Nesivos Shalom = anti vaxxer?
The Slonimer Rebbe - Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky - has an interesting following in the Orthodox world. His feelings on vaccination are unknown to me. However, he has a most insightful comment about childhood illnesses in his comments on Chapter 3 in Pirkei Avos (p 211).
On the teaching of הוי קל לראש, he talks about how a person in younger years needs to be lighter, not held down by heavy burdens which prevent a person from achieving spiritual heights.
To bring an example of how this works, he says "childhood is filled with childhood illnesses, and this does not damage them at all. When people get sick when they are older, every illness is dangerous. Because God gave each person the merit (and method) to survive, which is why there are so many illnesses in childhood. God thus gives the body strength to overcome most of the illnesses it will face later on. Once a person reaches old age, the strength weakens and the person can't even overcome minor afflictions."
He goes on to compare this to overcoming the Yetzer Hora in one's youth when the YH is mighty, but so is the body...
The point is that the Slonimer Rebbe understood that childhood illnesses is good for the body, as it gives training for different diseases the body may face in adulthood.
No one likes to get sick! But consider that nature knows what it is doing. Giving the body the opportunity to reboot through an illness (while developing lifelong immunity), at a time when the body is best suited to handle the illness, is a blessing of how the world functions.*
Consider this parable, which applies to all manners of development, and also to childhood illnesses.
http://www.pediatricservices.com/parents/pc-02.htm
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* There is a difference between treating an illness with antibiotic and treating a healthy person with a product not aimed to attack an illness. The side effects, short term and long term, are sometimes devastating. That is our concern.
On the teaching of הוי קל לראש, he talks about how a person in younger years needs to be lighter, not held down by heavy burdens which prevent a person from achieving spiritual heights.
To bring an example of how this works, he says "childhood is filled with childhood illnesses, and this does not damage them at all. When people get sick when they are older, every illness is dangerous. Because God gave each person the merit (and method) to survive, which is why there are so many illnesses in childhood. God thus gives the body strength to overcome most of the illnesses it will face later on. Once a person reaches old age, the strength weakens and the person can't even overcome minor afflictions."
He goes on to compare this to overcoming the Yetzer Hora in one's youth when the YH is mighty, but so is the body...
The point is that the Slonimer Rebbe understood that childhood illnesses is good for the body, as it gives training for different diseases the body may face in adulthood.
No one likes to get sick! But consider that nature knows what it is doing. Giving the body the opportunity to reboot through an illness (while developing lifelong immunity), at a time when the body is best suited to handle the illness, is a blessing of how the world functions.*
Consider this parable, which applies to all manners of development, and also to childhood illnesses.
http://www.pediatricservices.com/parents/pc-02.htm
___________________________________________________
* There is a difference between treating an illness with antibiotic and treating a healthy person with a product not aimed to attack an illness. The side effects, short term and long term, are sometimes devastating. That is our concern.
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