Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

This week, I received my booster vaccination against covid-19 on the first day I was eligible. Unless your doctor mandates a reason against it, vaccination against death causing diseases is a ritual and moral obligation.

In Judaism, the wellbeing of society at large supercedes personal individual autonomy. The principle of doing anything possible to save life can be traced back to the Maccabees, some 200 years before the Talmud teaches us that Pikuach Nefesh, saving life, supercedes all other Mitzvot.

When the Greek Hellenists legislated death decrees against the Jews, it was the Maccabees who ruled that one is obligated to defend oneself by fighting on Shabbat in order to survive. Other pious Jews of the time sat and were killed on Shabbat because they refused to fight on the sacred day. The Maccabees felt that fighting and saving life on Shabbat was meritorious in that future Sabbaths could be honored and celebrated.

So, the notion of taking vaccinations to save life can be traced to the story of Chanukah, whose days of celebration are coming soon.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison