Rabbi Mizrachi and the Nepal Earthquake

9 Iyyar 5775
Day 24 of the Omer

The rashaim hate Truth with a great passion.

Hat tip to Yaak for sending me a link to a Forward article condemning Rav Yosef Mizrachi for saying the following on his Facebook page under a picture of the ruins of a Buddhist temple...

"All the idols worshiping places in nepal are now destroyed"

The attacks were immediate and hateful.  This simple statement was turned into an expression of "glee" at the deaths of thousands of people. In his own defense, Rav Mizrachi tried to clarify himself...

"no one said here anything about the people that died no one said that they happy they died just that hashem destroyed the places of idol worshiping why do you try to make noise out of nothing why it bother you so much that hashem does what the torah said to do why do you think that you are sheriff of the world you are nothing but a moser that lo mitztaref le minyan (if you were a man) pure erev rav"

My own response follows...

Anyone who has any problem with what the Rabbi posted is disconnected from authentic Torah Judaism. There is no greater crime in the world than to worship false gods while enjoying the beneficience of the Creator every day of your life. You think it's ever an accident of nature when something like this happens? There are NO ACCIDENTS in this world. ALL is by the design and the will of the Creator. Stop trying to make Him over in your image and understand that it is you who is the creature and NOT HaKadosh Baruch Hu! We have an obligation to question why tragedies happen because they are connected to our actions which need correcting. if we make the appropriate changes, we can prevent future tragedies! If you can not accept this simple Truth, you are in worse trouble than the Nepalese right now.

According to the experts, this earthquake happens every 60-70 years. It had been 80 years since the last one, so they had 10-20 years grace period to stop the idol-worshiping. If they would repent of their crimes against the Creator, it could have been delayed indefinitely. But, no."The earthquake struck as Nepal was holding a centuries-old ceremony dedicated to Avalokiteshvara...." (Source: CNN) It's a mitzvah to tell a sick person how to get well, if you know the cure. And a kiddush Hashem as well!! This should serve as a warning to others to give up their evil ways before the punishment comes to them. Or had you not noticed - with all the laws and police and prisons - that this world operates on the spiritual promise of reward and punishment. No one wants to be reminded of it, but it's true!

Sadly, very many Jews have assimilated "Western values" which puts "happiness" as the goal of this life. And anything which impinges on this goal is to be shunned at all costs. Nothing could be further from the Truth of the holy Torah. And yes, the great majority of those who call themselves Jews today are from the Erev Rav and they will very soon disappear from reality.

It's also what I would have commented to the Forward article, too, if comments had been possible.

I'll go a step further. I don't believe we should be sending Jews outside of Eretz Yisrael to 'minister' to the needs of the victims. It would be questionable in my mind even if there were no one else to help, but of course, they are already getting massive amounts of help from the many gentile nations and don't really need our help at all. The main motivation for the State of Israel to send teams is to curry the love and favor of the nations. That's a Hillul Hashem not a Kiddush Hashem.