Controversial rabbi’s UK visit is condemned

AN ORTHODOX rabbi who believes that autism and Down’s syndrome are punishment for sins in a past life and that Ashkenazim suffered in the Holocaust because of assimilation, has drawn widespread condemnation ahead of a UK visit.

The views of American-based Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi were denounced as “foreign to normative Judaism” by the senior rabbi of the S and P Sephardi Community in London, Rabbi Joseph Dweck.

Nearly 600 people have signed an online petition protesting at Rabbi Mizrachi’s “hateful” views after his website, Divine Information, announced he was coming to lecture in the UK later this month.

Rabbi Mizrachi, who spoke in the UK two years ago, said this week that he had received “a private invitation of one person to speak in his house”. It would take place after Succot next month.

“It’s a private event and no one’s business,” he said, adding that he was surprised at the opposition.

The Israeli-born rabbi has drawn on beliefs held by some kabbalists in reincarnation.

He has also waded into current affairs, saying in one talk that if the French people did not wake up, they would be taken over by Muslims and butchered or “have to run out of France”.

Rabbi Dweck said Rabbi Mizrachi’s rhetoric “regularly expresses disdain and disrespect for humanity and the diversity of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi Creation. He uses threatening and frightening language with intimidation and condemnation to put forth a spurious spirituality and religiosity.”

The Sephardi leader added that it was “regrettable that anyone should see his offerings as being in line with authentic Judaism and they are certainly not the traditional approach of the Sephardim”.

Rabbi Mizrachi said he was sorry to hear of Rabbi Dweck’s comments “after I dedicated the last 22 years of my life to bring lost Jews back to Judaism and made more than 150,000

[Jews returning to Judaism] all over the world and more than 300 converts.

He said he doubted whether the Sephardi leader “has done even one per cent to our nation with his approach.”

Rabbi Mizrachi pledged to continue “to say the truth with no fear from politically correct fake leaders that are looking to praise their name instead of God’s name”.

A spokesman for Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said:“We do not expect that any of our rabbis or communities would wish to host a speaker who threatens to disrupt that precious atmosphere, with views which cause widespread offence and upset.”

Jane Harris, director of external affairs at the National Autistic Society, described Rabbi Mizrachi’s views as ludicrous and deeply offensive. “More than one in 100 people in the UK are on the autism spectrum. They see autism as a part of who they are and will be alarmed by this utterly negative view.”