Brooklyn, NY – An outspoken Brooklyn rabbi who has been under fire in recent weeks for controversial statements regarding the Holocaust said that despite the fact that his words were deliberately taken out of context by those who hoped to discredit him, he has apologized for his statements that may have been inadvertently offensive.
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As previously reported on VIN News, a video of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi that was posted to YouTube on December 29th shows the well known lecturer saying that only about one million Jews were actually killed in the Holocaust and that the statistic of six million Jews who perished includes a significant percentage of Jews who had intermarried and were not halachically Jewish.
In a VIN News interview tonight, Rabbi Mizrachi said that the clip that has been making the rounds of the media was taken from a lecture given several years ago, with bits and pieces spliced together to distort his words.
According to Rabbi Mizrachi the video is the work of a group that has been trying to discredit him publicly because he speaks the words of the Torah.
“They have been fighting me years and this time they succeeded,” Rabbi Mizrachi told VIN News. “This a video that is three to four years old that has been on my website, on Torah Anytime, and maybe 200 YouTube channels and there hasn’t been a single complaint about it. They cut the front, they cut the back, they put things where they wanted them and after they cut what I said it makes it onto The Jerusalem Post.”
Rabbi Mizrachi said that the original lecture addressed the subject of intermarriage in America something he termed the “Silent Holocaust.”
“There are so many people named Levi, Cohen and Stern and if the wife is not Jewish then the kids are not,” said Rabbi Mizrachi. “The Jewish nation is being destroyed because of intermarriage.”
The lecture also discussed the rampant assimilation that had been sweeping through Europe prior to World War II and Rabbi Mizrachi noted that there is no way to know how many of the six million who died were actually Jewish, but that suggesting a number of one million was a mistake on his part.
“Even saying that only 3 million would have been far from the truth,” acknowledged Rabbi Mizrachi, who issued a public apology last night.
Rabbi Mizrachi said that he felt it was appropriate to ask forgiveness for his remarks even though he never meant to offend Holocaust survivors or their families.
“I chose to apologize because people got offended and that was not my intention, even if they modified my words,” said Rabbi Mizrachi. “I put my ego aside and apologized. How could anyone with a Jewish mind and soul think that I had any kind of intention to offend survivors and victims? What normal person would think that a person who gives 18 to 20 hours of his day every day to save Jews would do something like that?”
Rabbi Mizrachi argued that the video that was released was a deliberate attempt to distort his words by those who hope to tarnish his reputation.
“When a person speaks and you cut 90 percent of what they say, does it represent what he said or what he wanted to say?” observed Rabbi Mizrachi. “This was put out by a group of liars who use the media to confuse the public. They can’t stand when I say the truth of the Torah. I speak about modesty, mixed dancing, gay marriage, liberals, things that offend people who are not following the Torah and when they hear me it bothers them.”
Rabbi Mizrachi has multiple presences on Facebook. The Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi Community Organization page has over 78,000 followers, with more than 18,000 followers on the Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi Public Figure page.
A third Facebook page, titled Exposing “Rabbi” Yosef Mizrachi Comedian, has over 600 likes and is described as a collection of “Outrageous Moments in ‘Rabbi’ Yosef Mizrachi’s career.” The site, which says that all clips are taken “in context” features a playlist of short YouTube clips with titles including ‘Mixed Dancing weddings lead to Cancer and Tragedies,” and “Secular Israeli Soldiers go to Hell with no Share in the World to Come says the ‘Rabbi,’” as well as a pair of videos encompassing over an hour of fifteen minutes of what are termed “Best Hits.”
Rabbi Mizrachi estimated that with approximately 6 million Facebook views each month, there are many who hope to lessen his influence on his followers.
“Huge organizations don’t get the numbers that I do,” said Rabbi Mizrachi. “Obviously I am the target of all the enemies.”
Below you can watch the Original Video posted online Jan. 11, 2013, that Rabbi Mizrachi claims was taken out of context
His comments about Hitler and 6 Million Jews at at 35:05
https://youtu.be/4ZUl47lZxVE
OK.
So let him post a link to the original video and show the world how he never said these things and how they were pieced together by someone out to defame him. And if he won’t do it, let the guy behind the highlight videos post a link to the original.
His numbers were, at his own admission, off, but that grants no right to misconstrue his intention and the main idea behind his speech. He is a good person that is being painted in a bad light by the media and by sonei Yisrael for absolutely no reason. Cut him a break.
The first teaching in Pirkei Avos is ‘Hevu mesoonim badin’, don’t jump into conclusions, especially after hearing a detached piece of information, and especially when the target is someone who takes the unpopular stance, of encountering Liberalism, and is coming from an humble past, that leaves many people very envious, and eager to bury him,
An apology that wasn’t an apology. Brevity is the soul of wit: Tzadka meemeni, Chatasi laHashem. The rav made a totally erroneous statement, and should have made an unequivocal retraction.
And incidentally, Howard Stern’s mother was Jewish.
He has been making absolutely outrageous statements for years and should not be let off the hook. He distorts true Torah teaching and nobody should pay him any heed.
If his comment was taken out of context, why did he apologize? The אמת is that anyone who saw the video, heard him clearly say in the context of his talk that only 1,000,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Nothing was taken out of context- nothing. Perhaps, he ought to think much more about חכמים הזהרו בדבריכם, and not make statements for which he will have to apologize afterwards.
In no way is he a holocaust denier of any sort. What he said is probably being taken out of context. This rabbi might seem a bit overzealous in his approach but he’s should not b judged wrongly.
The man is a charlatan. Was it a “mistake” or was it cut and spliced together?
See his video discussing Jewish women being stripped and forced into gas chambers in the Holocaust. His criticism of those Kedoshim lacking tznius warrants that he be shunned by all Jews everywhere.
Do people understand what kedosim are? Do you understand that kedoshim are untouchable in the next world (the holiest); Are you aware of what it means to publicly embarrass (even with bad information) and speak loshon hara on a rabbim? Now put the two together, to embarrass and speak loshon hara on kedoshim in public? The Rabbi retracted, wow, how nice (why isn’t the rabbi responsible to make absolutely certain that things he’s quoting are correct, isn’t that incumbent on a rabbi, what kind of rabbi rattles off things like this so callously without being sure, maybe other things he’s saying aren’t so checked and vetted either). In my Shulchan Aruch it doesn’t say; retracting is what’s necessary. Rabbi Mizrachi seems like a big Rabbi, he should act like one, and follow what Shulchan Aruch and the poiskim say one should do for embarrassing and speaking loshon hara on a rabbim of kedoshim.
Lashon Hara gets overlooked on VIN.
Please ask Rabbi M for michila before it’s too late
Wait a minute, maybe he is right? Start reading books, ask your grandparents, i think he has a point.
It is a shame it has taken this long to see that the man is spouting nonsense, not Torah.
It would be refreshing to see a change in the way Torah is taught, especially to those who are not so knowledgeable, so that there might be actual Limud Torah instead of all of the make believe Gedolim stories and the endless drumbeat to enforce old fashion Polish dress codes that have no basis in Halacha.
I am truly amazed (perhaps I shouldn’t be) at some of the comments here. The point is NOT the “mathematical error”. The point is that R Mizrachi obviously cares nothing about Jews that he feels are not halachically Jewish. In other words, according to R Mizrachi, if you are not part of his definition of Judaism, your life is meaningless.
Go back and listen to this guy.
He, like his sefardic mentors, constantly say these outrageously ridiculous things
He is lying about the splicing just like he lies about his “facts” and “sources.” Some of his biggest detractors are committed mechanchim and mekarvim. We see his distortions of Torah as dangerous and producing much wickedness. His followers have extreme and harmful beliefs that hurt themselves and the people close to them. There is no splicing and lying coming from his detractors. He has the hallmarks of the eruv rav as quoted from the GRA in Even Shelaima.
The intent of Rabbi Mizrachi’s speech may have been to discourage intermarriage. However, by watching his videos we can all see the offensive things he has said on numerous occasions. Here, he clearly says Howard Stern is not Jewish and not only are both Mr. Stern’s parents Jewish but he is also married to a Jewish woman. Rabbi Mizrachi also makes the brazen claim that there were less than 1 mil. Jews killed in the Holocaust. Rabbi Mizrachi is completely ignorant of the facts he espouses as well as obnoxious. Who would want this man as his rabbi?!
I’ve been through many of his videos. The quotes are not out of context, and directly translated word for word from the videos. There is so much hate in his videos, he attacks Chabad viciously, for example. His comments about the Shoah, in the now famous video, and in other places, where he states, for example, that “secular Jewish women posed naked for the German soldiers” on the line to the gas chambers. His “shiurim”, which almost never contain actual Torah, are full of foreign concepts like autistic/down’s syndrome “prophecies”, references to goyish “time of death” visions, and of course the absurd hateful Shoah comments. If this is kiruv nowadays, klal yisroel is in trouble.
All those who attack Rabbi Mizrachi, should bear in mind, that after all the accusations and profanities they levelled against him, that his words about the assimilation and intermarriages, that caused this calamity to befall the European Jewry, as is supported by Torah and Rabbinical teachings, still stands true, and is a stern warning to today’s generation as well,
In our synagogue there was a discussion on Sunday morning about the above topic. Only one brute known for being dumb and for having a low IQ spoke against Rav Mizrachi; all others spoke strongly in favor. At one point the president of the shul, a wealthy man, walked into the crowd and was asked what was his opinion of Rav Mizrachi. He responded straight to the point with the words “I pledge to his kiruv organization five thousand dollars”.
Rav Mizrachi, ignore the idiots that post here against you. Your doing a wonderful job; please continue.
Perhaps it really is time for our yeshivos to teach the truth of the second world war. Details, battles, history, and an understanding of the catastrophic destruction of our people. If he can say these things now, what will happen in 100 years form now? That a Jewish teacher should be so cavalier with the truth to make a point he wanted is frightening. To criticize the women who were being herded to the gas chambers is unspeakable evil. No one can say why…. no one can judge…. our Neviim always made the point that kindness and honesty are the hallmarks of blessing.
He has been spewing his hatred and divisive talk for years. Only over the past several years have they been recorded. One cannot back peddle now that it is all caught on camera. His speeches are summed up as, you are either with me or it is not true Judaism. A Rabbi should be a unite people not divide them.
Mizrachi is a prime example of Ma’atim Hadoros. He demonstrates that, like Hashem, and numbers, and the universe, man’s stupidity is infinite. He should stop blaming everyone else for what he clearly said, and apologize sincerely to the Kedoshim for the ignorance he demonstrated. My mother, in relating her story of her time in Auschwitz, never indicated that Mengele selected Jews for life and death based on their Halachicness. He never said “Halachic Jews to the right and non-Halachic to the left”. In fact, Halachic Jews died as did non_halachic Jews, and Hashem did not preferentially save Halachic Jews.