G^d never hides His Face and never changes His Mind

I know the drill. Sometimes, G^d is angry with us and doesn’t show us favors. He ‘is silent’ while we suffer.

I find it an interesting idea but I don’t buy it.

What do you mean, G^d doesn’t speak to me? Do you really speak to Him?

What do you mean, He’s angry with us? Anger is forbidden to us because it’s a form of idolatry. When we’re angry, we show that we forgot that everything is under His supervision. There’s coincidence nor misfortune.

Then how could we dare to accuse G^d of anger?

Well, when we’re angry, we show that we don’t believe in Him. As if there is a power besides Him, Heaven forbid. But when He ‘is angry,’ He shows the same. That He trust in us to shape up–a good thing.

He doesn’t punish. He challenges us.

The question is never, Why is He silent to me? The question is, Why are we silent and don’t we listen?

***

I feel that this misunderstanding of an angry, disappointed G^d comes from wrongly reading the Torah.

Many times G^d seemingly intervenes, curses, changes His Mind. This is then seen as Him being disappointed, let down, sold short by humans.

That can’t be true.

G^d doesn’t need anything from anyone. He’s complete, perfect, and lacks nothing.
He’s not an idol that needs to be appeased, pleased, and placated.
He knows ahead of our time what will happen. You can’t surprise someOne Who knows the future perfectly.

I think that the Torah’s message is the opposite.

We need to realize how disappointing we are.

We assumed we could abide by one directive (Don’t eat from that tree).
We would never get so angry that we hit our brother such that he’d die.
We could never be so immoral that no human society can be built with us.
We would not all be so lost that G^d had to pick one person to head an exceptional family to teach all of us.
We could never be so wicked that we needed a whole special People to teach all of us.
We could never be so terrible that we would try to exterminate that special Nation for thousands of years.
We could never be so horrible that the most advanced country in the world would applaud the industrial genocide of that People, actually murdering 6 million of them, including 1.5 million children.
We could never be such monsters to say after that, it didn’t happen but it should be completed until not one Jew is left alive.

But we have.

This is what human beings have done.

More than having let G^d down, we have betrayed ourselves.

G^d knew all along what a mess we were and would make.

He’s only replying: You have overestimated yourselves all the time. Now you know again how low you’ve fallen, you can also understand that the ‘original’ goal needs an update.

G^d was never surprised and never changed His Mind. Mid-game, we moved the goalposts. So G^d had to adjust the rules. Don’t blame Him.

NB: Humans are a bit like the small boy who’s ‘helping daddy’ carrying the banana’s while he’s bringing in the shopping. For daddy, the help is insignificant. But it would be cruel to tell the boy that. So, don’t tell people who need to believe they’re ‘helping G^d’ that He doesn’t need the help. That they’re just building their own character. That would be insensitive.

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