Listen to the Experts

 I was surprised, to say the least, by all the publicity and attention that was focused on basketball superstar LeBron James this week after he confirmed he received the COVID-19 vaccine.  But perhaps I shouldn’t be.  All week long, there has been a great deal of attention directed to the NBA’s greatest stars and their thoughts about the vaccine.  

Why is the opinion of our talented athletes important?  After all, are they qualified to render judgment on such issues?

Perhaps they are a distraction from the grim reality that COVID -19 remains a real and potent threat to millions of Americans?  So, allow me to take a few minutes this week and talk about where we stand right now.

 When I last devoted my weekly Shabbat message to the congregation to a discussion of the pandemic in March 2021, the US had just passed 530,000 COVID related deaths. Today we reached 700,000. Yes, that is another 170,000 dead over the past 7 months despite the easy availability of vaccines for adults and older teenagers!

Yesterday, 2220 Americans died from COVID.  In New Jersey 27 died. In November 2020, when we suspended in-person Shabbat morning services because of rising death rates due to COVID, the number of Americans who died was about 1600 or 1700 per day. 

Today, scientists, public health officials, and every reputable medical expert have told us that vaccines are the best way to move America out of the pandemic. I wrote to the congregation in July that Jewish law not only favors and encourages but mandates vaccines. This has been the consistent Rabbinic opinion since the first vaccinations against smallpox emerged in the late 18th century. Yet even as numbers surge and our ICU’s are filled with children, there are too many who are protesting against this life saving wonder.   As I write this message there have been protests by public school teachers and employees, unions representing police and fire departments, and even nurses and hospital employees against vaccine mandates. Right now, there is a case pending before the New York State Supreme Court, and another that will eventually work its way to the US Supreme Court challenging the COVID policies designed to keep the public safe.  This is what we are facing right now. 

So, who are you going to believe: the famous and talented people (whose fame and talents are in other fields of expertise) or the medical experts and scientists?  

Many years ago, a question was posed to the greatest American Orthodox rabbi of the post-World War II era, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik:  What should Israel do about a significant military challenge. Rabbi Soloveitchik responded “that’s a question for a general, not a rabbi.”  What Rabbi Soloveitchik was teaching the student who sought his opinion on this important matter was not to mistake his knowledge of Torah and Jewish law for competence and similar expertise in military science, a totally unrelated field. In other words, he gently reminded the student to listen to the experts, for they were in the best position to make such weighty decisions and protect the lives of Israel’s citizens.  It was good advice then, and remains so today.

I offer the warning to those who are interested in the opinions and judgments of our talented athlete, entertainers, and other cultural icons regarding the vaccine. Ignore them. It’s not that they are not worthy of our respect or affection. But let’s reserve that for what they are actually competent to judge.

But let’s leave the battle against the pandemic to those in the know. Do you really want to beat this pandemic? If we’re really serious, let’s listen to the experts.