Letters To The Editor

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April 8, 2015, 3 PM ET

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Obama And Israel (I) Re: “U.S., Europeans Shun ‘Hate Israel Day’ At United Nations Human Rights Council” (front page news story, March 27): Unfortunately, I fear that whether or not the U.S. or European countries “shun” the UN’s “Hate Israel Day” is now beside the point. If President Obama goes through with his threat to support a UN resolution calling for a Palestinian state based upon a borders formula Israel opposes, then the U.S. and the UN will be on record as having rejected Israel’s security concerns and blaming Israel’s “unreasonableness” for scuttling the peace talks.

Shmuel Bergovich (Via E-Mail)

Obama And Israel (II) Re “It’s Bad And Getting Worse (editorial, March 27): I’d like to echo those readers whose letters you published last week and add my kudos to The Jewish Press for a magnificent editorial. As so accurately described it, President Obama’s attacks on Prime Minister Netanyahu for the latter’s statements in the waning hours of the Israeli election campaign were disingenuous and just a case of Obama’s seizing an opportunity to create further distance between America and Israel. Obama is fooling no one. Given the resourceful and consummate politician that he is, it is inconceivable that Obama believed Netanyahu was actually declaring a change in policy rather than just pursuing a reelection strategy. Come on, Mr. President, don’t they do it worse in Chicago? And did Netanyahu’s electioneering even approach your political use of the race card?

Matthew Kleiner (Via E-Mail)

Kerry And Iran Secretary of State John Kerry’s shameful sellout of the United States and Israel in the Iran nuclear negotiations should convince everyone that it’s foolish and naïve to believe anything the Obama administration puts out (State Department: Kerry Did Not Say U.S. Would Sit Down With Syria’s Assad,” front-page news story, March 20). Kerry’s s incredible flip flop on the goals of the negotiations not only bespeaks a president who feels no compunction about fooling the public and who will say anything to get things done, it also demonstrates that the secretary of state either agrees with him or is someone totally lacking in principle. It is one of the tragedies of history that when the monumental issue of Iran’s nuclear capacity had to be faced, these two men were in place to do it.

Eli Grossman (Via E-Mail)

Jewish Heroine Thank you for publishing Gregory Wallance’s moving article on a shamefully little-known Jewish heroine, Sarah Aaronsohn (“The Armenian Genocide and the Creation of Israel,” front-page essay, March 20). The fact that her heroics took place decades before the establishment of Israel should in no way diminish her contribution to Jewish history and indeed to the ultimate rebirth of a sovereign Jewish state. Maybe it’s to my discredit, but despite having read dozens of books over the years on Zionism and the birth of Israel, I don’t think I came across the name of Sarah Aaronsohn even once. Mr. Wallance and The Jewish Press have performed a valuable service in publicizing her story.

Madeline Graubard (Via E-Mail)

Vaccines And Halacha The issue of children not being given vaccines to prevent measles is again in the news. There is apparently a tiny fraction of individuals (and maybe even doctors) who believe that there is a link between the measles vaccine and autism. It is also clear that for legitimate and non-legitimate reasons there are people who do not trust medical research studies, especially when those studies are conducted with financing by pharmaceutical companies or by lawyers who are suing for malpractice. There is also apparently one distinguished rosh yeshiva on record as telling his students not to vaccinate their children. I think there is a halachic question that is much broader than a particular vaccine for measles. There is no doubt that halacha stresses the twin concepts of saving lives and preserving one’s health. The question is, what are the halachic guidelines for such activities? I certainly accept that the overwhelming majority of current medical research suggests that immunization works and does not lead to effects such as autism. The halachic question is whether that scientific evidence is enough to “close the case” according to halacha. Let’s start with the obvious.

The huge majority of scientists believe the earth is millions of years old, and claim “the evidence” supports them. Clearly most rabbis disagree.
Bloodletting and other similar remedies were accepted for years by most if not all doctors.
The Talmud records various medical remedies that most doctors (and rabbis) would not currently accept.

If one were to examine current medical treatments for various illnesses, in many cases there are a range of options offered, depending on the doctor consulted. If one looks at preventive medicine the options are even greater. Halacha tells us to pick ourselves a rabbi and follow him – not to cherry pick opinions from different rabbis. Well, does halacha suggest one pick himself a doctor and follow him? Or can I cherry pick advice from different doctors? After all, the medical concept of a “second opinion” is widely accepted. I assume there are still a small number of doctors who believe there is a connection between measles vaccines and autism. How many doctors does it take to make a viable opinion that an Orthodox Jew can follow? What happens if the doctor who holds that way was my personal doctor before the issue arose? Who makes that determination, patient or rabbi? What does halacha say about alternative medicine? In the 1950s, Osteopathic medicine was considered off the beaten path. Today, ODs and MDs are almost indistinguishable in many hospitals. In the 1960s and 1970s acupuncture was considered strange at best. Now it’s widely accepted. The question is whether acupuncture was halachically accepted in the 1950s or ‘60s. If not, when did it become acceptable? What is the tipping point? How does halacha determine the tipping point? To what extent are these personal decisions? Consider personal safety. If I jaywalk, does halacha say I need to make a personal determination of how dangerous jaywalking is in any particular case, or does halacha define jaywalking as always being a violation of halacha (in terms of guarding one’s health, not dina d’malchusa)? Might halacha say that jaywalking on a four-lane road is always a violation, while on a one way one lane road it is a personal judgment call? Does halacha distinguish among the individuals making the decision? Might an average person be required to follow the one lane versus the four-lane rule, or perhaps be totally forbidden to jaywalk, while a certified traffic engineer or perhaps a super-fit athlete would halachically be allowed to make his own judgment? That brings me back to the vaccine case. If I read up on the evidence, can I make my own determination or must I follow the majority or even the overwhelming majority? Does it make a difference if I am a high school graduate or a Ph.D. biology researcher? To what extent can an observant person follow his “gut instinct” on such matters? Perhaps more important, how does a rabbi decide, given different views and mixed statistics in the medical or traffic safety literature? I am not a rabbi and certainly don’t claim to have the answers. But I think these are important and timely issues in today’s world.

Harold Marks (Via E-Mail)