The seemingly pugnacious Torah teacher, paid by the egalitarian Israeli Defense Forces, reportedly has again spoken up against the scourge of homosexuality. Don’t attack him; he’s not the problem and neither are the prolific writers who feel such a need to profess agreeing with him.
His Perspective
First of all, he assumes to strictly teach heterosexual Orthodox cadets to safeguard traditional Jewish values that are under attack by secularism.
He doesn’t try to attack homosexuals but rather to protect young heterosexual men against the craze of the times: sexual “freedom,” read: easily giving in to masturbation, recreational sex, promiscuity, looseness and sex-addiction. He knows that reserving sex for sexual union with one person is bliss and the rest of it is destructive.
And you know what – he’s right. Not just for Judaism but also psychologically. (Not giving license to stigmatizing, scaring, prosecuting and persecuting sexual licentiousness but still to point out that all such “liberty” in the end, does not lead to happiness but rather enslaves.)
The Real Problem Makers
What happens next is that his words are scrutinized as if he’s speaking to the general public and then leaked to make a scandal.
For sure, among his students are boys who are not heterosexual, but he’s not aware of natural unchangeable sexual orientation (although the great Rabbis Kook and Feinstein (1978) eventually became conscious of “innate” homosexuals), only of heterosexuals choosing to go astray. His ignorance endangers the mental health of some of his students. For them in the first place, his words need additional words of wisdom which he doesn’t speak. But still, he’s not the problem. Who are?
The true culprits are all the Orthodox rabbis jointly who are too ignorant and/or scared and/or indifferent and cold to say: Honestly, our 50-year old interpretation of gays, as if they chose wrongly for sin, us ignoring natural unchangeable sexual orientation, does not work. How could we expect people to cleave to a partner with whom they can’t or hundreds of millions of healthy people to forgo all sexuality? It’s impossible and unhealthy and we don’t know what’s the worse of the two.
Obviously, Jewish Law against homosexuality is only for heterosexuals.
But almost all famous and infamous, leading and regular Orthodox rabbis lack the necessary honesty, bravery and love for their fellow man and Jew to speak out in favor of the evident, the need for homosexuals to form lasting same-sex relationships and enjoy the goodness of their sexuality. They hide behind the fig leaf of traditionalism, while Rabbinic anti-gays sentiments are merely half-a-century-old modernity at best.
For starters, their position is nonsense because G^d and the Sages would not deny reality or make half-a-billion Jews and Gentiles suffer for naught.
The Acting the Injured Innocent
Yet, don’t assume that the secular Israeli public is just fine with gays. In great numbers, yes, but there is still no majority in the Knesset to stop and correct anti-gay laws. Though that’s clearly rooted in recent Biblical exegeses, it’s the secular public that’s still too homophobic to out-vote the tiny minority of Orthodox Members of Knesset on this matter. In fact, there are so many homophobic secular Israelis and so many gay-friendly Orthodox Israelis that one may safely say that it’s largely an individual psychological, not religious, issue who’s a bigot and who’s not.
But if the Rabbis would speak out in droves for rehabilitation of gays, that would sway Israeli and world public opinion. Your regular Orthodox Rabbi keeping silent is deadly. Now they even have a way to speak out anonymously, so there is no excuse. I wouldn’t like to bear their sin.
Meanwhile, the secular world progresses while the Orthodox Rabbis are stuck. How embarrassing. The worst scandal of Judaism in modern time.
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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. *
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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
