The last public letter written by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, has been published in light of the recent concerns of a polio outbreak in Israel.
The letter was written a few weeks before Rabbi Yosef's passing and after he chose his son Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who currently serves as Sephardic Chief Rabbi, to succeed him. In it, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef calls on the public to vaccinate their children against polio, and his father Rabbi Ovadia adds his support for his son's position on the matter.
In the letter, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef wrote: "Since I have heard from sources in the Health Ministry that there are those who are concerned about taking the vaccine which prevents the polio illness, and since there is an aspect in this of, 'And you shall watch yourselves very well,' (Deuteronomy 4:15), and we have also clarified the matter with experts who told us that there is a great concern and a real danger to lives."
"Therefore, there is a holy obligation and a Torah commandment upon every parent to vaccinate his children against the 'polio' virus, according to the precise instructions of the Health Ministry, which does holy work. And may those who hearken to us live in security."
"I hereby join all of the above," reads a handwritten note added to the letter by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Beside the note is his signature.