Agudah: Nonsense and Insults at a Recent Monsey Gathering

Countless rabbinical figures and leaders, including leading rabbis in the Agudath Israel movement and doctors serving these communities, have repeatedly encouraged vaccination in the strongest possible terms.

A recent gathering in Monsey, NY, heavily promoted in Orthodox Jewish areas, featured figures in the anti-vaccination circuit, including a pediatrician who uses “cranial-sacral therapy, homeopathy, essential oils, aromatherapy, yoga, Reiki, meditation, reflexology, and mindfulness”; a television producer who has sported a large yellow star at anti-vaccination rallies; and the author of a paper in the Lancet on vaccines that the publication retracted as fraudulent. The latter lost his British medical license for unethical behavior.

Of particular concern to us were assertions made by a presenter speaking as a rabbi, a long-time agitator on behalf of controversial causes. In the past, the speaker has likened vaccination to “child sacrifice” and, at the recent gathering, he accused New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio of scapegoating Hasidim, being “a very, very sneaky fellow” and of having German heritage.

The speaker also blamed concern over the appearance of measles in Orthodox communities on an effort to “to distract from the virulent diseases that are sweeping through the city from illegals.”

His assertions are nonsense, and his personal attack on Mayor de Blasio is deeply offensive. It is unfortunate that he was allowed to share his imaginings with others.

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29 COMMENTS

  1. Time will tell who is on the right side of this fence. But if you note how many men and women showed up at this event from all walks of life, it means that people have many questions about the safety of vaccines.

    There is much to say on this topic, but here is just one thing. The CDC has a website page that says that vaccines do not cause autism. As proof, they cite a 2011 Institute of Medicine study. The problem is this study actually said that the Dtap vaccine has not been studied enough to know whether it does or does not cause autism.This same study says that sufficient studies have not been done on the safety of the current childhood vaccine schedule.

    And here is one more thing. Recently ACIP approved the Heplisav B vaccine for those eighteen years and older, including pregnant women. However the manufacturer’s insert for this vaccine says that it has not been tested for safety in pregnant women. Perhaps that is why the CDC is having a “pregnancy registry” for those pregnant women who take the vaccine so they can report in, chas v’shalom, miscarriages or birth defects for future reference. And one more thing – after the unanimous vote to approve this vaccine, one of the voting members (who voted yes) raised his concern about the “myocardial infarction (heart attack) signal” during trials of this vaccine. But no worries! They are going to keep an eye on this and report back to the committee on it in a few years.

    Oh, one more thing. In the Feb 2019 edition of the Journal of Pediatric Infection Diseases Society, a medical study on Dtap included these words, “Because of linked-epitope suppression, all children who were primed by Dtap vaccines will be more susceptible to pertussis throughout their lifetimes, and there is no easy way to decrease this increased lifetime susceptibility.” OOPS!

    But no worries! Your children and grandchildren will still be getting their multiple doses of this vaccine. As a matter of fact, according to the CDC “Vaccine Recommendations and Guidelines of the ACIP,” you will be glad to know that your precious child or grandchild can still get further doses of this vaccine even if they collapse or go into a shock-like state within 48 hours of getting a previous dose, or have a seizure within 3 days, or have persistent, unconsolable crying for more than 3 hours within 48 hours of dose, or if you have a family history of an adverse effect from this vaccine! (These are all considered normal reactions to the vaccine now although that was not the case a year or two ago…..)

    Don’t worry! Vaccines are very safe! I wonder why the vaccine manufacturers complained to the govt in the 1980s that they could not keep up with all the lawsuits coming their way. I wonder why the govt said to them, not to worry – they would take away their liability. I wonder why the govt vaccine compensation court since then has paid out over $4 billion dollars to families who brought strong medical evidence that their child died or was damaged by the vaccines (which our taxes are paying for by the way).

    I wonder why people don’t do their own research instead of relying on CDC and ACIP and AAP, etc., which are comprised of members with financial ties to vaccine manufacturers.

    Oh, by the way, if you want the real story about Dr. Wakefield you can find it at rodefshalom613.org (one of many things mentioned there is that the Lancet editors admitted later that there was no research fraud in the Wakefield study).

    And one last thing, Del Bigtree (he is a lot more than a television producer) who put on the yellow star was doing it in support of his “Hasidic brothers and sisters in Rockland county” who were being singled out (and forced to stay inside their homes) like the Jews were singled out during the Holocaust. He supports both Jews and non-Jews who question vaccine safety, and is dedicating his life to getting to the bottom of this important issue.

    FACT: Most of the doctors and rabbis who also question the safety of vaccines are afraid to state that publicly because of repercussions.

    • “Because of linked-epitope suppression, all children who were primed by Dtap vaccines will be more susceptible to pertussis throughout their lifetimes, and there is no easy way to decrease this increased lifetime susceptibility.” OOPS!”

      Try reading a bit more carefully, genius. While the study contains those words, it is comparing the current Dtap to a previous version. It means that those vaccinated with the current Dtap will be more susceptible than those who received the previous version, not that they will be more susceptible than someone who is unvaccinated.

      Just another day in the life of the anti-vaxx shakranim.

  2. “a long time agitator of controversial issues” indeed. If metzitza is controversial to you, how about finding another religion…
    What is truly unfortunate to defend a man who stands for Toavia and murder while attack our very own….

  3. Isn’t funny how this article is all about character attacks and not a mention of the content of these speeches? You know there’s a cover up when there’s not allowed to be a public debate. When the media won’t even talk about the non existant safety studies. The hundreds of families with vaccine injured children. Or the completely healthy unvaccinated patients that these doctors see. And how their fully vaccinated patients by comparison are in much worse shape. Instead, the media call prestigious doctors and scientist who dare ask the tough questions “quacks”.
    “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser”

    • I am trying to get a copy of a 5 year study that was started in 2008, The anti-vax community raised money to see how is healthier vax kids or anti-vax. Do you have it I have not been able to find the reslts.

  4. Agudah says they are doing a lot? That is a blatant lie. Did they put any ads into the newspapers signed by their Rabbonim? Nope. The facts are there are a few (which is too many) Agudah Rabbonim who are anti Vaxxers. Agudah is are talking on BOTH sides of their mouths to keep “Achdus” between the two camps.

  5. I am not so sure of the safety of vaccines and I do have a close relative who was definitely adversely affected after he was vaccinated. I think we should have a right to make our own choices whether or not to vaccinate and not have to bear the brunt of those who vilify us for not vaccinating.

  6. People wake up !
    Regardless of you opinion on vaccines , just stop bashing and killing each other nobody is going to win just more blood will be spilled .
    This is not just educational debate about vaccinations .
    The hatred is pouring from all over here . Don’t you see how many sudden tragedy’s happened in our local communities this past 7 month since the fight started . We are getting judged for our hatred . This article came out at 5:44 , and in just few min tragedy accused & boy got hit by a truck today .
    Wake up people !!!
    Dr Ben Zeev it’s nice to right frum articles but you only putting wood in fire . Yotzo shoro behefsedo
    Hashem protects klal Yisroel and reason we still in Golus is because of hatred towards each other . There are no Vaccine to rebuild Beis Hamikdosh , and keeping shalom in this case is more important then spilling blood . Please do what you know is right to protect yourself and children but don’t hurt someone else just because he doesn’t agree with you , besides you not going to win it’s just getting from bad to worse
    Wake up

  7. If anyone would like supporting evidence of anything that I wrote, please contact the editor at this website and I will be glad to send it to them to send to you. Thank you!

  8. If a vaccine against cancer were to be distributed free of charge, with a 95% rate of success, these clowns would be first in line (with an explanation of how THIS vaccine is not like the OTHER vaccines… etc etc). With no routine exposure to those paralyzed by polio, with no frequent lavayas of measles and hepatitis victims, babies dying of whooping cough… it’s easy to think that the diseases that vaccines aim to guard against are harmless.
    As someone who works in non-jewish private schools, this whole thing is a tremendous chillul hashem.

    • Medical studies show that those who got the normal childhood illnesses like measles, mumps and chicken pox, are less likely to get certain cancers and cardiovascular disease later in life. This site does not allow links, but if you want to see the studies please email the editor here and I will get them to you.

      If you read a previous posting here it says that the medical community has admitted they made a mistake. Those children who got the dtap vaccine are more likely to get pertussis (whooping cough) later in life.

      Please explain your statement about frequent levayas of hepatitis and measles victims. I do not know of any levayas of people from Hepatitis B or A or C. Do you? And in regard to the measles, the last person in the US who died from measles was in 2015. I do not know if they were Jewish or not.

      There is too much to talk about regarding polio, but if you are interested email the editor here and I can send you some links on that. Thank you!

      PS There are many non-Jews across America who do not vaccinate and who are supporting others, Jews and non-Jews, who feel the same way.

      • The problum with Hepatitis is that it causes other illness like cancer. If you get Hepatitis before you turn 10 you are much more likely to get other illness and be sick for the rest of your live
        People who get the dtap and get pertussis recover faster and have less simtoms then those who don’t

  9. To Mr/Mrs Don’t worry!
    You write, “Time will tell who is on the right side of this fence.” What an absurd statement! TIME HAS TOLD WHO IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FENCE!! The hundreds, if not thousands, within our community who have contracted this dastardly disease and the massive chillul shem shamayim it has engendered have made it abundantly clear who is on the right side of this fence. Period. End of story.

    • To Mike,
      How do you know in what orientation those who contracted the dastardly disease those who didn’t where standing? Furthermore, from what direction where they being seen from?

    • Where do you get thousands? And how come we have not gotten any names to say tehillim for? And has anyone been nifter throughout this measles crisis in our community? And believe it or not there are non-Jews across America who are supporting their “Hasidic brothers and sisters.” There are plenty of non-Jews who are also concerned and are showing up at rallies across the US in front of government capitol buildings to protest bills that are taking away religious exemptions and tampering with medical exceptions as well. If you would like proof of this statement, email the editor here and I can send videos of these rallies that they can send to you.

      • Thank you for the civil reply. It’s nice to see someone who writes using correct grammar and punctuation, for a change. My position does not change, though. All the best.

      • According to the CDC, about four to five million people in the USA got measles every year before the vaccine came out, and about 500 died from it.

        Other countries where malnourished people live/lived have/had had more deaths than the US.

        Vitamin A lessons the severity of the illness. These malnourished people unfortunately often lack vitamin A.

        Before the vaccine came out, more than 50% of children had measles by age 5, and more than 90% had it by age 15.

        “Before a vaccine, infection with measles virus was nearly universal during childhood…”

  10. @Out of town pro vaxxer
    B”h there are antivaxxers everywhere. You would be surprised if you knew just how many of them are hiding in the closet. Doomed if they come out
    Vaccine injury does not discriminate
    Unfortunately vaccine injuries are increasing and each one adds another ex vaxxer into the group. Not only one person but the friends and relatives that are open minded and dont deny the truth.
    The numbers will keep growing.
    Hoping you never see a vaccine injury.

  11. Living in monsey, the ppl that I know that went, do vaccinate. They went cuz they love action and to see what’s going on..maybe that’s why so many showed up..domt make assumptions that it means anti vaxxers are correct…you tread dangerously

  12. @RG, there are currently many cures to cancer. After each was approved by the FDA, the chemotherapy and radiation therapy companies lobby the government to remove the FDA approval.
    So ya, vaccines against cancer will never become public.
    Still trust the pharm companies?

  13. according the the anti vaxx chevra, we should be seeing tens or hundreds of thousands of cases of autism. After all there are so many people who do vaccinate. The fact is we don’t. This is proof the vaccines don’t cause autism. if it did, many more would chas vi shalom have it.

  14. Since they’ve started vaccinating there are a lot more kids with autism than ever before. I had the measles as a child way back in the last century and I don’t remember ever seeing any autistic kids around. Most people I know from my childhood had the measles and everyone came out unscathed. It was a simple fact of life. You got the measles and you were immune for life. There always will be those with weak immune systems who get sicker, but they probably will have a bad reaction from the shot. That doesn’t mean everyone else has to get the shot. Maybe they should stop putting poisons into the shots.

  15. Funny how the ones who vaccinate are quaking in fear of the measles, while the unvaccinated are calm. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

  16. Wow. Amazing discourse. Vaccines dont work? What happened to polio? Why was measles eradicated in the United States until anti-vaxxers and foreign visitors brought it back?

    Is Autism more dangerous then all of the diseases that we vaccinate against? Do you consider your impact on other people, other children in your community when you make this decision?

    We have solid proven evidence that vaccinations PREVENT disease. This is irrefutable. At best Anti-vaxxers have anecdotal, baseless conjecture as to the supposed adverse effects of vaccinations.

    If anti-vaxxers could produce a MAJORITY opinion on the impact of vaccinations then they should be heard, but it will NEVER happen. REAL medical professionals and scientists have established a clear and proven methodology behind the effectiveness of vaccinations in preventing disease, while anti-vaxxers think they have the right to risk other people’s well being on…nothing that can actually be factually supported by MEDICAL SCIENCE.

    Seriously, the Autism claim has been repeatedly refuted and the man who originated the claim is a KNOWN FRAUD. How did we come to this point? What a sad state of affairs…

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