Vaxxers & Anti-Vaxxers

As we approach the five-year mark since the initial COVID lockdown, TRADITION has published Rav J. David Bleich’s essay on “Vaxxers and Anti-Vaxxers” in his Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature column (available open access for a limited time here).

This article explores contemporary halakhic debates surrounding vaccination, analyzing key responsa and rabbinic writings from a recent Or Yisra’el journal symposium. Through an examination of R. Shmuel Kamenetsky’s opposition to mandatory vaccination alongside the majority view supporting immunization requirements, the discussion engages fundamental concepts including pikuah nefesh, holeh le-faneinu, and acceptable risk parameters in Jewish law. The author argues that schools retain the right to exclude unvaccinated students based on communal welfare considerations, even if vaccination carries some risk. Drawing on R. Shlomoh Zalman Auerbach’s novel framework comparing defense against marauding animals to milhemet mitzvah (obligatory war), the author suggests that vaccination should be understood as a mandated communal defense against pathogenic threats rather than merely a personal medical choice.

We note that the column was reviewed this week on VINnews.com (Vos Iz Neias) and are delighted that our readerships overlap.

Congratulations to R. Bleich on the recent publication of volume 8 of his Contemporary Halakhic Problems (Maggid Books), which collects columns originally published in TRADITION. Receive a 10% discount using the code “TRADITION” at the publisher’s website.

View abstracts of the entire contents of our new Winter 2025 issue.