A prominent Jewish organization is cutting ties with a longtime Massachusetts rabbi for his anti-vaccine views and strident opposition to public health efforts to rein in the coronavirus pandemic.
Central Massachusetts Chabad said Thursday it dismissed Rabbi Michoel Green as a representative of the organization, which oversees Jewish community centers in the region, on Jan. 27.
Green has run the Chabad house in Westborough, which is a suburb of Worcester, New England's second-largest city, for nearly 20 years.
Rabbi Mendel Fogelman, director of the Central Massachusetts Chabad, said in a statement that Green has been warned multiple times that his public views are “contrary to the organization’s mission” and a “direct conflict” with his appointment.
“Some of his public pronouncements were extremely reckless and potentially dangerous, and he has repeatedly been hostile and offensive to those who did not agree with him," Fogelman said.
In a lengthy statement to supporters Thursday, Green called the decision “ill-advised" and expected it would be reversed.
He stressed his center will continue to operate even though the Chabad Lubavitch movement has terminated his status and removed his center from its database of recognized Chabad houses.
Green said his center is incorporated as an independent, nonprofit house of worship and doesn't receive funding from any Chabad organization.
“They did not ‘fire’ me from my position of rabbi and director of Chabad of Westboro, nor do they have any jurisdiction over our shul altogether,” he said in part. “Our shul will continue to serve our community as we have faithfully for nearly two decades.”
Green, who describes himself on Facebook as “not just anti-vax” but “consistently anti-pharma,” has been highly critical of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
He’s claimed the vaccines are “experimental injections” that could lead to “death, lifelong injury and infertility.” In fact, there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines result in sterilization. The vaccines approved for use in the U.S. have gone through large trials and intense scrutiny with thousands of people having received one or both shots at this point.
Green has also been critical of basic virus safety guidelines such as wearing a face mask in public. In one post, he encourages people to “take off the mask. Slow the spread of tyranny.” That's also inaccurate — the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says masks are a simple but highly effective way to slow the spread of the disease.