A mother in Lakewood New Jersey trying to protect her kids against a modern day Judenrat

Dear Rabbi Handler,

I read your letter to Rabbi Zweibel with great interest and with tears in my eyes. I live in Lakewood NJ and my children are home from school for close to four weeks now. They are BH healthy, wonderful, ehrliche children, who have been thrown out of school for one reason only - they haven’t gotten the MMR vaccine. 

Rabbi Handler, you wrote so beautifully and eloquently; I can only hope from deep within a mother's broken and anguished heart, that your words make a difference and affect the change we are davening so fervently for.

The only difference here in Lakewood is that our board of health has NOT mandated exclusion. In fact, in my many conversations with them, they insist: - "This is not coming from us.  It was YOUR COMMUNITY that has done this!’.  The letter they put out to the community at the outset of the outbreak clearly stated that exclusion of unvaccinated children from school was not recommended when there is no case in the school, but they told me that they were approached by local physicians, who requested that they issue a more strongly worded statement.  It was the doing of the medical leaders of our own community that prompted the BOH to issue a statement that they "support and encourage exclusion".  The schools jumped on this and our children were summarily thrown out of school, even though there was no case in the school.

Our menahalim were not threatened by the health department. They were not fined, nor coerced, by any government body. They have done this on their own accord. They have done this because the local physicians have created a climate of such fear of measles and such hatred of those who don’t vaccinate, that they moved ahead in response to the hysteria of parents and teachers, and threw out the very children whose chinuch they’ve been charged with.   For this letter to apply to the Lakewood community, you can just replace the "NYC Board of Health" for "Local Lakewood Doctors" and we are left with the same thing.  Except we only have our own to blame.   And because of this, we, the few who have done the research - many of whom in response to a vaccine injury in their children - are suffering immensely.

The pain, shame, humiliation, stigma, ostracism and insults that have been heaped upon our family, and dozens such as ours, is impossible to describe.  Our children are avoided and shamed.  They are treated as if they are reservoirs of illness, beings who are teeming with disease and sickness and will contaminate others immediately upon contact.  We, the parents, are treated to nasty statements and condemnation from our friends, neighbors and our school administrations.   Never again will I read about persecution the Jews faced through the ages as I have in the past.  Until now, I read about it.  Now I know what it feels like personally. Now I know what it feels like to have people hate you, heap scorn upon you, avoid you, isolate you, humiliate you and persecute you -  just because of your beliefs, which may differ from theirs.  And the saddest part of this entire story is that it is all done by our own brethren.

I don’t know what you can do to help our situation here in Lakewood, a situation that has nothing to do with the Board of Health and everything to do with overzealous doctors and school administrations.   But just reading your letter gave me chizuk to keep going in this sad, long and lonely fight for my children's health.

May Hashem bentch you with only good health and the strength to continue to be an brave voice for those who must remain silent, and may He bentch all of Klal Yisrael with peace and harmony amongst all.

With best wishes,