An Apology from Rabbi Nissan Kaplan

R' Nissan Kaplan

From the JerusalemPost: 

“I am completely against such words, they’re disgusting. I regret what I said and I am deeply sorry for using such examples. I am also sorry for hurting people’s feelings and I hope they can forgive me.”

He also said he had never actually had the conversation with his child he mentioned in his lesson and that he had not met with Rabbi Shteinman for over six months.

 Asked how he could say such things if he did not believe them, Kaplan said that “it is hard for me to answer, I really don’t know,” and suggested that he had been carried away joking with his students.

In an email to a friend who questioned Kaplan’s comments he wrote: “I acknowledge that I made a mistake with the words that I used, the message that resulted is not one that one that I would ever suggest and is certainly not one that comes from the Torah.

“In the three lessons I gave in the past 24 hours, I have repeated numerous times that the message I conveyed earlier does not reflect what I hold true and believe in, and I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to so many.”

“I firmly condemn the use of violence to achieve anything and would never wish any harm to come onto any person,” he said. 

I accept that his apology is sincere. He deserves a second chance. Now that he has offered what seems to be a heartfelt apology, I think we need to move on.