Jews are a small people, and partnership can be valuable
Disclaimer: What follows reflects my personal religious perspective as one Orthodox Jew. I do not claim to speak for all Jews, for Judaism as a whole, or for any other community. Nothing here is intended as a universal command but as my own understanding of how Jews and non-Jews might collaborate for the good of humanity.
Explainer: As I see it, many other nations are built around a shared language, geography, history, culture, or religion. But the Hebrew Bible tells Jews to be a ‘light unto the nations’; a mission then seems the sole raison d’être of the Jewish People. Without that, we could all intermarry and assimilate the Jews away. We are not just a religious community because there are irreligious Jews who completely count. Because we are identified as a nation, our religion must be merely part of our culture and not our essence.
I think we Jews could invite interested non-Jews to take part in our mission. We’re certainly not the only valuable nation, religion, or worldview! For this cooperation, they don’t need to become Jewish (unless they really want to). Additionally, given our small numbers, it may be helpful to be mindful of not inadvertently overshadowing Jewish contributions. I’m thinking of:
1) Encouraging Jews who don’t know much about this mission to explore more Jewish wisdom (they don’t need to become religious unless they really want to) because all of humanity might want to profit from them.
2) Advocating that Gentiles who are interested seek religiously knowledgeable Jews as their teachers, if only because this has been fruitful in the past. I feel that, more than benefiting the Jews, this would benefit humanity as a whole. Yet, teachers learn most from their students, so Jews will gain too.
It would be nice if many Muslims, Evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics, Atheists, and Political, Psychological, and Natural Scientists might reflect on the ways they may already have benefited from Jewish ideas and would start a movement of like-minded people who choose to explore further Jewish religious knowledge, which many Protestants and Catholics are already dedicated to.
One of my hopes is that the Pope might one day call upon Catholics to find Jewish teachers for themselves. A grassroots Catholic movement that advocates this may have this result. In general, I would like it if the leaders of the groups I just mentioned did the same. Rather than waiting for their leaders, their most motivated constituents could initiate change from the ground up.
3) Besides learning from Jews, it would help tremendously if non-Jewish individuals and groups worked toward stopping and uprooting all Jew-hatred, especially close to their homes, literally and figuratively. When you want to get somewhere, it is inefficient to have one foot on the gas and the other on the brakes. Jewish teaching will go better if teachers (and students) don’t need to worry about safety or survival but feel sufficiently safe, defended, valued, respected, and loved throughout.
4) Support from non-Jewish allies can help ease Jewish internal tensions. Facing less hatred from outside often diminishes the strains that can fuel self-hatred, alienation, and attacks on each other. Actively and relaxedly standing by all Jews, none excluded, could bring a lot of peace.
Some individuals from these communities may, on their own, reconsider certain beliefs or behaviors as a result of the additional learning or exposure to Jewish ideas, but that is entirely their personal choice. Jewish teachers, as I see it, should appreciate their students as they are and not try to change or shape their students’ work ethics, lives, or personalities.
None of this is about Jewish glory. It’s all for the good of humanity.
Others will disagree with me, which is fully legitimate.
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
