Sorry, I thought you were up to speed on these things. Lately I’ve run into the fact that there are all sorts of fairly well-known rabbis and outreach figures—some of whom are considered experts in certain fields—who are currently spreading a huge number of conspiracy theories to their followers about coronavirus and vaccines: governments taking over the world / Freemasons / the Illuminati (if I’m spelling that right) / vaccines / Bill Gates / 5G / Bibi / the World Health Organization / the Shin Bet / the Mossad, and so on and so forth. [It seems to me that all the examples I gave are just from one article I read on the subject…].
And as I understand it, this thing is starting to gain some momentum, because once people have even a small doubt about the reliability and intentions of those vaccinating, and about the *purpose* of the vaccines—why would they vaccinate their children?
And in fact, yesterday I read an article saying that according to Health Ministry data there is about a 10% drop in the vaccination rate for flu shots in Haredi society compared to the general population. (Which wasn’t the case before!) And they attribute this to all the conspiracy theories and pamphlets and phone hotlines warning against these vaccines. I think not long ago there was also a little column in Yated against the issue and against this bunch of lunatics, but I don’t think that’s helping much.
https://www.themarker.com/coronavirus/.premium-1.9338419

In any case, I wanted to ask something else. Since, as far as I know, some of those outreach figures accept Judaism as the “true religion” on the basis of the argument from testimony, shouldn’t the fact that they hold global conspiracy theories lead them, seemingly, to conclude that the argument from testimony is not all that strong…? So that at the very least it’s much weaker than what they think and infer from it?

P.S.
I don’t think that right now too many people accept these theories literally, word for word, but I do think there is some kind of feeling of aporia about the matter, as though “something” about it isn’t real.

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B. Okay, thanks. Of course there is some kind of problem with that approach, because you can’t prove that they are true by their very nature as axioms (and in general it’s impossible to bridge the gap between the person and what is external to him). At most, I suppose you can claim something along the lines of: you feel they are true. But that reminds me of rules of conduct, because we simply don’t have anything better, and if we start doubting, we could doubt countless other things too.

They would of course say that there is a difference between the reliability of the Jewish chain of transmission, which had no vested interest, and the parties being discussed here. But to split hairs and look for consistency among conspiracy theorists sounds to me like a not very useful or interesting occupation.

At the last moment, space aliens took over the respondent’s computer and changed “very” to “a little,” lest the honor of conspiracy theorists be harmed.

Isn’t the idea that God consulted with the angels before creating man conspiratorial in its very essence?

With God’s help, the 15th of Kislev, 5781

False information can be spread about events that are done secretly, behind closed doors. It is impossible to implant false information about events that took place in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

All the more so when this concerns a “stiff-necked people” that for almost all of its history was “scattered and dispersed.” How can one, without a strong central government, implant “false consciousness” in super-critical people scattered among separate political entities? And this is information that obligates them in 613 not-so-simple commandments.

Best regards, Yaron Halevi Borelai-Wertheimer

Indeed, I also think it’s not all that interesting, and still I see here some bizarre contradiction between what a person represents in one place and in another. I also thought to make that distinction, even though I found difficulties with it too.

You should say: you’ve forgotten that it also isn’t plausible to publish incorrect information regarding whole countries that are independent of one another, and regarding the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask in closed spaces, and all sorts of additional weird rituals like elbow-bumping.
While behind it all supposedly stand Freemasons as part of the Illuminati, and security systems such as the Shin Bet threatening to murder the prime minister (while somewhere else another rabbi includes Bibi in the conspiracy together with Bill Gates, who donates to vaccines in order to make money off us, I think).

In any case, as is known, the commandment of sukkah was built by fruit-tree sellers who wanted to increase their profits (so people wouldn’t cut branches themselves), tefillin by leather processors, the priestly gifts by the priests, the sacrifices by sheep and cattle breeders, and the poor for the sake of charity (and they even idealized this, like Rabbi Akiva), honoring parents because fathers want their children to behave properly… And if we expand the conspiracies further (though I don’t know that those rabbis hold this), like the claim that traffic lights exist so that people “won’t think about what really matters” and won’t rebel against the establishment, then the king increased the commandments and increased the burden of Torah so they would think about him.

And if the role of chemtrails from crop-dusting planes is to lower the citizens’ cognitive abilities and thin out the population, then the role of analytic Talmudic study is to reduce questions in matters of faith by making people find satisfaction in study :).

To K — hello,

Regarding the “Freemasons,” there is clear proof that they want to take over the world. After all, “builders” refers to Torah scholars (about whom it is said: “And all your children shall be taught of the Lord”—do not read it as “your children” but as “your builders”). And they truly are “free,” for “there is no free person except one who engages in Torah.”

And indeed, Torah scholars as “freemasons” aspire that all inhabitants of the world accept upon themselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that everyone will be free to engage in Torah. It is explicit that the “freemasons” aspire that their values rule the entire world.

Best regards, Friar Bauer

As for the traffic light—it is explained in the Torah: “And Edom said: You shall not pass through me” 🙂