THE VACCINE FROM THE TALMUD

Rachel and her husband Max are in their local kosher restaurant. Even though Rachel always seems to find something to moan about in this deli restaurant, they still regularly go there because the food is good and it's frequented by many of their fellow seniors.

As usual, within minutes of taking their seats, Rachel starts to bother their waiter. "Waiter," she says, "please turn up the air conditioning. You know I can't stand a hot atmosphere."

But then, five minutes later, she asks the waiter to turn down the air conditioning because she is too cold. Soon after, she wants it turned up again because she's getting too hot. But then their food arrives on the table and Rachel is at last silent as she eats her meal.

Maurice, who is sitting near Rachel and Max's table, can't help but notice that at no time does the waiter show any anger - in fact, he is surprisingly patient. So as the waiter walks past his table on his way back to the kitchen, Maurice calls him over and says quietly to him, "I can't understand why you don't just throw this customer out of the restaurant."

"Oh, we don't really mind," says the waiter, "because not only do we have a customer focus program in operation where the customer is always right, but also, this restaurant doesn't have any air conditioning."

It is fascinating to reflect on the impact of a single word. In our Torah portion Vaetchanan “from there”. We read this Shabbat the Ten Commandments, The Shma, and the Haftara Nachamu Nachamu Ami.

Moses’ speaking impassionedly to his people about their history and destiny. The message and the narrative are uniquely inspiring, as he recounts the unique story of the Jewish nation, the only one whose faith and heritage was not based on one prophet, but on the mass revelation of G-d to every single living Jew, women, man, and child.

Among his words, he speaks of the possibility of Jews being scattered all over the world, among all nations.

The commentators pick up on one word: “You will seek G-d from there and you will find Him.” What does this mean?

The Chassidic masters presented two marvelous interpretations.

On one level, The Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) explains that it means that you have to search for what you lost in the place you lost it. “From there” you have to search for G-d. You need to search for truth in the “place you lost it.”

It is like the famous Chelm story.

A man from Chelm saw his friend, standing one night, searching under the lantern burning on the street. What are you looking for? He asks.

“I lost my keys.”

“Where did you lose them?”

“A few blocks from here they fell out of my pocket, and I can’t get into my house.”

“But if they fell a few blocks from here, why are you searching here?”

“Ah, because there it is dark; here there is light!”

It’s a Chelm story. But we do it all the time: We search for the solution in the wrong places. We like going where it is light; we do not want to search in the places we have to search for—in the darkness.

“You have to search from there for your G-d.” You need to go to the source of the infection, not too comfortable places.

It’s like the story of the two guys, a Jew, and gentile, in the hospital; both have gout. The doctor comes to examine the gentile and begins poking around his foot, and the poor gentile is screaming from pain on the top of his lungs.

Then comes the turn of the Jew. The doctor asks him which foot has gout, the Jew points to the left foot. The doctor begins to touch, poke, pull, feel, rub, and the Jew does not utter a sound.

Both the doctor and the gentile are amazed by this man’s self-control. The doctor exclaims: You are an incredibly powerful person; you are a source of inspiration and resilience! I never met someone with so much self-control. This is amazing, superhuman,

When the doctor leaves, the gentile turns to his Jewish neighbor and says: Wow, I am so impressed.

And the Jew responds: Not at all! Do you think I am a fool? I showed him a healthy foot!

We sometimes do the same thing. We are happy to examine and fix things in our life that is “unbroken.” We show the doctor the healthy foot. But we need to search over there; I need to go into my broken places. I need to examine the parts in me that are full of fear, pain, shame, and loneliness. I need to look for the keys to my soul not under the lantern, but in the darkness.

 Dr. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) was a French biologist, microbiologist, and chemist renowned for his discoveries that saved countless lives.

In addition to his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization; and in addition to his discovery of disease-causing microbes, Dr. Louis Pasteur made another momentous discovery that has saved many millions of lives around the world, and is undoubtedly one of the most important medical finds in history. This is the discovery of vaccines, which are manufactured through the use of a weakened form of the disease-causing bacteria, used to immunize patients.

Immunization is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent. How? We inject into the body a controlled form of the disease. The body then produces antibodies developing the ability to fight it off. It will also develop the ability to quickly respond to a subsequent encounter of this disease because of immunological memory.

Pasteur’s research into immunization and vaccines began with work on the disease rabies. When his success far surpassed his expectations, he applied the same methodology to other diseases.

Until today, his discoveries constitute the central basis for all immunization research.

It is worth mentioning here—especially for those who oppose vaccination—that homeopathy, a natural method of healing, is based on a similar principle: that “like cures like.” In other words, the disease is cured using a remedy that would cause similar symptoms if taken in larger amounts. This form of alternative medicine is becoming increasingly popular in Western societies.

Now, here is something fascinating. There is a book Mevo She’arim, written during Pasteur’s times, which provides us with an extraordinary comment of Pasteur’s friend – Rabbi Dr. Yisrael Michael Rabinowitz – who claimed that the basis for Pasteur’s revolutionary research was the Talmud itself!

This is what happened:

While living in Paris, Rabbi Dr. Rabinowitz began translating the Talmud into French. When his friend, Louis Pasteur, saw a copy of Seder Mo’ed – the tractates dealing primarily with the Jewish holiday cycle – it roused his curiosity. To his amazement, he read there the following statement in the Mishnah in tractate Yuma:

“If someone is bitten by a mad dog [affected with rabies], he should be fed the lobe of that dog’s liver.”

The doctor was amazed at this healing method, which used part of the infected animal itself. He concluded that the Sages knew that an infected body produces antibodies, which attack an invading infection.

Moreover, it seems that the antibodies, which concentrate in the liver, could actually help heal a person who was bitten by a rabid dog. Dr. Pasteur immediately began a series of experiments that eventually resulted in the saving of millions of human lives.

“You will search from there for your G-d and you will find Him.” The search for G-d, for purity, for light, for happiness, for healing, for recovery, for clarity, for wholeness, comes from the very place of the pain and the disease.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky