If you have very little time, watch the above, masterly clip rather than reading the rest of my post.
I placed a comment under a YouTube clip and someone commented on my comment with name and surname, looking for love from someone like me. Please write to: Gmail address. I mailed the person, asking: Why me? My comment was nothing special and I surely didn’t say much about me.
The answer was stunning. First of all, my question “why me” was ignored. Giant red flag! Then I got a sob story of an RC member of the clergy, dumped by the church in an African warzone as punishment for having an affair at home. They must have concluded that my Jewish surname made it likely I would believe this and feel for this person.
My correspondent was in mortal danger, missed the former love and home, and was so glad to have found me. The funniness continued. Added were pictures of the person in full uniform — a bit older than was claimed. The pictures clearly came from Facebook but without an account address. O, and I forget to mention the surname: Future. Not my future it would be.
What was going on? I asked Gmail for the IP address that the email was sent from. The address turned out from a known scammer who’s been extorting fast sums of money for seven years at least, from many unsuspecting souls around the globe. Luckily, I had formerly seen the above clip on how to keep these people busy. And that’s what I did.
But I added to the program one more point. I didn’t just react to their script. I changed direction. So, when the scammer started talking about gold bars and the gold market (No doubt stumbled upon them and needed some funds from me to send them to me), I said: stress must have cracked you. You’re talking to me about gold? Have you gone mad? You need help. Look at your English. Is this your first language? Are you dyslectic? Nothing against mental patients or dyslectics, of course. I call it: messing up the script. Before they write to you, they have a whole script ready. The more you frustrate that, the more time and effort they need to waste on you.
The scammer volunteered actually having been raised in South Africa with so many languages. I told them that I know Whites from SA and that their English is impeccable. That learning Afrikaans too had only enhanced their language skills. You must have gone mentally sick. Please check with a doctor. And I went on and on how I prayed for a speedy recovery, etc.
I once read that such scammers purposely use such terrible English, to ward off people who are too precise. People who don’t look at syntaxes so clearly, those are the best, the easiest to fool.
I received another sob story from this person so instantaneously in love with me. Father, mother, and only sib found untimely deaths. You get the picture. Someone deserted by the (RC) community with no living relatives.
The last sob story they sent me was of an African prince murdered, his wife dying after religious lessens by my hero and leaving my lovebird with gold bars, now needing my help to get them out of the country for a fresh new start in life. I remarked that a violation of the vows of celibacy is understandable (the flesh is weak), but violating the vows of chastity is not. That all the gold should be sent to me immediately. Nice try, but that unleashed an antisemitic rant, with curses of death!
They may be trying to scam the elderly ruthlessly for money, but hate speech is definitely not bringing in any profit. From this, we see that the scammers are not just coldhearted thieves but also motivated by hatred.
The TED-talk teaches that by keeping them engaged (40+ messages), they can’t bother, scam more victims. I’m sorry I couldn’t stretch it any longer.
The scammer gets from me 100 for creativity and 0 for saintliness. Always when targeted, ask yourself: Why me? And when you ask that question, the answer most likely is: Because I am the next sucker to be tested.
Of course, I reported the scammer to Gmail. It is unclear to me why, after already at least 7 years of scamming, they’re still not in jail.
Unfortunately, I can’t share any of the pictures because they’re all from innocent individuals who have nothing to do with this scamming attempt.
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
