Day 13: Thank You, Dr. Salk! The Scientist Who Beat Polio and Healed the World by Dean Robbins, pictures by Mike Dutton
Yesod in Gevurah, Foundation in Strength
In honor of World Immunization Week, I want to highlight this great children's book I stumbled upon at my local library. This biography of Dr. Jonas Salk tells the story of his quest to end polio. My kids were particularly excited when the book explained that his drive to find a vaccine came from the Jewish value of tikkun olam (healing the world).
"He could not run fast or leap high. But Jonas knew a different way to be brave. It came from his Jewish religion. He dreamed of tikkun olam. Healing the world!"
We read a lot of books about Jewish people and Jewish themes, but usually, they come from PJ Library, not the local library. My kids were so excited to see Judaism represented in a book that we found "in the wild" (so to speak). What I love about this book (aside from my passion for vaccine advocacy, which is a longer conversation for another time, but please vaccinate your kids and get your appropriate boosters) is how it centers Judaism as foundational to Salk's drive to strengthen the health of his community. WHY we do good matters. The foundations underpinning our actions matter. And being able to show our kids the power of Jewish values to heal the world plants the idea in their minds to use our foundational values in their own endeavors to strengthen our world.
If you would like to support vaccine research and access, I recommend supporting the Sabin Vaccine Institute, named for Dr. Albert Sabin (yes, if you're wondering, he was Jewish).
If you're worried about the rise of the anti-vaccine movement and declining immunization rates, I absolutely love the work of Voices for Vaccines addressing vaccine hesitancy.
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