Can You Spot The Fallacies and Psychobabble in This Article? UPDATE

Vaxers, Anti-Vaxers, Third Viewers, and Emes

May 14, 2023

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

With President Biden’s new immigration policy finally about to take place,   New Yorkers especially are facing a new major health crisis.  The policy is officially allowing in to the United States tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from the southern border,  What is the new health crisis?

Over fifty percent of the new immigrants are not vaccinated for polio.  This can be both very dangerous and potentially very deadly rachmana litzlan.  This is especially true for those who subscribe to the anti-Vaxxer thought process.

This article may very well irk the majority of readers, but perhaps it will do the impossible – create unity among the vaxxers and anti-vaxxers for once in their anger against this article.  It’s real purpose, however, is to attempt to avert a major health crisis, by re-conceiving how we view the anti-Vax community.  But first, a dvar Torah from Rav Gamliel Rabbinowitz shlita about Emes.

Rav Gamliel Rabbinowitz Shlita is one of the leading Roshei Yeshiva and Kabbalists in the world. He is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaarei Shamayim, the Yeshiva that was headed by Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ZT”L. Rav Gamliel, in his Tiv HaTorah (on Sefer VaYikrah p. 411) provides us with a fascinating Kabbalistic interpretation of the following verse in this past week’s Parsha.

“The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to Me, for [כִּי] strangers and temporary residents [וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים] you are [אַתֶּ֖ם] with Me.” (VaYikrah 25:23)

The word כִּי in this verse can mean “for” or it can mean “when.” Therefore, in the aforementioned verse, Rabbi Gamliel explains that we can read it as follows: When you are “estranged” [from Me or from My Torah], there is still hope for there are two tools, two methods or devices that can bring you back to Me,

What are those two tools? Let’s continue reading the verse. Throughout the Zohar, and other Kabbalistic works, we find that the rearrangement of letters carries great significance. The two tools, that can bring Bnei Yisrael back to Hashem are the next words in the verse – תוֹשָׁבִ֛ים the observance of Shabbos which is hinted at as the word contains the letters

“ש” ,“ת” and “ב”– when rearranged, the letters of Shabbos; and the second device is “אַתֶּ֖ם” which, when rearranged, spells the word “אֱמֶֽת” truth.

Truth is the signet ring of Hashem (Shabbos 55a) and can bring us back to where we should be – not only spiritually, but in terms of our public health policies,

THE MISTAKE OF THE PRO-VAXXERS

During Covid-19, finally, a vaccine against the deadly version of the virus came out.  It saved many people.  However, in order to save these people, the NIH, CDC, and a number of others including doctors –  suppressed some of the information regarding the Covid-19 vaccines and adverse reactions to vaccines.  The adverse reactions were rare, but often serious.

Real and true reactions to the vaccine were ignored.  Only now are doctors realizing that they can treat the over-reactions. Many anti-vaxxers used these cases to discredit and denigrate vaccines in general.  Both sides, however, don’t like or agree with the Third Viewers.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Brianne Dressen who was one of the first Americans to be vaxxed.

The WSJ reported that she “volunteered to participate in AstraZeneca’s  trial, and received her first dose on Nov. 4, 2020, at a clinic in West Jordan, Utah. “I am pro-science and pro-vaccine,” Ms. Dressen says. “I was more than glad to participate in the scientific process.”

Minutes after the shot, Ms. Dressen’s arm began to tingle, her vision grew blurry, and sounds became muffled. The clinic suggested she see a neurologist, who directed her to the emergency room. The ER couldn’t figure out what was wrong and sent her home.

Her condition steadily deteriorated over the next 2½ weeks. She experienced extreme nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, painful vibrating sensations, pins and needles in her arms and face, numbness, tremors, brain fog, heart palpitations and fever. Physicians were mystified. They diagnosed her with a “silent migraine” and “anxiety due to the Covid vaccine” after a hospital stay. She was provided occupational and physical therapy but spent weeks in bed, unable to tolerate sound, light or even her children’s touch.

In the ensuing months, she faced not only debilitating symptoms but also bureaucratic indifference—though government officials tried to be helpful at first. On Jan. 11, 2021, her husband, Brian, a U.S. Army chemist, contacted Avindra Nath, intramural clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Nath responded immediately that he would discuss her condition with other National Institutes of Health neurologists. He asked for blood and spinal-fluid samples for analysis, and he ominously mentioned that “the current political climate is another aspect that we need to keep an eye on.”

Dr. Nath didn’t elaborate, but by now the politics of the Covid vaccines are familiar. Bitter disputes over mandates fed skepticism of the shots and claims, often false and outlandish, about their dangers. At the same time, public-health authorities, anxious to promote vaccination, played down risks that were real if rare, leaving patients like Ms. Dressen in limbo.

After failed attempts to work remotely with Ms. Dressen’s home medical team, Dr. Nath invited her to an NIH facility in Bethesda, Md., for examination. Physicians there diagnosed her with postvaccine neuropathy and severe postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which causes rapid heartbeat on standing up. She was treated with intravenous immune globulin, an infusion of antibodies from healthy donors that can modulate an overactive immune response.

The treatment helped, but symptoms persisted and would wax and wane.

She learned that many others were experiencing similar symptoms after getting vaccinated. She organized online support groups, but Facebook shut them down under its “misinformation” policy, which bans information that is “likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine.” This includes “claims about the safety or serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccines”—even, it appears, when such claims are truthful.

The Facebook censorship and government inaction spurred her to launch React19, a “science-based nonprofit offering financial, physical, and emotional support” for people who suffered severe reactions after Covid vaccines. React19 has more than 21,000 members in the U.S. and another 20,000 in 24 international partner organizations. It also has a Facebook page.

“We are not antivax and are neutral on the Covid vaccines,” Ms. Dressen says. “But doctors need to be aware of what’s going on so they can treat patients.” Ms. Dressen and others have pressed the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to acknowledge their symptoms so patients don’t feel shunned and can obtain the medical care they need.

THE MISTAKE OF THE ANTI-VAXXERS

Anti-vaxxers are not evil, chas v’shalom.  Indeed, in this author’s experience, most of them are well-meaning and have better midos than other groups.  The message that the anti-Vaxxers spread can be very dangerous to public health.  What we really need to do is pursue emes – honesty not just in our spiritual observance – but also in our public health policy.  That means not suppressing the cases of reactions and real risks.

What follows is this author’s theory as to the cause of the anti-vaxxer view.  But first, a discussion about a controversy in the world of grief and psychiatry:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 – 2004), a world-famous Swiss-born American psychiatrist, in her 1969 book entitled, “On Death and Dying”  – discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the “Kübler-Ross model.”

The five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  They are tools to help frame and identify what people feel when they go through trauma or grief or other difficulties. The controversy is whether people go through these stages from one to another or whether they are different states.

The theory that is being proposed here is that, far from being evil and the like, the anti-vaxxers had experienced a trauma or difficulty where they experienced denial but never progressed beyond that stage.  Being good people, they wanted to bring this message to other people.

Those that comprise the world of anti-Vaxxers are one of four types (or a combination of them):

1. People who experienced a personal difficulty, grief or trauma, or lost or nearly lost a loved one [or the loved one went through a grief or trauma] and experienced denial, but never progressed.
2. People who have become influenced by the first group, either because they are highly intelligent, influential, charismatic, highly loved or respected or a religious leader. We also include within this second category people that live in a setting where everyone around them are anti-Vaxxers as well.
3. People who, by the nature of their personality, are somewhat oppositional to the conventional thinking of things.
4. People who are looking to make $omething on tho$e who are susceptible to believing in this.

The problem with the anti-vaxxer movement is that they can often take true and valid  problems and blow them out of proportion thus jeopardizing the general welfare of society.  We don’t really tell people this, but when a car catches on fire, seat-belts can be the reason for loss of life.  Nonetheless, this is so rare in comparison to all of the lives being saved by seat belts that it would be foolish to eradicate the use of seat belts.

While we are at it, this can perhaps develop our understanding of how great Rabbis can be among the anti-Vax community.  People go through denial and depressed periods in life.  It is part of life and not everyone is immune to it.  For some people that denial can stay with them.  [This can also, perhaps, help our understanding of how someone could withhold a get from a spouse years and years after it became clear that the marriage was over.  They are in a state of extreme denial and were unable to move on.  They hope that they can regain their marriage.]

The solution is to take a compassionate approach and understand and educate the states or stages.  [See also Assia Publication # 111-112 p. 7]

THE THIRD-VIEWERS

Third viewers believe that vaccines are essential to our public health policy but believe that suppressing negative information about vaccines is wrong.  The NIH, CDC and other organizations should have been up front.  The dishonesty has caused a grave crisis, wherein entire communities no longer trust doctors or health organizations  whatsoever. Across the country, anti-Vaxism has spread like wildfire.

The coming polio crisis can be avoided if the position of the Third-Viewers is adopted.  Yes, there will be some severe reactions to the polio vaccine – but do we really want to be the cause, heaven forbid of so many other people dying?

The author can be reached at [email protected]

https://vinnews.com/2023/05/14/vaxxers-anti-vaxxers-third-viewers-and-emes/

HERE ARE SOME READER COMMENTS:

This article makes no sense from the very beginning. Very confusing and conflicting ideas. What about babies being born now to mothers who were vaccinated and the babies have severe respiratory distress that the doctors don’t know how to treat and these babies are dying within 24 hours of birth, otherwise normal healthy pregnancy. Doctors are mystified because they did not have access to the Pfizer documents which stated the possible side effects of vaccinated mothers to their babies, respiratory distress being one of them. Pro vaxxers are not being told the full truth by their doctors.
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There’s a book by Israeli scientists attempting to get to the truth of vaccines. All entirely based on reliable scientific research. Called “Turtles All the Way Down” (English translation)
Warning: You might not like everything you read, whether you’re a pro or anti vaxxer. But if you’re searching for Emes, this is a good place to start.
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Sorry to say it bluntly but this article is laughable. You wrote what happened to the first person who got the poison shot and then you claim that people you call “anti-vaxxers” who are against this shot (and they could be against the poison COVID shot but not particularly against real vaccinations so that name is not even valid) have no reason for being against the shot .. utterly laughable.
1. The COVID poison shot does not prevent people from getting COVID
2. The COVID poison shot does not prevent the transmission and spread of COVID
In short, the COVID poison shot is NOT a vaccine!
3. The covid poison shot has caused numerous deaths
4. The COVID poison shot has caused people to develop serious medical issues
Instead of bashing “anti-vaxxers”, people writing these “anti-vaxxers” articles should sound the alarms on the fact that the US gov and governments around the world and people like Bill Gates have committed atrocities by developing dangerous viruses AND ARE CONTINUING TO DO SO! It is simply unbelievable at how sidetracked so many people get to the real and important issues that need to be addressed!
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It’s very interesting that you are saying that this is emes. There are hundreds of scientifically proven studies of the great danger of vaccines. Which is being buried and vilified. What is causing babies born healthy to suddenly become autistic? Plus vastly more complications. The covid vaccines did not have any benefits and only caused harm. How can you pretend to say that this article is eyes. Please do true emesdig research .
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If you wan’t to really know the EMES then you need to hear what the virologist Stephen Lanka found and the pseudoscience used to prove viruses and the mathematical calculations used to find virus genomes. Germ theory is not the EMES it’s actually the twin theory of evolution! Unfortunately our Tzibur has become trained to not think and investigate, we’ve become conditioned to just follow what we’re told. People though are waking up and learning the health is all Terrain theory. Hopefully people can get past their denial and wake up to the Emes
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WHEN COMMENTS ORIGINALLY VIEWED THERE WERE 60, But a mere hour later whoosh!, censorship prevails.

Sounds like the latest attempt is to befriend “anti-vaxxers” aka people who are smart and unwilling to fall for anything thrown their way, so they can get us to be in lock step with the newest agenda. Coercing and mandating didn’t work, so sounds like a new trick. Thanks but no thanks. Next time, when writing such a ridiculous article, do a better job of investigating and perhaps do a better job not to conflict yourself

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If you think that that people like Faucci, are Emes people, go ahead and take vaccines.

If you think that the goverment regulations and vaccine, with 5 boosters and masks for 2.5 years was riddeled with other intere$t$, cloaked in public health, then be careful with that liquid.

New couples are having fertility issues as a result, but of course it’s all unproven.

Masks were unproven to work, until they decieded it is proven until they decided that they should wear two masks etc; Schools should be closed until they decided after 1.5 years that it did more damage than cure. Staidums were opened and liquer stores never closed, while gymes and shuls had a capcity of 10 ppl maximum.

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THe author of this article is so misguided and nebich misled regarding the entire topic. The blogger, M I who has here sent in several comments is so on target and with a seichel hayoshor – moreso than any of the other commentators. His remarks are intelligent, correct and logical, and FLATTENS anything any of these other unfortunately misguided people have to say ! Kol hakavod, M I !

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