Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky claims that vaccinations are harmful

Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky
Baltimore Jewish Times    Read the whole article including the comments

[...] R.B. encountered significant difficulties when she claimed a religious exemption at a local boys’ day school. Before her son began school, she contacted someone at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as well as the state attorney general’s office, to inquire about Maryland’s laws regarding religious exemptions.

“They said that the school could not refuse to accept a religious exemption,” she related. “But then school started and the nurse called. She said the school didn’t accept religious exemptions. I told her they had to accept them so she said I would have to speak with the principal.”

R.B. reached out to Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, founder and dean of the Talmudical Academy of Philadelphia, whose wife, Temi, speaks out against vaccinating children. The rabbi wrote a letter on R.B.’s behalf, leading to her son’s principal relenting and apologizing.

When reached by phone, both Kamenetzkys confirmed their belief that vaccinations, not the diseases they prevent, are harmful.

“There is a doctor in Chicago who doesn’t vaccinate any of his patients and they have no problem at all,” said the rabbi. “I see vaccinations as the problem. It’s a hoax. Even the Salk vaccine [against polio] is a hoax. It is just big business.”

Kamenetzky says he follows the lead of Israeli Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky, who rules that schools “have no right to prevent unvaccinated kids from coming to school.”

“What about the people who clean and sweep in the school?” argued Kamenetzky. “They are mostly Mexican and are unvaccinated. If there was a problem, the children would already have gotten sick.”

Sharon Billing, a Baltimore nurse and mother, said she once challenged Temi Kamenetzky at a lecture.

“How can you advise young mothers to do this?” she asked the rebbetzin. “You’re old enough to remember whopping cough and diphtheria. As Jews, we are required to guard our health.”
Billing has a cousin born just prior to the development of the polio vaccine.

“He was wheelchair bound all of his life and had the use of only one arm,” she said. “I find it distressing that so many are so uninformed about vaccines.”

In her 20 years as a pediatric nurse practitioner, Stacy Schwartz of Pikesville has rarely come across parents who refuse to vaccinate. Schwartz, who works in a private practice in Cross Keys and at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School once a week, says she believes in vaccinating all children.

“For us, it’s a public health issue, and there is no credible research to show that vaccines lead to developmental disabilities,” said Schwartz, who added that Beth Tfiloh follows Maryland’s state vaccination policy. [...]

51 comments :

  1. "When reached by phone, both Kamenetzkys confirmed their belief that vaccinations, not the diseases they prevent, are harmful."


    I must query this quote. I can't believe it is possible for anyone to suggest that polio isn't harmful.

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  2. Pure foolishness in my opinion.

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  3. Daas Torah run amok.

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  4. The research is clear and so is the history. There was a fraudulent paper written awhile back on the mmr vaccine and it fooled a bunch of people.

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  5. Shmuel Kaminetsky is an original thinker. He tells others and he himself practices things absolutely forbidden by the Torah, such as his coercions of husband to force them to give a GET. Type in Kaminetsky Eidensohn on this blog. I have spoken to him and know he is not knowledgeable in some of the things that he does. At this time, his son, undoubtedly with the silence of the father, is working to get a woman married who has no GET. This son will be the next Rosh Yeshiva of the Philly Yeshiva. He and his father should not be Roshei Yeshiva. They don't know their limits. They don't know the Torah.

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  6. While no one can question the greatness in learning of Rabbi Chaim Kavievski, I've heard some strange advice of his. Things we did not hear from Rav Moshe or Rav Elyashiv. what is the meaning of this? Do we have turn to the modern orthodox to get wise leaders? Do they have any? Chassidic Rebbes perhaps?

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  7. Even I'm not going to defend this one.

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  8. How are vaccinations "harmful"?

    Please provide a full and thorough scientific (the word "science" comes from the Latin "scio" = "to know') and logical explanation.

    Are germs, microbes and invisible organisms also "myths"? Is infection and are infectious diseases also things made up by medical conglomerates to "make money"? Is it possible to condemn what scientific research has established is true under sophisticated medical studies and rigorous laboratory tests? Should medicine now revert to "treating" people the way they did hundreds of years ago?

    "Hiskatnu hadoros" (generational decline) and "shinuui hateva" (changes in nature) do occur and thus today the refua (medicinal practices) of the Talmud and the Talmudic era are NOT accepted nor are they practiced. To become a good rofeh (doctor) today we do not send people to yeshivas but rather they must go to good MEDICAL SCHOOLS where it takes many long years to qualify as a doctor. Thus in medical decisions bazman hazeh (in our times) we FIRST go to modern DOCTORS and of course they must be approved as capable and worthy by rabbis or people who know doctors in special referral organizations in the frum world especially for serious surgery or treatments but WE DO NOT LET RABBIS DO SURGERY NOR DO WE GO TO RABBIS TO GET OUR MEDICATIONS, but they can give some advice that will help and not harm us, but at the end of the day in TODAY's world we rely on the doctors (even if they are gentiles, or secular Jews) and on their PROFESSIONAL medical opinions. That is the world we live in TODAY! Thus if I go to see the doctor and he has saved my life in the past by giving me key advice and then one day he says, okay today I am giving you a flu shot and please also go for a pneumonia shot, I jump and listen to my doctor and I get the shots ASAP and I do NOT call my rabbi!

    Do shots against measles, rubella ("German measles"), polio, the flu, pneumonia, malaria, polio, and so much more really "not" work and is it all really a "scam" to make money? Are blood tests and CAT scans and MRIs and X-rays and radiation therapy for cancer, or laser treatment for cataracts, are all also scams to make money? maybe we should ban doctors and pharmacies from making money. Then we can look like Uganda under Iddi Amin who famously said "all you need to live in Uganda is a pair of underpants and bananas"!! How about laprascopic surgery, maybe it's just a scam to play around with people in hospitals? How about mental health treatments should we ban psychologists, social workers and pschiatrists and psychotropic drugs that usually help people just because some rabbis are against them and just learn a lot more mussar and hashkofa to set people straight? We can just rely on a magnifying glass and "clever" opinions if we have to, right? Are human immune systems strong enough today to withstand measles, polio, the flu, and much else like generations year's ago? In olden days there was a much greater mortality rate of people dying at young ages due to diseases. Baruch Hashem today we have modern medicijne that has inbcreased our chances of living longer healthier lives!

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  9. Does R"K lose his Neamanut in Daat Torah when he issues a blatantly false proposition? What would be the criteria for someone's daat Torah to be challenged? Is it like a navi sheker who predicts something that doesn't come true that the chezkat neamanut is gone? Do we have a three strikes policy? Not that I am questioning his halachik positions, just the authority in areas outside the halachik realm.

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  10. horay for Rav Shmuel Kaminestsky for taking the right position! iv never even heard of him before but already he's A OK in my book so maybe i'l read one of his (if he has any).

    WATCH, LEARN, SAY NO TO VACCINES AND PUT THESE CROOKS OUT OF BUISNESS! (and send them to hell as well)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NHZzJa_-lw

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  11. baltimore jewish times is not a religious magazine. did some shomer torah umitzos query the kaminetskys?

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  12. Vaccines are not without problems and adverse reactions .I would
    not go as far as the Rov went in his comment but just warn about possible adverse reactions
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/26/vaccines-adverse-reaction.aspx

    - Groundbreaking Study:
    Vaccines Cause Children More adverse Reactions Than Any Other Drug. I am
    not advocating against vaccinating but it maybe a safety hazard and not without
    serious problems. The health benefits of vaccines far outweigh their possible
    side effects is not so cut and dried
    .Kids who have adverse reactions need to go slow under supervision

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  13. Vaccines indeed work and I have proof, gentlemen! I have been injected with truth from this blog, and have become immune to silly proclamations from evil men. I have been saved from hours of pointless agony trying to reconcile widely held, but false beliefs, with the real Torah I have received from genuine Talmidei Chachamim.

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  14. Whilst all medical interventions do have the risk of adverse/side effects, overall, vaccinations are saving many lives. In Iran in my Grandparents' generation, each family would lose several children to diseases like smallpox, etc. Of course, the same was the case in Europe.
    It reminds me of a discussion I had with someone who was denying that AIDS is really a kiler disease, and was saying it was just created by big Pharma companies. later found out that he was a fegele.

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  15. "I see phony Halachic decisions as the problem. It’s a hoax. Even the 'Tamar is Free' hoopla [against the Mesora] is a hoax. It is just big business.”

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  16. A liitle information on that writer, http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html

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  17. Wasn't he also one of the ones who said its ok to believe in evolution?

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  18. You mean the one where the information about increased autism in African American boys given MMR was suppressed by the authors, one of whom, many years later, has had second thoughts?

    http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1164794

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  19. No he said it wasn't heresy to say the universe is older than 6000 years - nothing about evolution

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  20. Western medicine treats symptoms and not the root causes of disease .
    They don't use a holistic approach where
    the driving principle is to help the body heal itself. I have benefitted from
    both approaches and I usually take Dr Mercola 's view into account when making
    an informed decision. So as I said before I am for vaccinations but
    with due care and precaution

    http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2012/Dr-Joseph-Mercola-Visionary-or-Quack/

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  21. a commentor on Mercola - quack or visionary - I think it's ironic that the main stream medical establishment is accusing Dr. Mercola of pushing remidies to make money. The last time I went to a regular Dr. I was prescribed Actos which we now know can cause bladder cancer and Prilosec which just about killed me. I almost ended up in the hospital trying to get off of that stuff. Now I take natural herbs for my blood sugar and cut out all grains, fructose and sugar, bringing it from 290 to 106. I never had those results with conventional medicine. I also take natural papaya enzymes and haven't had to have so much as a Tums since I started taking them. I can't remember the last time I was at the doctors office when there wasn't a drug salesman hanging around. I think doctors get kick backs from these guys. I would trust Dr. Mercola over a conventional M.D. any day.

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  22. Rabbi Michael TzadokOctober 31, 2014 at 1:01 PM

    Actually I believe he was talking about Andrew Wakefield, who was the first of the many fraudsters to latch on to this subject.

    You, however, seem to be referencing a "study" that was proposed and funded by an organization who's purpose for existence is to show a link between vaccination and autism.
    http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/27/health/irpt-cdc-autism-vaccine-study/index.html
    Much like the "gay gene" study, this is biased and shady science at best.

    Further it is a "study" based on correlation with no control. Correlations are funny things, and they do not necessarily demonstrate cause. For instance if we went simply by correlation:
    1)Decreasing Federal funding for science would decrease sucide rates
    2) Preventing Nick Cage from acting again would greatly decrease accidental swimming pool drownings.
    3) Increased consumption of mozzarella cheese leads to more people earning civil engineering degrees...
    And many more such interesting correlations that can be found here:
    http://www.tylervigen.com/

    Correlation is statistics. Bad correlations, such as the ones anti-vaxers use to "prove" their point are spurious correlations passed off as scientifically verifiable causation.

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  23. Here is at least one good correlation:
    1) Decades ago many people used to get sick and die from many bad diseases such as measles and polio. . .
    2) Vaccines were invented and implemented. . .
    3) Now people do not get sick and die from these diseases!

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  24. The "study" was a reanalysis of the data from a previous study, regarding which there was a CDC insider alleging data suppression in order to reach a desired result. The CDC insider in question claims that the researcher's conversation with him was recorded without his permission but did not contradict the assertions about CDC coverup.

    The only relevance this might have to Wakefield is that the reanalysis of the data that the study is further refutation of Wakefield's claims: the ONLY group showing the reported correlation is African American males. Not Wakefield's patient population at all.

    The real issue is allegations of government malfeasance – which sadly is not unknown in vaccine land. One way of looking at it is that it is asserted that the CDC did more or less what Wakefield did: Wakefield took a hypothesis with reasonable support in the literature at the time, plus well established correlations between GI symptoms and autism. He wanted a particular outcome and then allowed conflict of interest and his beloved theory to lead him astray. That's what the Hooker paper asserts that the CDC did.



    The real question is why the raw data from publicly funded studies is secret in the U.S.A. A lot of nonsense could be squelched if original datasets were permanently and publicly available.

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  25. And by the way: the paper of Wakefield's that was notoriously withdrawn? It asserted no connection between autism and MMR. Three paragraphs mention such a connection. Here they are:

    "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue."

    "If there is a causal link between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and this syndrome, a rising incidence might be anticipated after the introduction of this vaccine in the UK in 1988. Published evidence is inadequate to show whether there is a change in incidence or a link with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine."

    "We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."

    The "chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction?"



    It's real, has been independently confirmed, and some progress towards working out its genetic basis has been made.


    Does that justify Wakefield hiding his conflict of interest, or the other offenses that resulted in his being struck off? No.

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  26. And what is HaRav's medical background? Do you also go to MD's with Halachic questions?

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  27. He Rav Kaminetzky may be a Halachic giant, I respectfully ask: What's his medical background that qualifies him to make such a statement?

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  28. This article has lots of great questions, and documentation to verify. Well worth the read...
    More great questions like this:

    Question
    #15) If vaccines are so safe to give to pregnant women, then why do the
    vaccine insert sheets openly admit most of them have never been tested
    for safety in pregnant women? In fact, this vaccine admits "the effects
    of the vaccine in fetal development are unknown."

    Learn more: [link to www.naturalnews.com]

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  29. CHECK OUT THIS VIEW https://www.boughtmovie.net/free-viewing/thank-you.php

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  30. A brainwashed MD is not better qualified to make such a statement. My money is on a sage with courage who has investigated the matter outside of the box.

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  31. Sorry, my friend, but there's no question about the efficacy of vaccines. No brain washing necessary, just mega studies and decades of observable results that prove it. Halacha obligates us to keep up with the latest science and use it for pekuach nefesh, and the Rav's statement is a step away from this, IMHO.

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  32. With no offense meant towards the Rav or his supporters, I humbly defer to the consensus of the Rabbinic majority. Quote from the OU and RCA's joint statement about vaccines in June: "There are halachic obligations to care for one’s own health as well as to take measures to prevent harm and illness to others, and ***Jewish law defers to the consensus of medical experts in determining and prescribing appropriate medical responses to illness and prevention.*** Therefore, the consensus of major poskim(halachic decisors) supports the vaccination of children to protect them from disease, to eradicate illness from the larger community through so-called herd immunity, and thus to protect others who may be vulnerable."

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  33. Obviously he thinks that polio is not prevented by vaccines!

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  34. Why has polio disappeared if not for vaccination?

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  35. It's a matter of degree. Vacinnations can help in principle, but what happens when you load them with mercury and other preservatives and give them for everything. In the good old days we got a handful of them. Now, there are scores of doses and types.

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  36. he has common sense and he is not beholden to the corrupt medical world

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  37. no question? nothing is that simple

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  38. hygiene, indoor plumbing, sewage plants

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  39. OU and RCA don't count
    we see their views on pre-nups

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  40. nope, the fraud was against the paper
    there's plenty of research drawing vacinnes into question

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  41. @FWIW - please cut out the nonsense - mercury has been removed. The scientific evidence is overwhelmingly against the anti-vaccine people. Contrary to their belief - despite the mercury being removed the autism rate did not go down but has been going up.

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  42. @FWIW - common sense in this case means views which are based on fantasies and not hard data. using ad hominem arguments (behold to the corrupt medical word" are standard justification. The latest I heard is that he has been interested in the curative powers of certain stones from Siberia which are warn around the neck. - Again - apparently the strength of belief is inversely related to the lack of supporting evidence.

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  43. You are big on that word 'nonsense' I see. You use it whenever you oversimplify an issue. Anybody who thinks this issue is simple is a dolt.


    You don't know squat about the scientific evidence in part because you never read it and in part because most of what is publicized is from the pharm industry.


    Nearly every disease supposedly cured by vaccines was on the way out before the vaccines were introduced.


    There are still all kinds of crazy preservatives in vaccines.


    Talk to my neighbor. His daughter was fine. Got a vaccine. She had convulsions that night. Has been autistic ever since. In the world of judgement she's gonna tear you to pieces. I want to watch.

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  44. I know, you are one of those guys that seem themselves as the bastion of reason, enemy of all the emotional fools. This makes you very dangerous. You should start a blog and join the club of ignoramuses who have an opinion on everything. You can straighten us all out.

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  45. @FWIW - you are wrong! I am not publishing anymore of your lies and nonsense on this subject which unfortunately is causing injury and death to many young children. Vaccines work.

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  46. Great question.

    http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2011/11/17/smoke-mirrors-and-the-disappearance-of-polio/

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  47. http://www.naturalnews.com/048888_vaccine_adverse_events_autism_INFANRIX_Hexa.html
    Do you mean this?

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  48. I had posted a reply to this question from a Board certified nephrologist (Suzanne Humphries), who is an expert on vaccines and has written a comprehensive book on the topic. My post was flagged as "Spam".

    I guess Spam = "I don't like your point of view", on this webpage.

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  49. https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-11-11-rfk-jr-wins-case-us-government-vaccine-safety-violations.html

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  50. Somehow, I am not surprised that a wacko who believes that everyone is a secret Freemason is also an anti-vaxxer.

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  51. That's how they educate in nk/satmar.

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