Baltimore rabbis are appealing to the community to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a new YouTube video. Published Aug. 6 on the Baltimore City Health Department account “BmoreHealthy,” the video was “made with appreciation to the Orthodox Rabbanim of Baltimore,” the description reads, and with the cooperation of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
In the video, rabbis credit the COVID-19 vaccine with saving lives and creating the opportunity for Jewish spaces to reopen. At the same time, the rabbis warn of the ongoing spread of the delta variant, and of misinformation circulating around the subject. Viewers are urged to accept the vaccine for their own sake and the sake of their neighbors.
Which of our community rabbonim paskened that one has a chiyuv to bring upon himself potential detriment (in the form of known, even-if rare, direct effects) ‘for the sake of his neighbor’?