Rabbi Mizrachi draws criticism for mocking Hindu traditions
Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi faces criticism across India and Israel after a video mocking Hindu reverence for cows and making disparaging claims about doctors circulated widely on social media.
The Israeli-American Orthodox Jewish preacher, also known as Yossi Mizrachi, alleged that Hindus consumed cow urine and suggested that medical professionals participated in the practice. His comments prompted accusations of racism and religious intolerance, including objections from an Israeli researcher and Palestine's ambassador to India.
The footage, drawn from a sermon streamed on 28 October, shows Mizrachi describing a man from India whom he claimed had helped manage his Facebook page and expressed interest in converting to Judaism. The preacher used that account to make generalisations about Hindu households and religious practices.
He alleged that families brought cows into their living rooms and consumed urine left on the floor. He also claimed that cow urine was purchased from pharmacies, without offering evidence that the practices he described were widespread.
Mizrachi then turned to doctors, suggesting that a patient visiting a hospital in New Delhi might encounter a physician who had consumed cow urine the previous evening. He also joked about a cow sitting in a road and holding up traffic because commuters would not move it.
At the end of the segment, he expressed gratitude to God for not having made him like the people he was describing. The statement intensified objections to a passage that critics said went beyond discussing religious customs and instead demeaned an entire population.
Israeli researcher and writer Yeshaya Rosenman, who lives and studies in India, publicly criticised the preacher. Rosenman described the international damage to Israel's reputation caused by Mizrachi as “astounding in its scope”.
Rosenman also accused him of making offensive statements about members of other religions, people with disabilities and patients suffering from serious illnesses. He expressed hope that Mizrachi would be barred from entering Israel, citing an earlier controversy surrounding a planned visit to Britain.
Palestine's ambassador to India, Abdullah M Abu Shawesh, joined the public discussion on Friday with a message condemning religious hatred. His post did not name Mizrachi, but it accompanied circulation of the disputed footage and addressed the mocking of religious traditions.
“Those who incite hatred against people of any religion or belief, mock their faith or insult their religious traditions are not merely spreading intolerance,” the ambassador wrote. He warned that such behaviour threatened the foundations of shared humanity and added: “Racists are a danger to us all.”
Other social media users from India and Israel condemned the remarks, with some explicitly calling the preacher racist. The criticism centred on his portrayal of Hindus as a uniform group and his attempt to associate medical professionals with an unsubstantiated caricature.
The controversy spread across several social media platforms as users shared excerpts of the sermon and challenged the preacher's assertions. Responses included demands for greater respect towards religious communities and objections to stereotyping.
Cow reverence has an important place in several Hindu traditions, although beliefs and practices vary considerably among communities. The religious significance of cattle does not establish that the behaviour described by Mizrachi is customary among Hindus, much less among doctors practising modern medicine.
The dispute also attracted attention because of the close diplomatic relationship between India and Israel. The two governments maintain extensive cooperation across defence, security, technology and agriculture. However, Mizrachi was speaking as an independent religious preacher, not as a representative of Israel's government.
Mizrachi operates Divine Information, a religious outreach platform, and has faced criticism from within Orthodox Jewish circles over earlier sermons. In 2016, a group of 16 Orthodox rabbis condemned aspects of his teaching and described some statements as objectionable and dangerous.
He had previously made a false claim about the number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust, substantially understating the established figure of approximately six million. He subsequently apologised after criticism from Holocaust scholars and others.
A planned speaking tour of Britain in 2019 was cancelled amid questions about whether he would be permitted to enter the country. Mizrachi later said he had chosen not to board his flight because he feared being questioned or refused entry. British authorities did not publicly confirm an individual exclusion order.
The video circulating this week contains excerpts of Mizrachi's remarks rather than evidence supporting the claims he made about Hindu families, hospitals or doctors.
The Israeli-American Orthodox Jewish preacher, also known as Yossi Mizrachi, alleged that Hindus consumed cow urine and suggested that medical professionals participated in the practice. His comments prompted accusations of racism and religious intolerance, including objections from an Israeli researcher and Palestine's ambassador to India.
The footage, drawn from a sermon streamed on 28 October, shows Mizrachi describing a man from India whom he claimed had helped manage his Facebook page and expressed interest in converting to Judaism. The preacher used that account to make generalisations about Hindu households and religious practices.
He alleged that families brought cows into their living rooms and consumed urine left on the floor. He also claimed that cow urine was purchased from pharmacies, without offering evidence that the practices he described were widespread.
Mizrachi then turned to doctors, suggesting that a patient visiting a hospital in New Delhi might encounter a physician who had consumed cow urine the previous evening. He also joked about a cow sitting in a road and holding up traffic because commuters would not move it.
At the end of the segment, he expressed gratitude to God for not having made him like the people he was describing. The statement intensified objections to a passage that critics said went beyond discussing religious customs and instead demeaned an entire population.
Israeli researcher and writer Yeshaya Rosenman, who lives and studies in India, publicly criticised the preacher. Rosenman described the international damage to Israel's reputation caused by Mizrachi as “astounding in its scope”.
Rosenman also accused him of making offensive statements about members of other religions, people with disabilities and patients suffering from serious illnesses. He expressed hope that Mizrachi would be barred from entering Israel, citing an earlier controversy surrounding a planned visit to Britain.
Palestine's ambassador to India, Abdullah M Abu Shawesh, joined the public discussion on Friday with a message condemning religious hatred. His post did not name Mizrachi, but it accompanied circulation of the disputed footage and addressed the mocking of religious traditions.
“Those who incite hatred against people of any religion or belief, mock their faith or insult their religious traditions are not merely spreading intolerance,” the ambassador wrote. He warned that such behaviour threatened the foundations of shared humanity and added: “Racists are a danger to us all.”
Other social media users from India and Israel condemned the remarks, with some explicitly calling the preacher racist. The criticism centred on his portrayal of Hindus as a uniform group and his attempt to associate medical professionals with an unsubstantiated caricature.
The controversy spread across several social media platforms as users shared excerpts of the sermon and challenged the preacher's assertions. Responses included demands for greater respect towards religious communities and objections to stereotyping.
Cow reverence has an important place in several Hindu traditions, although beliefs and practices vary considerably among communities. The religious significance of cattle does not establish that the behaviour described by Mizrachi is customary among Hindus, much less among doctors practising modern medicine.
The dispute also attracted attention because of the close diplomatic relationship between India and Israel. The two governments maintain extensive cooperation across defence, security, technology and agriculture. However, Mizrachi was speaking as an independent religious preacher, not as a representative of Israel's government.
Mizrachi operates Divine Information, a religious outreach platform, and has faced criticism from within Orthodox Jewish circles over earlier sermons. In 2016, a group of 16 Orthodox rabbis condemned aspects of his teaching and described some statements as objectionable and dangerous.
He had previously made a false claim about the number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust, substantially understating the established figure of approximately six million. He subsequently apologised after criticism from Holocaust scholars and others.
A planned speaking tour of Britain in 2019 was cancelled amid questions about whether he would be permitted to enter the country. Mizrachi later said he had chosen not to board his flight because he feared being questioned or refused entry. British authorities did not publicly confirm an individual exclusion order.
The video circulating this week contains excerpts of Mizrachi's remarks rather than evidence supporting the claims he made about Hindu families, hospitals or doctors.