Many years ago my great grandfather told me of the persecution he experienced in Russia which led him to come to this country. He said the Cossacks would pursue him at night, when he was out teaching, and slash him with their sabers. One night he was on the hill above his village with his rabbi, the Baal Shem Tov. As they looked down they could see the Cossacks riding down and killing their Jewish brethren. They might have felt the same had they seen their loved ones being taken away to become slaves in a foreign land.

You’ve all heard the rumors -- that childhood vaccines may cause autism and might actually cause more harm than good. This kind of rumor didn’t exist back when I was a kid. People were so grateful to actually HAVE vaccines, since my mother’s generation lost loved ones or witnessed devastating disability because of diseases like polio, tetanus, and small pox. But things have changed. When I went to vaccinate my baby, other Mommy & Me mothers raised eyebrows. You’d have thought I was needling my daughter with poison.