http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/375423/ywn-exclusive-kiddush-hashem-in-rabbi-mizrachis-apology-to-holocaust-survivor-watch-video.htmlYWN EXCLUSIVE: Kiddush Hashem in Rabbi Mizrachi’s Apology to Holocaust Survivor [WATCH VIDEO]
(Monday, January 11th, 2016 09:30 AM)
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[By Rabbi Yair Hoffman]
It was a wonderful and inspiring meeting, where everyone wanted to do the right thing. It was a meeting of two people who stood worlds and cultures apart, coming together. Dr. Moshe Katz grew up and learned in the Chadarim of Ungvar – home of Rav Shlomo Ganzfried, author of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. Dr. Katz is well into his eighties. Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi is a man in his forties, who grew up in the modern streets of the cities of Eretz Yisroel, prior to his remarkable path to bringing others closer to Hashem.
[SEE VIDEO BELOW]
Rabbi Mizrachi drove all the way from Monsey, New York to the city – through rain, howling wind, and, yes, hail. Dr. Katz accepted the Rabbi into his home warmly and graciously as his wife served him cake and coffee.
Patiently, Dr. Moshe Katz taught his newest student about the holocaust as he has been teaching for the past twenty five years. He spoke of the anti-Semitism in every European country. He spoke of the virulent anti-Semitism that existed before, during, and after the holocaust. But this time, his emphasis was more focused upon the anti-Semitism that existed before the holocaust. An anti-Semitism that in and of itself disproved the bizarre numbers of eighty percent intermarriage that the Rabbi had heard of previously.
Dr. Katz spoke of exact numbers. Each country’s number of Jews, and the religious level of observance of Jews in each country. He spoke of how many Jews were murdered, and how many had escaped. He spoke of time-frames and the years in which each country uniquely experienced the holocaust. Dr. Katz even patiently drew a map of the continent of Europe.
We live in a community that is blessed with the foresight, can-do-ism, and wisdom of Dr. Moshe Katz. I had thought that I knew something about him. How he had helped rebuild a Torah world after the devastation of the holocaust. How he had started Yeshiva of South Shore, the Torah Academy for Girls, Yeshiva Darchei Torah. How he had been a founding member of Yeshiva Sh’or Yoshiv. How he had supported numerous Kollelim and Yeshivos. Just last week, I had witnessed how he had distributed a rose to every young lady in his high school classes that had managed to receive a hundred on his test on the holocaust.
Last night, I saw Dr. Katz’s extraordinary patience – a patience forged in the fire of death and suffering caused by the Nazi beasts who had extinguished European Jewry. It was a patience that taught of hate and how it could never and should never be repeated. This was Dr. Moshe Katz, businessman, builder of Torah and educator extraordinaire of the holocaust.
Last night, in Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, I also saw genuine regret. A regret born of a pain – a pain inadvertently caused by this remarkable Kiruv Rabbi to his own people. This was a man who genuinely wanted to learn, to correct errors past – and to change – for the future.
Dr. Katz gave him a copy of his book – Nine out of Ten – a narrative of his own family’s journey through that horrific period in contemporary Jewish history. He also gave him a copy of Phil Chernosfsky’s famous book, “And Every Single One Was Someone.” This book is 1250 pages of the word Jew written 4800 times on each page. The subtle message was that the product of these two figures is six million not one million. It was not lost upon the Rabbi who took the message to heart.
The meeting lasted a few minutes shy of an hour and half.
In short, this author believes the apology expressed heartfelt and genuine feelings. Some will have doubts of this, and dismiss it as wishful naïvete, but Dr. Katz accepted his apology as sincere. And if Dr. Katz is naïve, I would prefer to be in this tzaddik’s company than to be in that cynical contemptuous world of pessimism, suspicion and distrust of all people who initiate change. The final page of the ninth chapter of tractate Nedarim has a poignant illustration of how culturally-derived miscommunications can wreak havoc in people’s lives. The Gemorah’s message is that sometimes cultural bridges are in fact a vast chasm, and cannot always be bridged.
Will there be missteps in the Rabbi’s future path? Hopefully not, but we all make mistakes. The point is what we do to make up for these mistakes when they do happen. To quote Rabbi Mizrachi, “I learned a valuable lesson here.” The path of true-Torah, of course, is deracheha darchei noam. It takes extraordinary strength to apologize when one has taken a misstep.
First and foremost, we must realize something very important. Rabbi Mizrachi could have done what others do. And he could have refused to apologize. Now, he could also have doubled down on an erroneous position, and have taken pot shots at those who have called him out for an error. Klal Yisroel, however, has benefited here. Fortunately for us, Rabbi Mizrachi didn’t take this path. Ultimately, he owned up to an error and took full responsibility for it. Responsibility, taking acharayus for our actions, is something we could all start doing a bit more. To do so, however, is truly rare. Every one of us could learn an invaluable lesson from here. Remarkable individuals make up for mistakes by apologizing for them, and thus become all the greater for it.
The author can be reached at
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Topic: Rabbi Mizrachi on Israel, Terrorists, Rabbi Kahane, Situation, More! (Read 906 times)