A group of senior strictly Orthodox rabbis in North-West London have issued a notice encouraging community members to be vaccinated against coronavirus. 

The JC understands they were asked by local doctors to speak out to help counter the spread of misinformation about the dangers of the vaccine. 

“Halacha obligate[s] us to care for our health and the health of those around us,” they wrote. 

They, therefore, strongly urged those eligible to access the vaccine “to do so upon the advice of their GP and/or personal physician”. 

The notice was signed by London Beth Din head Dayan Menachem Gelley, fellow LBD member Dayan Shmuel Simons, Federation Beth Din head, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman and Sephardi Beth Din head Dayan Abraham David. 

The other signatories were Rabbi Gershon Hager of Beis Hamedrash Beis Isochor Dov (Hager’s), Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Greenberg of Golders Green Beth Hamedrash (Munks), Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchok Bixenspanner of Hendon Adath Synagogue and Rabbi Yaakov Hamer of Bridge Lane Beth Hamedrash.