• Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Orthodox Rabbis Encourage Jews to Get Coronavirus Vaccine Before Rosh Hashanah

Sep 4, 2021

In recent news, Rabbis belonging to numerous Orthodox communities are encouraging their members to get the coronavirus vaccine administered as soon as possible, and just in time for Rosh Hashanah. 

As of now, deaths and cases in the country are readily rising due to the Delta variant. This led to rabbis from Long Island, New York, Baltimore, and Maryland, to release video messages, addressing those specific community members, who have not yet been vaccinated. 

The head of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, located in Far Rockaway, Rabbi Yaakov Bender, added several sentences in Yiddish and questioned people if they have not experienced enough yet, referring to the devastation caused by the coronavirus crisis. Far Rockaway houses a large community of Orthodox Jews, and has one of the lowest rates of inoculation, in the city of New York. 

He stressed the importance of realizing that if 99% of the doctors across the globe are encouraging to take the shot, then it must be extremely necessary. He urged people to not play games, instead get vaccinated at the earliest. 

The rabbis went on to clear a piece of misinformation regarding the vaccines impacting fertility that has been spreading in Israel, as well as other Jewish communities around the world. They stated that they have not seen any evidence to suggest that the vaccine would have a negative impact on fertility. They further affirmed that the jab will not result in increased risk to women of childbearing age. The Jewish Orthodox community has long been skeptic about the vaccine for various reasons. In such communities, the birth rates are usually higher as compared to the general population, due to the high importance placed on having children. Therefore, many have decided to forego the vaccine. 

Rabbi Shalom Axelrod, belonging to the Young Israel of Woodmere, reasserted the importance of getting vaccinated, to be able to safely celebrate the upcoming High Holidays. This holiday season for the Jews is often marked with holiday meals and large gatherings that take place in synagogues. 

In other news, more than 10,000 people in their 20s reached eight Eilat hotels to embark on the well-known summer vacation fiesta, despite the strict coronavirus regulations in the State of Israel. Students often refer to this event as Funjoya. This is an organized event that includes back-to-back parties for the entire weekend that falls between semesters in the summer. 

Typically, the celebrations or Funjoya are booked several months in advance and the organizers plan multiple events to be held on different weekends. The variety of events allow thousands of students to celebrate, who comes from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, IDC Herzliya, and many more. 

The Funjoya this year had been scheduled for the month of September, so that the students could have a somewhat normal summer, after experiencing a hiatus in 2020. However, ever since the middle of the month of June, Israel has been witnessing a rise in coronavirus numbers, leading to the Funjoya being heavily regulated with coronavirus restrictions.

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