against vaccines? It's not Orthodox Judaism. It started with Christians like Rudolf Steiner, founder of the Waldorf school movement, and hero to the crazy segment of the crunchy population. (The crunchies a a whole aren't crazy -- I'm reasonably crunchy myself -- but there is a group of crunchies that don't seem to think rationally.) It continues with quacks and swindlers who see the ultra Orthodox population, especially those who haven't been trained in science and critical thinking, as a goldmine -- as long as they can convince them that their supplements and nonsense treatments are better than vaccinations.

Wake up. You've been hoodwinked. But it's easy enough to open your eyes, use the mind that Hashem gave you, and figure out that what quacks are telling you just doesn't make sense.

keym

Fri, Jun 21 2019, 9:43 am

I'm personally, fairly conservative and not a big proponent of government control and overreach.
With that said, this article is missing one piece both societal and halacha, and that's the rights of those unable to speak for themselves or even reason for themselves- children and mentally incapable.
I could make the decision to buckle or not, to helmet or not, to smoke or not, or to vaccinate or not.
But my children have their own rights to be safe and protected.
In NJ, several years ago, they passed a law mandating helmets for kids biking. But that came after years of recommendations and strong encouragement, and yet kids were still splitting their heads open. So the government had to go stronger. But guess what. For responsible parents, the law didn't affect anything because their kids wore helmets before and after.

About the vaccine correlation, I'm not a fan of losing the religious exemption. Truly. I fear the slippery slope. But the government spent 6 months imploring people to vaccinate or stay home. To stay out of school and public areas. And anti vaxxers ignored them. Kids were getting sick, hurt, and permanently damaged. And then the government stepped in.
Why did you think they wouldnt? They did it with seatbelts, smoking, helmets. And now they do it with vaccinations.
Maybe we need to learn a lesson. On not demanding MY RIGHTS but acting like a civilized country and thinking about other peoples children and vulnerable before it's forced on us.