In this video, I elaborate on my recent condemnation of "Rabbi" Yosef Mizrachi, the latest wonder guru causing a Chillul Hashem.
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My unabashed, unapologetic reflections on Judaism's authentic approach to the physical and spiritual dangers facing the Jewish people today, both in the modern state of Israel and in the diaspora.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Monday, January 11, 2016
Beware The Guru "Rabbis"!
A version of this article can now be found in The Jewish Press: "Beware the Guru Rabbis"
Rabbinic ordination
is not a license to say what you want. Nor is it a free ride to spout nonsense
and lies, or exhibit baseless hatred for other Jews. When a known rav distorts Torah concepts, it only
magnifies the Chillul Hashem, which in turn necessitates an even stronger
response. Unfortunately, since authentic chochma
is rare today, as is the public’s ability to discern it, the masses rarely
appreciate genuine talmidei chachomim.
Instead of heeding the call of Pirkei
Avot and designating for themselves a rav, many choose for themselves
flawed men who bottom feed on the ignorant.
Too many Jews
seek out the latest guru rabbis who periodically pop out of the rotten
woodwork. Some years back, one Sephardic “rabbi” became popular with his patented
shtick: playing on the emotional appeal of women who were having trouble
conceiving. During his lectures, he promised secular women in the audience that
if they agreed to start covering their hair, they would eventually conceive.
The cultish, pagan spectacle of choosing this one obligation above all else,
and using it as a fertility rite in a public forum, screams of distortions of
Jewish thought, and presents a disturbingly immodest scene. This particular
guru remains popular today. Such an individual is a symptom of an ignorant age,
where Torah is plagued with superstition. In a learned society, such a man
would be exposed, despite the trappings of his garb and “simanim” which add to
the supposed authenticity.
Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi
is the latest “wonder rabbi” on the magical kiruv
circuit, and his popular videos inundate the internet. Like all Jewish gurus,
he specializes in glib, general statements pertaining to some of the most
intricate concepts in Judaism. Mizrachi believes that he knows it all, and he
presents complicated issues to simple-minded people as if they were aleph bet. He focuses on controversial,
halachically problematic ideas, such as the popular distorted perception of Kabbalah
as magic, the purported actions of alleged kabbalists, belief in reincarnation,
etc. Gilgul is particularly critical in
his magical world-view, since it forms the spine of his approach to s’char v’onesh. He is popular in
chareidi Sephardi circles, but has broad based support among English speaking
Ashkenazim in the frum world.
More
importantly, his teachings are reprehensible. It is not just about the recent
outcry over his obscene holocaust statements, where he reported that the Nazis
murdered fewer than one million halachic Jews. A diligent study of his career
shows a history of dangerous teachings, which should have made him a pariah
long ago. He has earned our unrelenting ire.
In the first
video of his that I ever subjected
myself to, he was lecturing the audience about a supposed critical issue in
Judaism, the concept of gilgul, better known as reincarnation, which appears
nowhere in Tanach, Talmud, or Midrash, yet the superstitious treat it as a
fundamental belief. His arrogance was apparent when he denigrated those who
quote Saadya Gaon as a proof against the belief, since Rasag rejected the idea
as stupidity in his classic treatise, “Beliefs and Opinions”. What was even
more frightening was Mizrachi’s supposed proof for the existence of gilgul. He
cited an example of an innocent baby dying, and saw this as proof of gilgul,
since G-d’s justice would never allow such a thing. The sheer arrogance of someone who creates a
ridiculous “proof” to explain the age-old question of tsaddik v’ra lo which the greatest gaonim, rishonim, and acharonim could not answer. Somehow, Mizrachi
discovered an answer to this greatest of perplexities by resorting to gilgul,
which very likely was taken from pagan culture! It seems unlikely that Saadya
Gaon would have been unaware of the concept if it existed or was fundamental to
Jewish belief. To suggest otherwise is an absurdity.
Most people are
aware of the recent outcry, when video footage surfaced where Mizrachi questioned
the fact that 6 million Jews died in the holocaust, and asserted that fewer
than 1 million Jews were murdered. Not only did he disgrace the legacy of 6 ½
million kedoshim murdered by Amalek, in doing so, he empowered the holocaust
deniers of the world with evidence of a “rabbi’s” holocaust denial. His foolish
estimate was based on his distorted, non-scholarly unfounded estimates of
assimilation in Europe which he surmised meant that most of the 6 million would
not have ben halachically Jewish. No academic study, no documentation has ever
claimed likewise. No normal Jew, religious or otherwise would ever utter such
perversity. To engage with this non-scholar would be akin to arguing with the
holocaust denying David Irving.
How to Recognize a Guru
There are signs
to identify a “guru.”
- The existence of a cult following comprised of the unlearned, and the psychologically troubled who know little if anything of Torah.
- The complex network enabling the mass distribution and marketing of the guru’s lectures in the form of videos, audio. Websites featuring an impossible number of lectures expose the guru’s unrelenting speaking tours to disseminate his message.
- The guru’s lectures invariably focus on questionable problematic notions that have become popular in Judaism, such as gilgul (reincarnation), magical segulos, demons, etc. The guru shares childish notions about complex Jewish subjects and makes outrageous generalizations that have no basic in Torah thought.
- Beneath the veneer of the sacred, one notices an obsession with sexuality, and one hears crude statements that no genuine man of Torah would utter. Many of these self-appointed prophets of morality in "the Torah camp" are obsessed with sex. The irony is that in their pursuit of the sacred, their sexual obsession exposes a sex-preoccupied personality. The most private issues and human challenges are delivered with frankness and simplicity that are undignified. Things best discussed with one's rabbi or religious mentor are thrown in our faces, in all their crudeness. It begs the question: Who are the perverts?
- The guru often displays a callous nature, and makes sweeping generalizations, which purport to understand all nuances of Divine justice. The sins (real or imagined) of the secular are emphasized, whereas outrages that occur in frum society (of which there are no dearth of) are ignored.
Mizrachi meets
many of these criteria. One hears the frequent claims of his mass kiruv efforts to justify his
legitimacy; claims which fall deaf on my ears. Kiruv? If a thousand pogo-ing
mantra-spouting nutcases claim that a certain individual turned them into baalei
teshuvah, I consider them AS religious as any group of inmates in an asylum. A
kipah is hardly indicative of frumkeit. The same pertains to their teacher. This
is not Jewish outreach. This is simply another version of being “off the derech.”
These gurus are
a symptom of a sick age, where people are so detached from torah that they will
latch onto anything. Magic men wear the cloak of Torah, but they are detached
from chochmah. Moreover, their
obsession with superstition show that they are as influenced by goyish culture
as those they ridicule.
Mizrachis
videos are a treasure chest of filth, including such outrageous statements as
the following. Fortunately, many people are downloading and saving these
videos, before they are removed from the internet. One could spend years
dissecting the filth, but some of the more repugnant ones include the following:
- His now infamous claim that the Nazis (yemach shmo) murdered fewer than 1 million halachic Jews.
- His comparing “non-virgin women” to an opened bottle of coke. What Rabbi speaks this way?
- His disgraceful claim that Down syndrome children as well as those with autism are reincarnated spirits receiving punishment for a previous life.
- His perverse claim that religious woman hid their nakedness moments before the Nazis sent them to the furnaces, whereas the irreligious were immodest in the moment before their extermination. (When I saw this video, I nearly lost my mind.) What sick mind could see these terrible photos and even contemplate, let alone articulate, such a lunatic theory? When I saw this footage, it crystalized for me the need to write an article.
Aseh l’chah rav. Chazal maintained that any reasonably
intelligent, rational person with some knowledge of Torah had the ability to choose
for himself a proper Rav. One who epitomizes Torah and chesed. The
diligent Jew should ensure that they have a proper teacher of torah rather than
a showman pop star who appeals to simpletons. Moreover, if one’s rabbi is
obsessed with sex, sheidim, reincarnated spirits, or the supposed immodesty of
Jewish korbanot ready to be gassed to death, find another rabbi. If the first
thing your chosen rav finds imperative to articulate to the secular is not the
knowledge of Hashem, ahavat yisroel, or chesed, but rather a hair covering (whose
side benefit magically assists infertile women!) something is wrong with him.
Any goyish shaman can do likewise with the same degree of success. The placebo
effect works the same for all pagans.
In the case of
Mizrachi, thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and the general popularity of social
media, his perverse teachings will outlast all of us. The essence of Chillul
Hashem personified; since his lectures are now eternally archived in MP4
format. There is no way to undo his damage, save for an unrelenting campaign to
expose him and others who share similar beliefs.
In closing, I
post one final video, which I just watched today. Outrageous and unbelievable.
I watched the video from a Facebook page called “Exposing “Rabbi” Yosef
Mizrachi.” Several of the links above connect to the corresponding YouTube
channel. In this particular
video, Mizrachi states that “secular” Israeli soldiers who die in combat
have no share in the world to come. Moreover, he cites halachically prohibited séances
as a proof! Evidently, he is unaware of the Halacha that a Jew who is murdered
for being a Jew dies Al Kiddush Hashem. Not to mention that one who dies
protecting Jews (even for a flawed army run by men who are far from Torah) is
engaged in one of the greatest mitzvoth. The Chazon Ish stated clearly that
most of the unaffiliated Jews of our times clearly fall under the category of
“captured babies” rather than willful sinners. Yet Mizrachi in his arrogant
hatred sees fit to damn them all to his goyish notion of hell.
I have a
message for Mizrachi’s apologists who insist that his words were taken out of context.
There is no context to justify his pernicious views. His teachings are sick,
and they expose a damaged soul. Those who defend such a man, whether overtly,
or with the “devil’s advocate” method of apologetics and the undeserved
“benefit of the doubt” say much about themselves. Let them do their research,
and it will become evident that he really is THAT bad. In fact, he is worse. The
fact that I need to write these things is perhaps the most tragic thing of all.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Return of the Hunt: Part II
“Justice,
justice, shall you pursue, that you thrive and occupy the land that the L-rd
your G-d is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh
Duma. Once
upon a time, my only association with this unusual word was from a work of
horror fiction from American novelist, Stephen King, Duma Key. That
association is gone forever. Non-fiction replaces fiction. Other horrors, true
nightmares in every sense of the word, now come to mind. The Arab town of Duma.
Some words transcend a specific time, place, or geological location. Deir
Yassin was one such place. Duma will become another. It will conjure up a terrible
period in Jewish history. (Bear with me,
sane reader. I have not lost my mind.)
Duma was a tragedy, but not for the reasons the Jewish
liberal press would have you believe. There was no crime against Arabs, neither
arson nor murder. The tragedy of Duma was in the form of a blood libel against true
Jewish Maccabees, in the same manner that leftists once demonized good Jews for
the murder of Arlosorov, and perpetuated the Arab myth of Jewish savagery in
the murderous Arab town of Deir Yassin.
Duma will conjure the worst examples of Jews
committing grave injustices against other Jews. It will come to symbolize the
true face of Jewish extremism. A face comprised of weak, evil, incompetent politicians
who readily set their faceless, nameless, Shabbak thugs (who waste energy and
resources that can be used to crush Arab terror!) to beat innocent Jewish
children in dark rooms where only the walls hear the screams of forced
confessions. Long ago, the clever Arabs discovered that leftist Jews would blame
Jews when Arabs kill each other. Israel’s consistent knee-jerk reaction to such
incidents have scandalized Israel’s leadership since the state’s inception.
The second part of this terrible story involves the
inevitable barbarism, which follows these blood libels. Some incidents in our
modern history personify the willingness of Israeli leftists to brutalize other
Jews. The Altalena was the deliberate slaughter of innocent Jewish warriors,
orchestrated by Ben Gurion, and carried out in large measure by Rabin. In
recent years, Yassamnikim thugs perpetrated a pogrom against helpless,
defenseless Jews in Amona. Duma is the latest chapter. The common denominator
is that the government always gets away with it.
Once again, the left took the lies of the Arab
narrative of Duma (much like Deir Yassin long
ago), and perpetrated a blood libel. In bold-faced type, they wrote the story: “Extremist Jews” set fire and murder Arabs
in the Arab village of Duma. No evidence? The Shabak does not care.
The true synopsis of Duma: Arabs murder other Arabs
during an ongoing war between rival families, and blame it on Jewish
“settlers.” A weak criminal government uses the incident to perpetuate the
story of Jewish extremism, to harass those deemed “Jewish extremists.” They
utilize the brutal administrative detention to imprison and torture their
targets. No one hears from them for weeks and months. They endure unimaginable
horror and are made to confess.
Administrative detention: a euphemism for the abuse of
Jews by Israel’s leaders where they detain Jews without cause for indefinite
periods. The British once used this barbaric measure to punish Jewish heroes. Years
ago, Israel’s leaders used it to incarcerate the gibor of our age, Rabbi Meir Kahane (may G-d avenge his blood.)Today,
the Likud sinks even lower in their own filth by abusing this primitive,
goyish, immoral act to target their Jewish detractors. It is the perfect
vehicle for abuse, and contrary to the most rudimentary aspects of halachic
justice. They do not require evidence of a crime. They merely have to crush
your bones until you confess to one.
Several months ago, I wrote an article in The
Jewish Press about this insidious crime (Return
of the Hunt). More than four months have passed and the abomination continues.
Thanks to the efforts of people like Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir who represents
several of the incarcerated Duma “suspects,” we are now privy to details of horrific
Shabak tortures against Jews ranging from physical beatings on vulnerable,
sensitive spots on the body, sensory and sleep deprivation, and even sexual
assault, possibly including sodomy. (ISA
‘sexually harassed’ Duma suspect.) If this doesn’t make you want to storm
the barricades, nothing will.
(I would be remiss if I failed to mention the legal
group HONENU who defend Jewish heroes from
Israel’s repressive judicial process. They are also involved in this case,
advocating for immediate justice.)
Several days ago, I expressed my concern and certainty
that the Shabak was sexually assaulting these young men, since the Shabak
needed to do something so terrible to them that would make them reticent to speak
about it. Ben Gvir’s statements confirmed what I suspected to be true. I fear
that we may never know the full extent of such actions.
Many leftists celebrate the imprisonment of kipah
wearing, unruly “hilltop youth” with peyot.
Yet the most abominable silence comes from Likudniks who will defend Bibi to
their grave. Then we have the quislings of the respectable Habayit Hayehudi.
Several months back, Habayit’s Naftali
Bennett and Ayelet Shaked jumped onto the bandwagon with their own perspective,
which displayed that the loyalist “religious parties” take a back seat to no
one when it comes to repugnant positions. The words “capital punishment” were
thrown about. For those who hoped that he might have done teshuva, Bennett recently came out with a statement in support of
the Shabak’s monstrous acts. It shows him to be a cruel and foolish man, more
interested in Arab rights than Jewish lives. Those who worship these leaders should
understand that Mapai once used these same KGB tactics against Bibi’s supposed ideological
forebears.
A
man cannot incriminate himself: a basic halachic concept.
The Torah understood the dangers of forced confessions. Most liberal Jews
misunderstand the Torah’s strict criteria for Halachic guilt. They view it
through the distortion of an intellectual cataract, which they see as being the
Torah’s reticence to administer harsh punishments for real crimes. How mistaken
they are. The Torah intended to prevent a travesty to the Torah’s ideal of justice.
To kill an innocent man is as obscene as the notion of a guilty man going free.
It matters little even with the strict judicial criteria for say capital
punishment, Jewish society had other measures to ensure that probable offenders
were punished adequately while still retaining the halachic criteria.
The Torah standards follow the reality of human nature
and psychology. There is a breaking point for everyone, including the strongest
of men. Evil men have always used strong-arm tactics to break people. The
Shabak will do anything to a kipah wearing, peyot
swinging “hilltop youth” to pin a crime on them. They will ignore Arab
incitement and actual violence, but wage warfare to uncover the origins of
supposed “price tag” attacks. Democracy for Arabs. Gestapo tactics for
obstinate idealistic Jews. If anyone of these detainees “confessed”, it is
because the Shabak broke their spirits, not to mention their bodies.
Hasbara:
The Backdrop of the Problem
One of the main impediments to exposing and
eradicating the abuses of Israeli government towards other Jews is the modern
day notion of public relations for Israel. Some advocates for Israel are
terrified of highlighting examples of rampant institutional corruption in
Israel, which harms the public in all spheres of life from economics to
security. Others support such brutal measures either out of a sense of
ideological commitment to their leaders and parties, or by actual approval of
such measures against Jews.
Contemporary hasbara
(PR) efforts are pandering, patronizing, and self- aggrandizing. They are
often untrue or exaggerated. Frequently they celebrate things Torah observant
Jews should not celebrate. There is a place for a proper, respectable form of
hasbara. Current expressions do not meet the criteria for dignified hasbara.
One of the more popular ones is the oft mentioned, “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle
East…..” Surely the most popular hasbara slogan among liberal Jews. From a
Torah perspective, western democracy cannot be celebrated since all systems of
government, including the best of them, cannot reach the theoretical perfection
that only a truly Torah oriented society can provide. Yet in the absence of
such a system, a flawed democracy is preferable to a government based upon the
principles of Sodom. If it were so, such egregious abuses of personal liberty
would never occur.
The fact that Tel Aviv is a gay mecca in the Middle
East does not mean Israel is democratic. It means that Tel Aviv is a gay mecca.
It means that while Sodom is gone, the legacy of Sodom and Gomorrah permeates
the country. Neither high tech technology, nor Tel Aviv’s reputation for being
a gay Middle Eastern mecca is our reason for being. The latter is a reason for
not being. Israel’s democracy is a veneer. A tyranny with voting booths remains
a haven of corruption. Even in the worst societies, there were often veneers of
equality. Yet no one likes to vote at the other end of a shotgun.
Do you live in a democracy? If the answer to even one
question is yes, then you do not live in a democracy.
- Does your government ban a popular Jewish party because they speak truths relating to the Arabs of Israel?
- Do the leaders of your country detain Jews for months without any charges and denying them legal representation?
- Do government agents beat the living pulp out of such detainees?
- Does the judicial arm of said country approve of and permit such abusive tactics while the same country demands that her doctors heal and feed Arab murderers?
- Has your country recently eliminated an Arab who brutally murdered Jews in his youth, was captured by Israel and then released him to kill again? If the answer is YES, then you live in an asylum?
- Do the military/police beat and bludgeon Jews but skirt any legal consequences?
As I have noted before, if the Shabak had any evidence
against any of the detainees they would have charged them long ago. There is no
way on earth that a group of young untrained men could fool Israel’s world-class
forensics. They would need the equivalent knowledge of the experts to fool
them. The idea is absurd. You can be certain that Israel used every modern tool
to uncover evidence of wrongdoing. The only logical explanation is that they
are trying to pin a crime on innocent Jews.
Netanyahu has the nerve to speak of
Jewish extremism. He is the very model of a Jewish extremist, a man who
believes himself King, and has no cognizance of a Creator. If he did, he could
never permit such abuses against other Jews.
One day, good men will recount the true story of our
internal Jewish enemies. The tale of perfidy will make Ben Hecht’s famous
entry, a mere chapter in a larger encyclopedia of injustice. The Likud will sit
alongside Labor in the annals of Jewish criminality. In addition to the sin of
spilled Jewish blood, the Likud will have to answer for the brutal terrorizing
of Jews, which we now know included sexual assault. Fellow Jews, speak loudly
and fearlessly on behalf of our modern day Maccabees. Our battered brothers cannot
scream out for themselves.
A final message to our leaders who are responsible for
detaining and abusing our heroic Jewish brothers. And it starts with Netanyahu
at the top: Release these heroic
prisoners of Zion immediately. G-d will not forgive this enduring crime against
the Jewish people. There will be justice.
Labels:
Altalena
,
Ayelet Shaked
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Benjamin Netanyahu
,
Deir Yassin
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Duma
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Habayit Hayehudi
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Halacha
,
Likud
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Moshe Yaalon
,
Naftali Bennett
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Shabbak
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The Hunting Season
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