JULY 22 • 2021 | 45

disease that destroys the heart 
muscle, weakening its ability to 
effectively pump blood. With all 
these experiences in mind, I am 
certain of our collective respon-
sibility to be vaccinated against 
this plague.
” 
Addressing “those in the 
community who worry about 
the health risks posed by the 
vaccine itself,
” Schlagman notes 
that “remaining unvaccinated 
puts one at risk of being infect-
ed … the vaccine would seem 
to pose the lesser risk.
” 
Schlagman cited the 17th 
century Talmudist Rabbi 
Shabbatai Cohen (Shach Yoreh 
Deah 155:3) to the effect that we 
should trust expert physicians, 
“whose good name depends 
upon good outcomes.
” From the 
standpoint of Jewish law, given 
that vaccines were developed 
at great effort by teams of well-
trained, expert physicians, “we 
can trust the vaccines’ efficacy 
or at least their safety.
”
We do not have the option, 
according to Schlagman, of dis-
regarding the risk to ourselves 
of COVID-19. The rabbis read 
the commandment to “guard 
yourself” (Deut. 4:9, 15), in con-
text calling for “spiritual forti-
tude,
” also to require us to guard 
“our physical lives from harm” 
(Talmud Berakhot 32b; Haameq 
Davar to Deut. 4:15). 
“If God has blessed us with 
good health,
” Schlagman asserts, 
we still have the obligation to 
be vaccinated to protect others, 
expressed by the Torah as “do 
not stand idly by the blood of 
your fellow” (Leviticus 19:16) 
and “return what someone has 
lost to him” (Deut. 22:2). 
So, we must also help others 
obtain the vaccine, and “con-
tinue to practice caution with 
good habits of social distancing, 
masking and hand hygiene if we 
are unvaccinated or interacting 

with those who are unvaccinated 
(for example children younger 
than 12 who cannot yet obtain 
the vaccine) or the immuno-
compromised (who, even when 
vaccinated, may be incompletely 
protected),
” he said.
Schlagman concludes with 
the biblical exhortation about 
commandments, “live by them” 
(Leviticus 18:5), which the 
Talmud takes to mean “live 
by them, but do not die for 
them” (Yoma 85b). “We must 
... obtain the vaccine which has 
the potential to save our own 
lives and the lives of vulnerable 
members of our communities.
”

DON’T HESITATE
Henry Hasson earned rabbinic 
ordination at Pirche Shoshanim 
and teaches Torah at Ohel 
David and Shlomo 
in Brooklyn, N.Y. 
He has a practice in 
pediatric neurology 
in Brooklyn. He 
earned his medical 
degree at Albert 
Einstein Medical 
College in New 
York. 
Rabbi Dr. Hasson emphasizes 
the importance in Jewish law of 
following scientific evidence. He 

cites Rabbi Avraham, the son of 
Maimonides, who wrote that we 
should follow the most proven 
science, even against the opin-
ion of the Talmudic sages (in 
Rabbi Avraham’s famous “Letter 
Concerning the Homiletics of 
the Sages”).
Hasson reminds us that the 
Shulchan Aruch rules that one 
is not permitted to practice 
medicine without a license 
(Yoreh Deah 336:1), from which 
Hasson derives that we “should 
not just listen to everyone on 
the internet.
” 
As for the strategy of waiting 
for further data on the vaccines, 
Hasson points out that in mat-
ters of danger to life, the rabbis 
rule that “whoever acts quickly 
is praised, and whoever hesi-
tates is rebuked” (Maimonides 
Shabbat 2:16). The Jerusalem 
Talmud adds another phrase: If 
someone waits to ask the rabbi 
what to do, the rabbi is con-
sidered disgraceful (Jerusalem 
Talmud Yoma 8:5); disgraceful 
because the rabbi should have 
taught people to act quickly to 
avert danger. 

DOING A MITZVAH
According to Rabbi Herschel 
Finman, director of Jewish 

Ferndale and host of The 
Jewish Hour podcast, “It is not 
enough to deal with health 
issues as they 
arise; we must take 
precautions to 
avoid danger.” 
The final chap-
ter of the Code 
of Jewish Law, he 
says, emphasizes 
that “just as there 
is a positive commandment 
to build a guardrail around 
the perimeter of a rooftop lest 
someone fall so, too, are we 
obligated to guard ourselves 
from anything that would 
endanger our lives, as the 
verse states, ‘Only guard your-
self and greatly guard your 
soul.’”
Finman goes on to say, 
“We have established that one 
must do whatever is in their 
power to save oneself, one’s 
children and others as well 
from possible life-threatening 
dangers. 
“It would seem that there is 
no difference between vacci-
nating and having to flee a city 
when there is an epidemic. 
“Guarding your own health 
does not only make sense; it is 
actually a mitzvah.” 

Rabbi
Dr. Henry 
Hasson

Rabbi 
Hershel 
Finman

