A.k.a. William Handler (the name he uses when he talks to Gentiles)
New York-based Rabbi Hillel Handler is a flamboyantly insane conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist, and likely partially responsible for measles outbreaks in New York’s orthodox Jewish communities. Now, Handler doesn’t quite view it that way; according to Handler, as expressed at a New York symposium with (a.o.) Del Bigtree and Andrew Wakefield, and based entirely on his feverish imagination, the 2019 measles outbreak among orthodox Jews was part of an elaborate plan concocted by Mayor Bill de Blasio to deflect attention from “more serious” diseases brought by Central American migrants. “We Hasidim have been chosen as the target,” said Handler; “the campaign against us has been successful.” And yes, he did claim the role of victim of persecution while simultaneously, and without irony, accusing Central American immigrants of spreading disease, a type of hoary gambit … he should have some awareness of, shouldn’t he? He did, however, claim that Bill de Blasio is a “nasty German” and a “very, very sneaky fellow” and asserted that it was therefore “in his DNA” to hate Jewish people.
But yes, that’s Rabbi Hillel Handler for you. Handler views his status as a Rabbi as a sort of mechanism that grants truth to whatever delusional fantasies his deranged imagination comes up with, regardless of fact, coherence, reason or evidence (such as claiming that de Blasio is German). Apparently, however, his word carries some weight in Rockland County (famous, by the way, for hosting the US’s first case of paralytic polio for more than a decade in 2022 – the patient being, of course, unvaccinated), even though he is obviously delusionally insane. And Handler has said a lot of stupid things, including that parents who “placate the gods of vaccination” are engaging in “child sacrifice”. (“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”, said Rabbi Handler, citing the Gospel of Luke, though we don’t really believe he wants anyone to be forgiven.) Meanwhile, ultraorthodox communities remain a favorite target for anti-vaccine activists.
Indeed, not only are vaccines bad, according to Handler, but disease is good: Handler claims that getting measles, mumps and chicken pox reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke by 60%; needless to say, he didn’t even try to back up his assertions, partially, of course, because they are idiotically false. And there is, of course, a conspiracy afoot (one that goes beyond Di Blasio): “This is all being orchestrated by the drug companies, which are very close to the CDC,” says Handler. “The doctors all march in lockstep with the CDC. The doctors don’t think they’re marching in lockstep. They don’t understand that the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, is a totally corrupt swamp. … They are criminals.” And of course, invoking the holocaust is a go-to trick: “Yes, there is a vaccine-triggered holocaust of autism and autoimmune diseases, like asthma, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and various forms of ADHD and brain damage,” says Handler, and promptly goes on to express outrage that “the Anti-Defamation League and other politically-Liberal Jewish organizations have claimed exclusive ownership of this very powerful English word and blocked its use by Autism activists”; he did of course not go on to try to provide any evidence for his claims, which are demonstrably ridiculous.
He wasn’t a fan of covid vaccines and covid measures either. On his YouTube video, which amassed thousands of views, he predictably called his political opponents (including Jewish doctors) “Göring” and “Mengele” and accused them of orchestrating a “soft pogrom”, dismissed standard medical protocols, and provided medical advice based on his own delusional imagination, including vitamin supplements.
Handler was also a signatory to a 2020 letter written by Sharon Kroner and Kevin Barry to President Trump to oppose school vaccine mandates. Having the signature of a raging lunatic like Handler doesn’t exactly lend credibility to the letter, but then it didn’t have any credibility to lose in the first place.
Handler is notable for other efforts, too, including fiercely attacking observant Jews for reporting child sex abuse to police; as Handler sees it, such accusations should be handled by rabbinic authorities (“[m]olestation cases must be handled by G’dolim, not by ‘experts’”), and he has been caught defending a rabbi who was convicted of raping his own daughter by saying the girl was lying about the abuse. You are supposed to take the authority conveyed by the title “Rabbi” as evidence enough for anything. Indeed, Handler even served as a spokesperson for the campaign to raise funds to support the convicted rabbi (that effort was led by one Rabbi Moshe Green, a name we record for future reference). He has also opposed efforts to regulate metzizah b’pei, a controversial circumcision rite that can spread deadly herpes to newborn boys, on the grounds that the practice must be “safe” because it is “old”.
Diagnosis: Incoherently fuming, insane conspiracy theorist. But although Rabbi Handler is a complete idiot, apparently a number of people thinks his title give him some kind of authority on medical issues. Those people should be avoided.
Hat-tip: Respectful Insolence




