The Chabad rabbinical court in Israel on Monday published an official letter instructing that Chabad-Lubavitch hasidim in Israel receive the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
According to journalist Kobi Borenstein, the demand that Chabad hasidim vaccinate according to the Health Ministry rules follows the deaths of several hasidim who were not vaccinated, as well as others who are hospitalized in serious condition after contracting coronavirus.
Therefore, Chabad-Lubavitch hasidim should get the booster dose "without delay," the rabbis said in the letter.
In their letter, the rabbinical court judges wrote, "Following the increase in infections and the spread among all ages, and following the deaths of some of our comrades who were infected with the virus, we hereby demand from each and every one of our comrades, who are obligated to be vaccinated according to the updated instructions of the Health Ministry, including those who were vaccinated twice and who are recovered, to go get vaccinated against the virus without delay."
In August, Rabbi Yitzchak Yehuda Yaroslavsky, rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Kiryat Malakhi and head of the Chabad rabbinical court in Israel, ordered that no one unvaccinated be allowed into synagogues.