With reports suggesting that the coronavirus vaccination rate is declining and with many opposing the inoculation altogether, senior Israeli rabbis got vaccinated Wednesday and used their public platform to level harsh criticism against those who refuse to get vaccinated and urge others to avoid immunization.
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"People who refuse to get vaccinated cause other people to follow suit," Rabbi Yaaqov Medan, a senior religious Zionist figure wrote in a missive to the public. "Many have already died of the virus, others have suffered greatly because of it. So many have lost their livelihoods."
Medan also lamented how the coronavirus affected Torah learning and the ability to congregate for prayer, limited over social distancing directive imposed as part of the effort to curb the spread of the contagion.
The possible risks of the vaccine, Medan wrote, are outweighed by the opportunity to protect public health and rehabilitate the economy.
"We have the opportunity to perform a great mitzvah, to come together for the common good and get vaccinated, and set an example for others, and so support the doctors and nurses who endanger their lives every day to curb the virus."
Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Gershon Edelstein also urged the community to get vaccinated, saying that "there is no reason to worry or fear" the vaccine as it is "proven and tested."
"The coronavirus is extremely dangerous if one is not careful," he said. "Therefore, being cautious is of utmost importance for the person's own well-being and for the sake of others. Whoever does not do so sins and deserves punishment as he increases the danger that others will be harmed."
"We are privileged that Israel is a world leader in the coronavirus vaccination," the Head of the Jerusalem College of Technology Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon wrote in a letter. "In order to succeed in eradicating the plague, we need everyone to get inoculated." Rimon noted that even if some fear the possible side-effects of the vaccine, there is a greater risk in contracting the virus itself.
"Each and every one should make a great effort to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Anyone who gets vaccinated observes the mitzvah of protecting his body and observes the mitzvah of 'thou shalt not stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor,' by not harming the public and even helping to put an end the plague."
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