Monsey, NY – Jews are being persecuted as disease carriers amid the outbreak of measles, a New York haredi Orthodox rabbi said at a symposium with leaders of the anti-vaccination movement attended by hundreds of haredim.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“We Hasidim have been chosen as the target,” said Rabbi Hillel Handler, a Holocaust survivor from Monsey, a Rockland County town with a large haredi population, according to The New York Times. “The campaign against us has been successful.”
The Centers for Disease Control has reported a total of 839 cases of measles in 23 states as of Monday, the highest number since 2000, when measles was considered eradicated. The outbreak has been centered in New York City and state: The city alone has seen 498 confirmed cases since September, with a large number in Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn. In the rest of New York state there have been 274 confirmed cases, according to official figures, with about 80 percent located in Rockland County.
The CDC pinned the resurgence on the unvaccinated and those who brought back measles from other countries. The outbreaks in Orthodox Jewish communities have been associated with travelers who carried the disease back from Israel and Ukraine, according to the CDC.
Among the speakers at the Monsey event on Monday were Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the British physician whose study linking measles vaccines with autism has been condemned, appearing via Skype; and pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, who is regularly cited in pamphlets circulated in New York City that urge women not to get their children vaccinated, The Times reported.
Palevsky said failed vaccines are being given in the haredi communities.
“Is it possible that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that is somehow being given in this lot to communities in Williamsburg and Lakewood and Monsey, maybe in Borough Park, is it possible that these lots are bad?” he asked, referring to areas in New York and New Jersey with large haredi communities, The Times reported.
“It’s fascinating because we’re told how contagious the disease is, but somehow it’s centered in the Jewish community.”
The meeting, which featured separate seating to accommodate the religious observance of the haredi community, was denounced by local elected officials, health authorities and some haredi rabbis, according to the newspaper.
Last month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency over the measles outbreak in Brooklyn’s haredi Orthodox community. De Blasio ordered unvaccinated people living in four ZIP codes in the Williamsburg neighborhood to get the vaccine or be required to pay fines of up to $1,000.
Despite institutional pressure, a strain of opposition to vaccines has persisted in haredi communities based on false claims that vaccines are ineffective at best and harmful at worst. Large families, close-knit communities and the complexity of timing immunizations for a family’s many young children also have contributed to the outbreak.
The majority of Orthodox Jewish children are vaccinated, according to statistics issued by the New York state and New York City health departments. There is no religious reason not to be vaccinated. Prominent rabbis in New York have called on their followers to vaccinate their children.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Yeshiva of Central Queens was ordered closed after failing to comply with a Health Department order to prevent unvaccinated students from coming to school. It is the ninth Orthodox Jewish school to be ordered closed over the measles epidemic but the first outside of Brooklyn.
On Tuesday, hundreds of New York parents against vaccinations rallied outside the state capitol in Albany calling on lawmakers to protect a state law that permits people not to vaccinate their children for religious reasons, The Associated Press reported. Some lawmakers have proposed eliminating the religious exemption in light of the current measles outbreak.
Also Tuesday, de Blasio’s office released a video calling on the Orthodox Jewish community to vaccinate their children featuring a prominent member of the Hasidic community — Alexander Rapaport, executive director of the Masbia soup kitchen network.
These alt-right goose schlepping rashas are endangering the entire klal, very much like the shtetl Zionists do. I guess they liked it better in the Ukraine with the pogroms. Feh
these criminally insane murderous RESHAIM have the blood of innocent children on their bloody hands,these agitators need to be arrested and given long prison sentences and their unvaccinated children need to be taken away from them.
The level of stupidity is truly astounding
By the way boochers, i have a strong background in autism studies. The sad fact is that the phony ‘spectrum’ model and the anti-vac were cooked up by desperate parents looking for a reason their children had some form of the condition. They stumbled on the fact that they could get huge publicity and funding with this phony pseudo-science, which has been totally refuted for the past 25 years by hundreds of objective studies. Autism is not a ‘spectrum’ and its definitely NOT caused by vaccines. Measles and polio, both nearly wiped out cause death and horrible conditions for anyone not vaccinated. -The Real HaShomer in your heads, boochers…
With all the hype of the ongoing measles outbreak, many innocent people have unknowingly been pulled along with the media. We keep on hearing..’measles kills, measles is dangerous…vaccines are safe and effective…totally safe…totally effective..vaccines save live…’
Now ‘safe’ as we define it is ‘not exposed to risk’ yet in medical dictionary, safe is defined as ‘benefits outweigh the risks’. So lets not argue whether there are dangers involved with vaccines, we know there are. Even supreme court has quoted vaccines as ‘unavoidably unsafe.’ The controversy we are experiencing now is-is the risk of measles greater than the risks of vaccines? Hashem in His infinite wisdom created our bodies healthy and perfect, with wondrous systems like digestive, reproductive, and also immune systems. When we take proper care of our bodies and dont tamper with it, it can do wondrous things,including fighting the new plague-measles.(1/500,000 deaths in US) And although theres a lot I dont know, something in me tells me that we dont need 72 vaccines (by the time we reach 18 years of age)in order to survive.
And so, some people have made an informed decision that measles, a once-typical childhood disease has less risks and actually greater benefits than the vaccine created to prevent it. Bottom line, we all want to stay healthy and safe which is the reason why some of us vaccinate and some do not.
Now the issue on hand is called ‘The Blame Game’.
1. Lets blame the ‘anti-vaxxers for killing immune compromised ppl.
Now ppl. I have big news for you. If someone has an immune compromised system, they can die from…The Common Cold! Such ppl must be really careful around ANY germs, bacteria, or virus, whether theres a vaccine for it or not. Now how deadly is measles? Fyi, you have a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike than dying of measles. Yes, I agree 100 % that people who choose measles over vaccines must deal with the downside of staying home IF they get sick, until no longer contagious.
2. Lets blame then for chillul hashem
Now this is what I’d really like to address. Unfortunately, this outbreak ‘crisis’ seems to have been a test at our ahavas chaveirim, one which many of us have failed terribly. The name-calling, shaming, disinviting.. because someone’s views and opinions dont align with yours? Brother vs. Brother! Jew vs. Jew! How painful is that to Hashem? And when He sees this, He ch’v says: If he is not your brother, then I am not your father…Anti-semitism on the rise?yes, amongst our very own! Why then should THEY tolerate us?
Let’s put an end to all this blame and shame and start respecting one another for their decision. Lets chill a bit and not get into the hysteria the media and ultimately pharmaceutical co. are trying to create to fit their agenda. Media is feeding one sided info and anyone challenging that will be silenced by big pharma. Do your research instead of parroting the media. May g-d protect us all.
As a side note, for those concerned about the unvaxxed ruining it for all since we need herd immunity (95%) in order for vaccines to work: i have sad news: about 50% of VACCINATED adults walking the streets are not IMMUNE and can, and have, spread measles, simply because vaccines do not give lifelong immunity as the disease itself does. It wanes with time and most adults need boosters in order to be immune.
Be well.
Totally agree with #2
I’m glad that people who haven’t learnt even the basics of science, maths and stats and get their information from anonymous blogs on the internet, know much better than thousands of scientists, doctors, researchers, epidemiologists etc worldwide. They are not only putting themselves and their families in danger but also of hundreds or thousands of people they come close to. Absolute idiots.
PS do you know that there are trolls out there on the internet who encourage depressed people to commit suicide just for their entertainment. How do you know that the anonymous blogs you get your information from are not trolls who think it’s funny if your children died from the measles?
Do you know there are hundreds of thousands of people who believe the world is flat and do lots and lots of research to back up their stupidity. They say that NASA, like the pharma companies are lying to us.
Well, the world is full of fools. It is a shame they will not admit their mistake.
Sick sick people
To: #15 - I was wondering when you would inspire us with your scholarly, holier than thou opinions. We really look forward to hearing from you; in fact, you are even more popular on this site, than Educated Archy. Mazel Tov!
(reply to #9 )
Where are you getting your information from? Do a simple Google search on the odds of getting hit by lightning, and you’ll learn that the odds are 1 in 700,000. Unfortunately, the odds of dying from the measles are a lot greater. Just check what the World Health Organization reports, if you don’t trust the evil U.S. government. Baruch Hashem no deaths have been reported yet in the US this year, because the number of measles cases is still not that high. In 1920, the United States had 469,924 recorded cases of measles and 7,575 deaths associated with measles. That’s just a random year from before the MMR vaccine. Please don’t spread lies and present them as facts.
(reply to #25 )
Did you not read the statistics of the number of measles cases and deaths in the year 1920 IN THE UNITED STATES? I’m not sure what your response is supposed to mean. Unfortunately, when one presents anti-vaxxers with statistics from the rest of the world, they say those numbers mean nothing because they include third world countries. And then when you present them with statistics from the U. S., the usual response is that you can’t believe what the CDC says because they’re controlled by Big Pharma, etc. And they love to say you can’t trust doctors and scientists because they’re all either biased or ignorant, but then they bring a discredited doctor to “prove” their agenda. Why a doctor? Aren’t doctors people we shouldn’t be believing?
It’s very simple.
1. Getting the vaccine subjects you (or your child) to a very, very small risk of serious complications, or even death.
2. Measles, if not vaccinated against is way more dangerous, by a factor of 100 to 1,000.
3. If the herd vaccinated, i.e. over 95%; than the 4% or less that’s not vaccinated has the advantages of the inability to get measles (no one to catch it from); and not the tiny risk of the vaccine itself.
4. Traditionally, newborns, children who nebech have cancer, and others with immune suppression who were not able to be vaccinated were the small percentage who were not immunized; but weren’t at risk because no one to catch it from.
5. It is incredibly selfish, and stupid (because you dont know how many others are as selfish as you) to try to be in the 4%; especially by risking the people who cannot vaccinate.
6. Typical; that in the present “me generation” of the millennials that we would have these selfish idiots who hide behind Religion and the wackos.
7. The conspiracy nuts are stupid people who need to assert their “intelligence” by being “in the know”, and are not “fooled” like the masses. The ones who spout the “oilem goilem” dogma.