When the wine is in the chap, the wisdom is in the jug—Dutch saying
The headline means: Distrust lavish praise. If it’s really so good, much acclaim is unnecessary. Much acclamation might hint it’s not that good.
The liver detoxifies the blood from the intestines before it flows into the general circulation. That is important because some gut bacteria make tiny amounts of alcohol (just like animals exude CO2), alcohol easily passes all bodily barriers, and then hampers proper brain function. Yet, the liver was not designed bearing in mind that people would drink alcohol.
The idolatry called democracy with its Idol of Freedom still tries to protect itself by obligating warnings on bottles of alcohol. The alcohol industry, with as poor a morality as the weapon industry, found a nice way around that one. It puts its bottles in boxes with ‘funny’ slogans making light of this major killer of brain power, road safety, mobility, and longevity.
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I found such a box and I will quote here its ‘wisdom.’
“I DRINK to make other people more interesting.” Never mind that tipsy people are the least interesting creatures on earth and all self-absorbed.
“I like to see the glass as half full, hopefully of XXX [let’s not promote any poison maker].” When your brain shuts down, this is probably funny.
“Reality is an ILLUSION created by a lack of ALCOHOL.” This is the truth upside-down since drinking alcohol is the ultimate general escapism.
“TO ALCOHOL! The cause of… and the solution of… all of life’s problems.” The profoundness seems geared towards befuddled minds. Do you drink because you have problems, or do you have problems because you drink?
“Everybody should believe in something, I believe I’ll have another drink…” The pun must be hilarious when your brain power has shut down to 3%.
Drinking alcohol is no fun. It does not help. It postpones dealing with problems and gives additional complications to handle.
Russian Jews should not drink vodka. Mizrachic Jews should not drink arak. German Jews should not drink beer. French Jews should not drink wine.
The safe amount of alcohol per year is 0 glasses. Even ignoramus Trump knows. His brother drank himself to death.
***
When I was a medical student in the ’70s, our teachers had a novel idea: a multidisciplinary alcohol lecture series of two weeks: 4x5x2 lessons. Neurologists have as much to say about alcohol consumption as internists, psychiatrists, cardiologists, nutritionists, anatomists, etc. It was interesting.
You should know that, in the Netherlands, you are strange if you don’t drink alcohol every day. I noticed that each lecturer had his own norm for how much alcohol consumption is still OK and when it becomes a health problem. So, I started asking each of them after their contribution two questions. 1. Do you think the teachers’ norms of how much alcohol is still healthy are related to how much they drink themselves? And 2. If I may ask, how much do you drink? After the first day, when I raised my hand after each lecture, my colleagues started giggling already because they knew what was coming. It seemed that my idea was valid because the teachers who found 3 glasses too much drank 2 glasses. The ones who found 4 consumptions a day too much drank 3. But the final proof was the professor who answer me: I guess, from your question, you don’t drink.
My parents were socialists and being tipsy is as bad for the revolution as being opium addicted. But, because non-Jews drank so much, they taught us kids that not drinking alcohol is a proud way to resist assimilation.
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. Of the 15 (!) books he has in mind, the next two are about homosexuality in Judaism and new rabbinics. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2600 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 that also may contain updates to Times of Israel posts, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
He's getting ready to publicize books on: "Free Will, "Judaism and Homosexuality, "His parents in the Holocaust, "Judaism, "A New Torah Translation and "A New Hebrew Grammar, "Co-Counseling, "Vegan Facts, "Immortality, and more. *
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 agrees that in a post-truth world, that's irrelevant, but then this is for the record. 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. His posts are spell, grammar, and style polished by AI, but all written by himself. *
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
