Publicizing the Miracle of Vaccination: “Vaccine Selfies” as a Jewish Visual Ethic of Embodied Obligation

Abstract

With the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines in December 2020 the phenomenon of vaccine selfies arose. This article argues that vaccine selfies can be seen as doing the work of pirsumei nissah—“publicizing the miracle”—using Emmanuel Levinas’s interpretation of Hannukah candles as an aesthetic invitation to obligation for the Other. The resources of modern Jewish thought can help deepen the understanding of the particular Jewish moral work being done both in pirsumei nissah and in vaccination, where both become part of an other-regarding ethic of obligation. In particular, Mara Benjamin’s work on motherhood and commandedness in Jewish thought opens up the possibility of viewing vaccination as paradigmatic of a Jewish ethics of embodied obligation. With these resources, the article considers how the concept of pirsumei nissah offers an opening for a Jewish visual ethics of obligation and gratitude.