A Judaism that’s too nice

An important countermovement, but not the whole deal

“Yitz” Greenberg is America’s Ashkenazic Modern-Orthodoxy Sage. His magnum opus is about to be published, and I congratulate him heartily with that milestone. May he go from strength to strength!

I didn’t read his book (yet) but I listened to his interview about it and another recent interview, which made me write the following observation.

A close friend of his told me he has a thick skin. I can say whatever I want.

He’s not only soft-spoken, he’s generally a very nice man. Nice leaders—nothing evident here! On the occasion, he just gave an interview mostly full of softballs—also very nice. Would I dare to say something not nice about him or his book? I don’t have the chutzpah to criticize someone of such great accomplishments. But it’s not my Judaism. It’s too nice for me.

Jewish Law has often been applied without heart, but I don’t see that as a Jewish mistake. I blame assimilation. The persecutions of Jews have weakened us and enabled the intrusion of a stern concept of G^d that is generally held by idol worshippers and Gentile Monotheists alike. An attempt to ignore anything harsh is too much just a band-aid to me. We must find the roots of any callousness and uproot it from the Tradition.

For me, Judaism has three aspects: our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with G^d. I agree that the latter has received much too much stress in the last millennia, but, again, that’s from assimilation. Judaism is not a religion but a lifestyle. He too values secular Jews and lay-Jewish leaders. But he doesn’t say: They represent two of the three main aspects of Judaism. He makes place for them. That is nice. But it doesn’t show that the religiously absorbed Jews and the secularly overcome Jews both need to teach each other.

He bravely calls homosexual relations good, even holy, because any other qualification seems off. That’s nice. Many a rabbi could learn from him how to be a Mensch. Yet, I disagree with his analysis. Sex between men is holy between homosexual men and forbidden for heterosexual men—that’s my conviction upon studying the Bible and Talmud. Forbidding Gay sex is a very tragic modern rabbinic error, but not a mistake in the Torah.

It’s not enough to give proof that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza. We must call out the Antisemites, who again eagerly call Jews baby killers. He calls our government terrible but does not acknowledge that it became so right-wing because the left deserted it (in wartime!). (I always hold that rabbis must stay out of politics because they’re too nice and honest to understand a world dominated by lies and deceptions.)

He thinks the Palestinians made a mistake not to build a State when it was still possible. That was (not) a mistake, like the Nazis ‘erred’ to try to exterminate the Jews. Rather than a mistake, it was deliberate Jew-hatred.

He speaks out against anti-democrats but doesn’t say that equality was invented by the Torah. “[G]lobal crises, environmental crisis, global warming—these are all reflective of the breakdown of a sense of partnership with a higher power.” No, they’re not. They come, like hunger and poverty, from capitalism, greed, and selfishness. I do miss G^d in his story. I think G^d helps with understanding responsibility and humility. The promises of Redemption and Heavenly Justice give hope and relief.

He’s a vegetarian—which is nice, of course. But he says, “You are allowed to eat meat, but the Torah puts restrictions, heavy restrictions, on what you can and cannot eat, and all of these restrictions apply to flesh.” As a vegan, I say, heavy restrictions are also put on Shabbat, so we chuck it? Consuming animal produce in general, especially in great quantities, is very problematic. He admits he’s a vegetarian for health reasons, but I believe that he knows himself that the above reasoning is too shallow.

He wants Judaism to evolve as a global movement for all. That too is too unspecified for me. I say that we Jews must lead the world for all.

He expects women rabbis to become standard, but he seems to see that as just righting a wrong. No word on how that will improve Jewish Thought. He doesn’t ask why women are so absent from the Torah and Jewish Law. The truth, of course, is that most of the world’s trouble is caused by men, so the ones to teach to behave must be men in the first place.

He stays, as far as I can tell, inside the Ashkenazic bubble. Yes, of course, he’s very much against racism, but he doesn’t talk about how a lack of acknowledgement of a P^wer over us is an Ashkenazic moral illness. The main remedy was, I believe, given by Reb Shlomo (Carlebach): step away from the braininess and sadness (seriousness) and delve into baseless joy.

So if you’re sick and tired of stiff, stern Judaism, buy his book. But it shouldn’t be the last book you purchase as a Jewish spiritual guide.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1