Question to any orthodox Jews -

[Gitti]

Is it against that religion to vaccinate?

[Emmeline II]

In my "Book of Jewish Values" it says: "You shall carefully preserve your lives" (Deuteronomy 4:15), which has long been understood as prohibiting any activity that needlessly endangers one's life."

This book quotes "Teshuvot [Responsa] for the Nineties" which says "According to halacha (Jewish law), we have stewardship rather than ownership of the body given to us by our Creator, and therefore may not jeopardize our life."

In "responsa" (writings containing rabbinic answers to specific questions concerning Jewish law, "the author takes into account principles and precedents enunciated in the Bible, the Talmud, Jewish legal codes, and previous responsa, along with common sense and contemporary scientific knowledge."

Judging from those who have had issues with Jewish day schools, they tend to view not endangering or jeopardizing life as vaccinating (but I don't believe any of my sources necessarily represent Orthodox practice).

[lurve]

like all things jewish, it all depends on who you talk to. like the old joke goes, if there are two jews in a community there will be two synagogues - one for each jew to go to and a mutual synagogue for them to both boycott!

[mimid]

THere isn't a hard and fast rule. Some say that preserving the life is via vax and some say it is by using your judgment as to what is best and following that.

[sophi4ka]

My cousin is an orthodox rabbi in Canada, and he is not vaccinating their three kids.

[Fyrestorm]

My cousin is a Lubavich Rebbe living in Israel. They vaccinate all of their children fully. We have had this discussion over and over and over they believe that vaccination is preserving life in their interpretation.

[Kimmiepie]

We are not Orthodox Jew, but we have similar beliefs. In our family we do not believe that vaccines are preserving our lives. Not only do the vaccines contain things that are not kosher (even though we don't follow strict kosher laws, we do not eat unclean foods, use human embryos etc.), but there is no hard and fast proof that vaccines do preserve your life. I think in a lot of cases it actually depletes your life. I think most people look at it from the mainstream aspect that all vaccines are good and keep you from dying of deadly diseases, so therefore it preserves life. But if one does the research they usually come to the other conclusion. I guess it's really all about what you know.

The people we know with the same beliefs either did the research and quit vaccinating, or the still vaccinate based on preserving life but have never done research on vaccines themselves.

[alegna]

Last I heard, the association that oversees orthodox jewish schools disallowed all religious exemptions....

-Angela

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by alegna

Last I heard, the association that oversees orthodox jewish schools disallowed all religious exemptions....

-Angela

What about in Israel? Anyone know?

[ema-adama]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/921836.html

This article was in Haaretz newspaper last year. I know there is a (mis)conception that the Ultra Orthodox do not vaccinate their children. From the little that I have read it is a small number who do not vaccinate here in Israel.
In Israel it is not mandatory to vaccinate and as far as I know I do not require any exemption not to. There are politicians who are striving to make it a legal requirement....

[Swirly]

My thought has always been that most of the vaccines would contain seriously non-kosher ingredients that ingesting/injecting/consuming would be violation of the law of Torah.

[Fyrestorm]

Originally Posted by Swirly

My thought has always been that most of the vaccines would contain seriously non-kosher ingredients that ingesting/injecting/consuming would be violation of the law of Torah.

But when it comes to health, historically even the most orthodox will allow exceptions to the rules. For example, it is considered fine for a diabetic to use pork derived insulin. It comes back to preservation of human life.

[lioralourie]

We are Orthodox jewish and we do not vax.

But, we are outside the mainstream.

However, I don't think there is any "official" position on vaxxing, just personal opinion. Our local (Chabad) orthodox day school does not require any vaccinations in order to attend. The Rabbi and his wife do vax for everything under the sun, though. (Japanese Encephalitis, Flu, Rabies, etc...)

[AlexisT]

There are a few rebbes who have told their followers not to vaccinate. Halacha (Jewish law) isn't clear on it, though. The majority of Orthodox Jews I know vaccinate their children.

There have been measles outbreaks amongst haredi Jews in Israel.

[lioralourie]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

There have been measles outbreaks amongst haredi Jews in Israel.

I have also seen a couple of studies about Pertussis outbreaks in 99% and 100% vaccinated daycare/kibbutz populations in Israel, too.

[lioralourie]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

There have been measles outbreaks amongst haredi Jews in Israel.

Ohhh, I've been trying to get my kids measles! I've been hanging around in the wrong circles, now I know how to!

[ema-adama]

I am not sure why the DTP study done in Israel raising questions as to whether DTP prevents transmission of Pertussis and Measles vax are being compared?

From what I have understood there are communities in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem who do not vaccinate. I have always been curious as to the reason why. I know that it is met with derision from Modern Orthodox Jews