What Goes In To Our Bodies
The Torah gives us some instruction about what is allowed to go into our bodies.
The easiest one is limitations on foods which are not kosher.
That some of the ingredients of the vaccine are "not kosher" is true in so far as ingesting them individually would go. When it comes to putting together a medicine that is not considered "food," however, the "kosher" argument becomes less strong because Jewish law allows for violation of kosher laws when it comes to saving a life.
Vaccines are a sticking point. Are they saving lives? Or does the extent of their (very imperfect) effectiveness simply ward off some diseases, while making others asymptomatic? The idea of their saving lives is a subject of debate, opinion, and certainly not something which can be said honestly without an argument being made in the other direction. Vaccines have also killed people. For those it has killed or maimed for life, it is a hard argument to sell that "vaccines save lives."
In either case, this is irrelevant insofar as the law goes in the United States and insofar as the question of a religious obligation or exemption goes. For example, the idea that I have to take a vaccine so that you will be protected from an illness has no real foundation in Jewish law. A parallel example would be the donation of a kidney to someone who is in need. Am I obligated to put myself in that situation to help someone else? No. Of course I may. Of course that is magnanimous and admirable. But if I don't give up my kidney have I cause the other person to die - is it my fault? And what if that person doesn't even have kidney failure at all? (Do you see where we're going with this?)
There are Jews who believe that the Torah advocates a vegetarian lifestyle
There are Jews who believe that the Torah advocates a vegan lifestyle.
Could I now tell them "The Torah clearly allows people to eat meat. You must eat meat for Judaism says so!" The answer is "Of course not!" Their understanding of what is allowed to go into their bodies is their religious observance of rules surrounding "my body being a place of holiness, to which I will not be inserting food, toxins or chemicals that I view as harmful to my body or my spirit."
That is how JUDAISM ABSOLUTELY HAS A RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION FROM VACCINES.
The easiest one is limitations on foods which are not kosher.
That some of the ingredients of the vaccine are "not kosher" is true in so far as ingesting them individually would go. When it comes to putting together a medicine that is not considered "food," however, the "kosher" argument becomes less strong because Jewish law allows for violation of kosher laws when it comes to saving a life.
Vaccines are a sticking point. Are they saving lives? Or does the extent of their (very imperfect) effectiveness simply ward off some diseases, while making others asymptomatic? The idea of their saving lives is a subject of debate, opinion, and certainly not something which can be said honestly without an argument being made in the other direction. Vaccines have also killed people. For those it has killed or maimed for life, it is a hard argument to sell that "vaccines save lives."
In either case, this is irrelevant insofar as the law goes in the United States and insofar as the question of a religious obligation or exemption goes. For example, the idea that I have to take a vaccine so that you will be protected from an illness has no real foundation in Jewish law. A parallel example would be the donation of a kidney to someone who is in need. Am I obligated to put myself in that situation to help someone else? No. Of course I may. Of course that is magnanimous and admirable. But if I don't give up my kidney have I cause the other person to die - is it my fault? And what if that person doesn't even have kidney failure at all? (Do you see where we're going with this?)
There are Jews who believe that the Torah advocates a vegetarian lifestyle
There are Jews who believe that the Torah advocates a vegan lifestyle.
Could I now tell them "The Torah clearly allows people to eat meat. You must eat meat for Judaism says so!" The answer is "Of course not!" Their understanding of what is allowed to go into their bodies is their religious observance of rules surrounding "my body being a place of holiness, to which I will not be inserting food, toxins or chemicals that I view as harmful to my body or my spirit."
That is how JUDAISM ABSOLUTELY HAS A RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION FROM VACCINES.
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