O pinion
Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine Is a Jewish Imperative
BY RABBI MICAH PELTZ
VAC C I N E S
AG A I N S T
COVID-19 have been invented
and approved for use at a record
pace. While polls indicate that
Americans in overwhelming
numbers are ready to take the
shot — and are already doing so
— there are some holdouts. We
must consider as a community
what our position is regarding
vaccination and other precau-
tions against the pandemic.

Now that a vaccine is avail-
able, there arise inevitable
questions about the moral-re-
ligious obligation to receive
the shot, whether our Jewish
institutions should mandate
it for workers, congregants
and students, and how we can
ensure the fair distribution of
this lifesaving intervention.

The Conservative movement,
along with the other dominant
streams of American Judaism,
leaves very little room for
ambiguity on these matters.

As I recently wrote in a
teshuvah (rabbinic response)
that was
unanimously approved by the Conservative
movement’s Committee on
Jewish Law and Standards,
vaccination is a Jewish imper-
ative when recommended by
medical professionals. Even
when vaccines are approved
by an emergency process, as
the COVID-19 vaccines have
been, they meet the halakhic
standards of a refuah b’dukah,
an established treatment.

This is especially true in the
midst of this terrible pandemic,
which has claimed more than
420,000 lives in the United States
and over 2 million lives world-
wide. The Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines, approved for use in the
United States and now having
gone into the arms of more
than 10 million of our citizens,
including my own, clearly meet
these standards.

The Conservative movement
has been accompanied by the
main bodies for Reform and
Orthodox rabbis in stressing the
necessity and justice of being so
vaccinated. And for good reason:
Jewish law is replete with injunc-
tions to take steps to protect our
health and avoid danger.

“Be careful and watch
yourselves” (Deuteronomy 4:9),
Moses instructs the Israelites.

The Torah even commands
us put guardrails on our
roofs (Deuteronomy 22:8).

Maimonides extrapolated
from this specific case that we
should take measures to protect
ourselves and others.

Rabbi Moses Isserles, in the
great code of Jewish law the
Shulhan Arukh, insists that
we are to avoid all things that
endanger ourselves and instructs
us that these concerns are to be
treated “more stringently than
ritual prohibitions.”
Leviticus (19:16) echoes these
same messages, with its exhor-
tation to “not stand idly by the
blood of your neighbor.” This is
understood in our tradition to
mean that we do everything we
can to safeguard the health of
others. One would think that none
of this should be controversial,
that there would be unanimity
among rabbis and Jews on
these points. Common sense
practices that prevent the spread
of COVID-19, such as wearing
masks, maintaining physical
distancing and washing hands
are not just recommended but
are obligated by Jewish law.

Nevertheless, there have been
well-publicized cases of physical
distancing being ignored at large
weddings and funerals, and even
protests against wearing masks
in some communities.

There is a strong consensus
among mainstream Con-
servative, Reform and Orthodox
Jews. Jewish law and tradition
include ethical obligations to
pursue healthy living and to
embrace established scientific
practices that contribute to the
well-being of all. That well-being
can be physical, and it can
also be spiritual. To that end,
many of my Conservative rabbi
colleagues have written prayers
and meditations to help people
who are coping with illness and
who are receiving or adminis-
tering vaccines.

Our movement’s religious
opinion on these matters stipu-
lates best practices for this time.

Taking preventive measures
against the spread of COVID-19
by wearing masks, washing
hands and physical distancing
are to be regarded as mitzvot
and mandated by Jewish law.

Vaccines approved by govern-
ment health agencies are to
be regarded as refuot b’dukot,
established medical proce-
dures, and with proper medical
guidance Jews are obligated to be
vaccinated. Jewish institutions
are permitted by Jewish law to
require employees, students and
congregants to be vaccinated
against COVID-19, though
secular legal counsel should be
consulted. On a more collective level,
we are obligated to ensure the
ethical distribution of vaccines
globally and nationally. We
should favor the most vulner-
able, and we should maximize
the social benefit by prioritizing
first responders and those
who can set an example by
receiving the vaccine that will
encourage others to be vacci-
nated. Jewish ethics prohibit us
from using personal connec-
tions, wealth or influence to
receive the vaccine sooner than
triage criteria would indicate.

Effectively, “jumping in line” is
prohibited. We have made it through an
awful period of plague, but we
might be able to soon turn the
corner thanks to vaccination. Let
us do our part as members of the
Jewish community, Americans
and citizens of the world. l
Rabbi Micah Peltz is the senior
rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is
a member of the Conservative
movement’s Committee on Jewish
Law and Standards, which sets
halakhic policy for Rabbinical
Assembly rabbis and for the
Conservative movement as a
whole. Capitol Events Make Me Recall History, Personal and Institutional
of the rioters, recalled an earlier
age when discrimination was
an accepted part of life.

While attending
the University of Pennsylvania’s
Wharton School of Business
MBA program in 1959, I made
several appointments for job
interviews with recruiters of
major companies. As students
at one of the top business
BY HERBERT CHUBIN
schools in the country,
Wharton’s MBA candidates —
FOR ME, the attempted coup mostly white Christian men
at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and — were highly sought-after.

the racism and anti-Semitism
But I knew that few
14 JANUARY 28, 2021
companies would hire Jews,
even from Wharton. The two
interviews I had with compa-
nies that did hire Jews resulted
in job offers. Yet I signed up
for other interviews simply to
aggravate the recruiters; this
was my way of fighting back
against the many companies
which still discriminated
against Jews. I almost felt sorry
for the person who sat opposite
me at the table and had to
pretend that he was conducting
a real 10-minute interview
with a Jew.

JEWISH EXPONENT
So, as recently as 1959,
anti-Semitism was still very
much present in its covert
form, although America was
well past the years when overt
anti-Semitism flourished.

As my father used to tell me,
anti-Semitism was both overt
and mainstream in the 1920s
in America, and continued
as such through the 1940s.

During those decades, the Ku
Klux Klan and the Nazi party
openly expressed their anti-Se-
mitic views. They held rallies
and marches. There were others
who showed hatred for Jews
on radio stations and in many
publications. The United States’
entry into World War II in
December 1941 ended most of
the overt Jew hating; however,
anti-Semitism continued to
exist as a major issue for Jews
until the 1960s.

Although overt white
supremacist displays like the
march in Charlottesville,
Virginia, in 2017 had been
rare in recent years, I knew
See Chubin, Page 25
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM