Yosef Mizrachi and his vile views

Yosef Mizrachi is a New York based kiruv or outreach Rabbi. He is highly regarded in various communities around the world, mostly in Mizrachi and Ultra Orthodox communities.

However, some of his views are repugnant (as you will see below) and a group of us believe he should not be given a platform for his views.

In January 2014, Rabbi Mizrachi embarked on a lecture tour of Orthodox Sephardi congregations in London, England. After complaints from members of the Jewish Community, at least one of his planned lectures was cancelled.

Mizrachi has started pulling videos of his lectures from youtube as they expose some of his nasty views, here is a selection of some that we have managed to salvage.

Video 1
Mamzers and blind people are punished for their past life behaviours and deserve no sympathy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUgz-bqvntU&list=PL3w1tjfs1hNBXohVnHieNyDLX_5sRoXGa&index=6
Here is what he says (direct quote) about mamzers (illegitimate children) and blind people:
"...he is not a poor kid, he’s a big criminal that was chosen from among the other criminals to be the mamzer of that family, you understand? Same thing a person is born blind, poor kid, was born blind, why? God? What do you know? Did you know how many dirty movies he was watching in his previous life. Now he’s blind.”

Video 2
Down's Syndrome and Autism are punishments for past life sins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlAndoVbFvI&list=PL3w1tjfs1hNBXohVnHieNyDLX_5sRoXGa&index=1

Video 3
Jump to 46m he makes accusations about the cause of the Holocaust, and 'explains' why women get breast, womb and brain cancer; and why men get prostate and brain cancer:
http://youtu.be/_YEDz2SSeKI

Video 4
Mixed parties/weddings leads to cancers and accidents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Z-e4FM-8M&list=PL3w1tjfs1hNBXohVnHieNyDLX_5sRoXGa&index=2

Video 5
Secular women who died in the Holocaust had no dignity as they waited for the gas chambers:
(lost for now)

Video 6
In this video, the Rabbi explains how people who are born gay are being punished for having chosen to be gay in their previous life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoEeb9HtRlU

Video 7
Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi defends a mohel with herpes performing direct mouth to wound procedure during a berit mila, a procedure not required by Talmudic (Jewish) law and one that has been shown to cause permanent brain damage and death in a child every yea…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLJYWGFCrYo&list=PL3w1tjfs1hNBXohVnHieNyDLX_5sRoXGa&index=7


The Jewish Chronicle has been covering the controversy of Mizrachi's visit to the UK, here is the first article and here is the second article.

Update - 8th Feb, new article on Mizrachi over at failed messiah.

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This page has been setup simply to create awareness of his views, if you are considering hosting Yosef Mizrachi at your synagogue or community centre, you might want to consider these public views first!