by Ovadya Wechsler, B.A., M.A. in History, Brooklyn College. The Black Death, or the Black Plague as it is sometimes called, attacked Europe between the years 1346-1353. Between 25 and 75 million people died, representing between 30 and 50% of the population of Europe. These numbers are so staggering, it is impossible for us to comprehend. Scientists finally figured out that the plague came to Europe from Asia, carried by fleas on rats that arrived on merchant ships and caravans traveling the Silk Road. But it took hundreds of years to figure this out. What conclusion could the illiterate masses of Europe come to, as almost half their population died in a few short years?
The obvious answer to them was that the wells were poisoned by the Jews. Never mind that the Jews drank from the same wells. Whoever said that anti-Semitism had to make sense? And so, as happened so many times before, and so many times afterward, the Jews became the scapegoat for the world’s troubles.
It is interesting to note, that while Europe’s Jews also died from the Black Plague, they did so in much smaller numbers, estimated to be between 10-15% of the Jewish population. Why is that? There is no definitive answer, but obviously people that washed their hands in the morning, before eating bread, and after going to the bathroom, who buried their dead as soon as possible, and followed other basic hygienic practices , were miles ahead of the general population in fighting this pandemic. Of course we understand that it was chasdei HaShem that limited the illness and death in the Jewish population.
But let’s return to the story. Convinced that the Plague was a Jewish plot, the masses went on rampages against the Jews. Riots (or as we call them, pogroms) probably killed more Jews than the Plague did. Starting in April, 1348, forty Jews were killed in Barcelona, Spain. The following year pogroms took place in Erfurt, Aragon, and Flanders. In Strasbourg, where the Plague had not even struck, 2000 Jews were burned alive out of sheer hysteria. Over the next few years, hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed including the German cities of Frankfurt-am-Main, Speyer, Mainz, and Cologne. These cities had suffered 200 years before during the Crusades. German Jewish life never fully recovered, as many of the remaining Jews moved to Poland. But that’s another story for another time.
And so we come to the measles outbreak of 2018. It boggles the mind that in the 21st Century there could even be a measles outbreak. Like smallpox, chicken pox and polio, most people thought measles was permanently eliminated due to immunization procedures put in place during the last half of the prior century. But guess what? If you don’t get immunized, you are not immune. Duh. Based on an unsupported and discredited “study” linking vaccinations to autism, people know as anti-vaxxers started creeping up over the last twenty years or so. Refusing to vaccinate their children, they use “freedom of religion” to get around mandatory vaccination requirements. The original anti-vaxxers were not Jewish, but it didn’t take long before Jews of all stripes picked up on it. I have yet to see where in the Torah (or for that matter, lehavdil in any other religion) vaccinations are forbidden. On the contrary, the requirement of “ushmartem meod lenafshosaychem” would require vaccinations. This is undisputed by all legitimate Rabbonim, Poskim, and Doctors.
At the current time, outbreaks of measles has been reported by the Jewish and general non-Jewish media, in Orthodox enclaves in Israel, Brooklyn, Lakewood, Monsey & Monroe. While attempts, perhaps too little and too late, are being made by Rabbonim and yeshivos to exclude unvaccinated children from shuls and schools, it is very hard to contain this highly contagious and serious disease.
It is only a matter of time before some Moslem children in Israel, or Pakistanis in Brooklyn, or Hispanics in Lakewood, or white children in Rockland County, catch the disease from a Jewish child, get very sick and possibly die. And then watch the hue and cry, “Kill the Jews”. But as opposed to the Black Death which the Jews did not cause, this time the evidence will be there. Never mind that there are probably more non-Jewish anti-vaxxers than Jewish ones. Never mind that the overwhelming number of Jews vaccinate their children. Never mind that innocent Jewish children are getting sick too. “The Jews spread the disease.” Can’t you see it coming? Particularly after Pittsburgh.
Am I overreacting? Yes. Will this scenario ever take place? Hopefully not. But you never know. History is replete with stories of Jews getting blamed for diseases, wars, economic collapses, revolutions, that they had nothing to do with. Hitler claimed all the Communists were Jews at the same time Stalin was persecuting every Jew he could find. We certainly don’t want to give our enemies something real to point to. HaShem yerachaim.
Well said. We need to stop giving anti semites excuses.
Your letter is so on the mark.
So why don’t we wake ourselves up and face honest true reality? Lets face the truth and first admit the fact that “there’s no such a thing as coincidence” then once we admit and realize it then we are ready as a nation together to ask ourselves why is Hashem doing this to his loving children and nation? And we know that everything Hashem does is for our good.
Perhaps it’s time for us to admit that it’s a wake-up call for national teshuva to stop this mageifa and antisemitism going on worldwide.
May we all wake ouselves up to reality ASAP
Wow! Did he say this very good.
Gut g’zugt.
Whether you are pro vaccines or anti vaccines you should be appalled by this letter. When will we stop blaming ourselves for anti-semitism? They hate us because we are jewish. They don’t need excuses.
Just this Sunday I was picking up my son from yeshiva. I was waiting to make a right turn into the school parking lot, but due to traffic I was in the street blocking the cars behind me (I was not doing anything illegal. I was 100% within my right to make that turn). A car pulls up beside and the lady in the car starts berating me. She tells me this is what causes anti-semtism. Should I stop picking up my son from yeshiva?
How can we forget what happened a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh? The eleven jew were not murder because of whether they were vaccinated or not, but because they were Jewish.
Do you think if we assimilated more in Europe the holocaust wouldn’t have happened? Do you think if we were not tax collectors in Ukraine tach vtat wouldn’t of happened? I can go on and on.
If you want to stop anti-semtism stop talking in shul, stop speaking lashon haroah, stop machlokes…………..
perhaps you didn’t hug the yellow line to allow people to go around you, I see this very often people to think about the cars behind them!
when making a right turn into a parking lot you should move to the right as far as you can especially if your going to be waiting to get in and there are cars behind you
Am i the only person who has no clue what his point is?!
Stop fear mongering and making up tfacts
Well-said. This nonsense has to stop. We need to completely ostracize the anti-vaxxers from our communities. We must have a zero tolerance artitude toward their reckless and dangerous shitos! If we don’t make them stop their dangerous meshugas, we too will be (rightfully) held to blame. They need to be completely ostracized from all communal activities until they comply.
I don’t believe we are the only ones reading this. Al Tiftach peh. The prediction in the second to last paragraph is not something to post publicly ( in my opinion).
Well said. Only problem , that whatever we do to appease nations it not going to work unless we appease HKB with Mitzvas , Torah and Teshuva. So i don’t understand what it’s to do with immunisation . Machlokes is more dangerous that any measles , because it going against will of Hashem.
well said!!!
It should be pointed out that the author, besides for having a Masters in History, also is a former New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner for over 30 years, in charge of all personnel, which includes medical issues. He has a real good sense of community ramifications and common sense. I had the pleasure of knowing him when he still lived in Staten Island, before he moved to Lakewood. Great man, real tzaddik.
His life story is actually fascinating. He was interviewed years ago in the Mishpacha, and again last year in the Yated. Maybe the Voice could do a piece on him?
(He was the 4th ranking member in the whole NYPD. He was in charge of hiring, firing, and promoting every single officer. He even had to sign the document to officially hire Ray Kelly and Bill Braton, the commissioners. And he always walked out of the office early Friday afternoon, and never worked on chol hamoed.)
What the author fails to mention is that the vaccination rates among the ainom yehudim is lower than among ourselves. There are large groups of antivaxxers all over the US. Monmouth county which borders Lakewood has a lower vaccination rate than ocean county.
If all you read is YWN, Matzav, & TLS, you might think this is a Jewish issue, it’s not.
Let’s put this divisive topic behind us.
That is not true. The vaccination rate among school students in New Jersey averages at 95 percent statewide. Lakewood’s rate is roughly 91 percent.
What the author wrote, yet the reader failed to read, is this:
“Never mind that there are probably more non-Jewish anti-vaxxers than Jewish ones.”
Yes, fear mongering.
Yes, Mutty. You most likely are the only person who doesn’t get it.
And sorry, Abe, but study your history: from a Torah perspective. No, we are not hated “just because we are Jewish”. What do Chazal mean when they say Ayn Porunous Bah Loilam Eleh B’shvil Yisrael? I am sure you are aware then whenever a major catastrophe befell the yidden, it was preceded by yidden getting a little too comfy with their station in life etc. My point is that yidden have unfortunately – whether from within or from outside – have been the cause and source of our own undoing. If you fail to see that then you’d better get back to the basics, starting from Berishis.
The argument is flawed because the Black Plague was eradicated without vaccines.
you are right and wrong Yaari, the black plague still exits. It’s epidemic proportions dont exist today because it killed out 3/4 of the world’s population. It’s called survival of the fittest. Those that were lucky enough to survive it, did so because they had the strongest systems. Today it does still exist in some remote places and gets treated with antibiotics. That’s why it hasn’t grown!
Let’s not put any ideas into their heads. They have enough of their own reasons to hate us. Let’s behave in a way that makes us worthy of Hashem’s protection, namely, to avoid machlokes. Since when is worrying about what the neighbors are doing the right hishtadlus?
Not all rabbi agree on this. Perhaps the majority but not all.
The timing of the “Jewish” outbreak seems correlate with tens of thousands visiting Ukraine where since the summer they have had over 30K cases.
Although well meaning, please keep your writing to Der Strumer.
You seem very well educated. However your das Torah is tainted. You should not be saying some of these things. Probably from your college degree.
I would like to openly stand up for the writer. He is a respectable man and does not deserve the tone that some of the commentators are utilizing. You may agree or not agree with his point, and you have every right to speak up and argue with the point, but why make this personal? If you pen an op-ed, would you want people attacking you for it? Would you want your children and grandchildren reading negative personal comments about you?
Apparently, a well written piece can strike a raw nerve, and cause people to attack the person instead of the argument. But can’t we try to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and instead focus our critique on the issues instead?
This op-ed is completely illogical. As the writer says,there are antisemites that will fabricate or believe lies to justify their antisemitism as in the case of the Black Plague. The writer agrees that blaming Jews for the measles outbreak would be false. But for some reason we should care what lying irrational antisemites think.
Foolishness.
How about worrying about things that actually cause people to look badly at Jews. Fraud, theft, cheating the government.
How about driving with respect and courtesy for other people on the road. Why should the way Jews drive make people feel the need to print bumper stickers that say “Pray for me. I drive in Lakewood”.
Or we could infect Bodek and Positiv romaine lettuce with E. Coli so they dont blame us for it like they did the Black Plague.