An Apology from Rabbi Nissan Kaplan

R' Nissan Kaplan

“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.”

 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.