The headline of the latest anti-Semitic story in Haaretz is “Was Jesus the Real Villain in the Purim Story? This Israeli Scholar Thinks So” but it was first headed and sent around as “The secret anti-Christian history of Purim” as can be still seen from its URL. The original headline suggests that Jews have a concealed understanding of Purim, the Feast of the fall of our greatest enemy, as being against Jesus and Christianity. This is of course not true. Here is an Israeli professor staged who reads this self-invented hidden meaning into the classical text.
The text is only for paid subscribers, as with most of Haaretz anti-Zionist (euphemism!) articles (see below). My search engine found about it: “Yuval does not think this ‘Purim’ connection is a coincidence. It wasn’t only the Jews who tended to equate Haman with Jesus; so did the Christians. Michelangelo’s painting of a crucified Haman, found in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, is ‘a famous demonstration of this understanding.'”
Never mind that Jews for Jesus can prove to you that Jesus celebrated Purim. If the Festival is so old, how can it be anti-Christian at all?
It is always interesting to see how hatred against Jews is fermented.
Now, there nothing new under the sun and that is true for spreading Jews’ hatred too, of course. To the day, 14 years earlier, the same paper published “The Crucifixion – of Haman.” That was not yet in the era that it hid its anti-Jewish messages behind a paywall, so we can simply read it.
It claims that 16 centuries ago (!), regular Jews celebrated anti-Christian texts on Purim. It analyses this as a way to “let off steam” but fails to mention that if this at all happened, it is wholly unknown to present-day Jews.
The Byzantines were among our most cruel enemies ever. They forbid Jews to ritualistically burn effigies of Haman on our holiday as that would refer to Jesus. Their claim obviously doesn’t make it credible.
Reminds me of the man who was accused of calling the Tsar a donkey. I wasn’t referring to the Tsar, you honor, tried the defendant. But the judge was unrelenting. Who else could you have meant to call a donkey?!
The article also brings up the well-known anti-Semite prominent Church reformer Martin Luther denouncing the Purim Fest. A great character witness!
It even says that the lofty Festival has a “folk character.” Enough already!
It’s a totally other thing, of course, to compare the execution of Haman and his sons to the Nuremberg Trials of 1948.
***
The JTA told us recently that 100 years of Haaretz will be digitized and available to the public. I tell you that it will not be.
How does Haaretz manage not only daily to spread it’s extremely anti-Zionist views around the globe but also lies, propaganda and anti-Israel blood libels with impunity? And the handful of loony leftists could never finance such an enterprise. It has several tricks.
1. It has a Hebrew version printed and delivered in Israel that pays for its hate-filled English online edition. It tickles intellectuals with excellent stories about archeology, medicine, science and art. It also has hateful headlines as the online version but less so. And it doesn’t matter anyway because intellectual academic subscribers take extremism from the left with a truckload of salt as just youthful rebelliousness, it seems.
2. The English online version hides all its anti-Zionist articles behind a paywall. This way, paying subscribers can read as many lies and fables about Israel and the Middle East as they want while the average Internet browser only sees the decent or intellectually tantalizing articles. Just go to its homepage and click on any article about Israel; almost always: only for pay. The rest can be read by anyone. Try it yourself at any day.
3. It is extremely difficult to prosecute hatred. Freedom of the Press in the democratic world is so holy – and rightly so – that slander and lies generally go unpunished. That is self-defeating but that’s the situation. The Press is important in the free world but it answers to no one.
Forget about Haaretz having a democratic bent. It never allows any comment by me on its site, even on non-political articles.
And now they want us to believe that Haaretz is going to permit the academic world to put all their hundred years online for all to see. It will not happen. The older issues, why not? But the recent news, no way. And not for the money. It asks a truly minimal fee for reading their anti-Zionist propaganda. But it will not go public. That would reveal for all to see that what many outside of Israel regard as critical but fair Middle-East reporting is, in fact, worthless hatred put to words. You can quote me.
Maybe you would think that I’m a rabid hater of the left. That would be strange because I blog all the time against sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. And you should see my seething blog posts against the Jerusalem Post. No, I hate dishonesty and Jews’ hatred (as my bio below says) from wherever it comes. I have nothing against an honest extremist pose (if it’s not oppressive or violent). But I can’t stand people who defend their positions with lies or oppression.
I did a lot of hasbarah and so I learned how much damage Haaretz does abroad. That deserves to be fought, like any bigotry or slander.
Haaretz is Haman.
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
