Is God an anti-woke Sexist?

Why are His pronouns He, Him?

He (!) created humans in His image, male and female He (!) created them.

G^d is Not a Person

Everything in Hebrew is gendered. There is no neuter (it) in Hebrew. Designating pronouns for G^d (He, Him) doesn’t mean He’s gendered.

I want to suggest that everything is gendered in Hebrew to say, Don’t stay alone. Even G^d is suggested to team up with the Jewish People.

Gender in the Torah

The first question should not be why G^d is gendered male but why there are so few women in the Torah.

Let me suggest that women generally are not the problem. And even when women are the problem, many times men pushed them to that outcome. When men shape up, women will easily run ahead of us.

Then, G^d as a Father figure is a potent role model for men.

Gender in the Prayers

Our pronouns in the Hebrew Prayers are mostly we, us. Hebrew needs the male plural, which includes women because a female plural excludes men.

Gender in Judaism

Men have many more Commandments than women. Affirmative action. The socially strong must be kept in check. Too much comfort is bad.

Could G^d be Our Mother, Our Queen?

I don’t see a problem with heterosexual women and homosexual men thinking of G^d firstly as female. But heterosexual men should not.

***

Shockingly, an Israeli employed as an Orthodox rabbi now claims that G^d is also female. Utter twaddle, of course. Even when we use a female word for G^d in our Prayers, the Shechinah, it reads: His G^dly Presence.

His proofs? A Psalms 131, which doesn’t mention G^d at all, and Chapter 54 of Isaiah, the Prophets’ reading of this Shabbat. But the ‘female’ who comforts us there is not G^d but Jerusalem! And the verses he quotes are Isaiah 49:15–17, outside this reading. And there, it says that a woman may forget her child, but G^d won’t. So, G^d is not like a regular woman.

To make matters worse, he suggests that G^d can be as caring as a mother. Has he never heard of fatherly care or warmth? Terrible!

At the beginning of his piece, he discusses Deuteronomy 22:6-7, which is in today’s weekly Torah portion, commanding us to send away the mother bird before taking her eggs or chicks she was roosting. (Our act of kindness is completed when we immediately put back the chicks, or eggs so that the mother bird doesn’t return to an empty nest.) Yet, this talks about our compassion, not G^d’s. Though you could say that this Commandment is meant to teach us compassion, the Talmud warns us that we should not assume that, if we are compassionate here, we are entitled to pray for compassion, as its prime aim, as with all Commandments, is to obey G^d.

But now he goes overboard completely, assuming that compassion sits with the mother. He seems unaware that in some species, the males sit on the eggs, or young, or share this parental duty with the female.

In fact, the Zohar advises us in the Diaspora not to send the mother bird away, so that it will complain to G^d, and He’d think, the exile is too harsh.

In a dignified ending, he wishes that G^d will be as merciful to us as the mothers Rachel Polin-Goldberg and Racheli Frankel. Oddly, he leaves out our Matriarch Rachel, whom the Rabbis see as the most merciful one.

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