Don’t let the news manipulate your emotions

When we’re too upset, we eat away at our lives and our resistance

In the first part, Reb Shlomo sings a comforting tune acknowledging the atrocities. The second part encourages us to stay alive. Both are important.

We must stay calm enough to effectively combat evil in our personalities, families, communities, cities, countries, on Earth, and in the Universe.

At the beginning of WW II, 1.5 million Jews were mass murdered, village after village, by machine guns, the so-called Holocaust by bullet. When you hear that, do the Nazis and Antisemitism suddenly look worse? Some concentration camps did not house the rounded-up Jews but gassed them on arrival, after which the whole camp was dismantled. Does learning that make a difference in how you see Auschwitz or the Holocaust? Do you really need to see the piles of corpses to ‘understand’ the Holocaust?

No detail or image adds to what Chamas did on October 7, 2023, when at least 15 different types of crimes against humanity were committed.

Clips and stills from atrocities don’t help. Being obsessed with how terrible the news can be doesn’t help the victims and doesn’t help us.

No, you’re not cruel or a monster when you look away. Listening to eyewitnesses is important, but don’t burn evil into your retinas.

Spare yourself some of the horror. Don’t let survivors’ guilt make you and everyone into a survivor and mourner. Empathy is an important part of being human, but there is such a thing as misplaced identification.

There is a fine but important line between tragedy and artificial drama.

Crying is important to get over emotional hurt. Don’t swipe your pain under the rug. Write, talk, and draw to make your heavy heart lighter. Don’t try to prove how good and innocent you are by dramatizing your horrors. Find your strength, words, pride, resolution, and friends among the disasters and ruins of Jew-hatred. In the beginning, others will cry when you describe how bad it was. But, in the end, the calmer you can describe it, the stronger the impression. See Anne Franks’ diary.

Feeling powerless is very unpleasant. Denial of unsurmountable enemies, defeatism, blaming, and despairing aren’t answers. But long-term effort, teamwork, patience, hope, and trust, together, build a worthy future.

Don’t be so insensitive as to sing and dance in the coming days. Although living well is the best revenge, and Am Yisrael chai, be aware of the hurt around you. Instead, show others sympathy, listen to them, and agree when they say words of recovery. When they’re sad or furious, just listen.

Also, talk as little as possible about evil to small kids. They will hear some gruesome details anyway; then, let them talk to you or make drawings.

Don’t let the ongoing betrayal break your heart. Accuse the international press of again (the Holocaust) being silent about the worst atrocities.

Make sure you don’t blame the victim, fellow Jews. Stop infighting. Jews did not cause the Holocaust or the genocide on Simchat Torah.

Besides Antisemitism, there’s the fight against child abuse, climate change, world hunger, you name it. You need to not ruin your resolve to end it all.

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You may find more controversial writings on Amazon or my own blog.

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