I heard Rabbi Cardozo speak, recently. He had a new idea, I noticed. The man keeps learning and thinking and the newest book he is focussing on is the Mei haShiloach. New ideas are bound to happen.
He suggested that Jews only came around when Humankind get so lost that G^d had to take a special measure. Jews are then here to help everyone make it and help cooperate to realize Paradise on Earth.
But, he suggested, when everything works well and tikun ‘olam has finished, the would have no need for Jews anymore. Just as the world started without Jews, it might also end without us as a special People.
I doubt it and I have a reason for that.
Children should honor their parents. However, it has always been clear to me that I don’t need my kids to deeply respect me. They need that. Once they see me as nothing special, they won’t have respect for anyone anymore. I see my relationships with ‘my’ children evolve more and more in the direction of us being friends. But never to the extent that I’m just one of their acquaintances or even best friends. They’d better be as amazed about me as I am (by now) about my parents.
And likewise, I don’t think Jews so much need the respect of the world. Gentiles need to respect us, for what G^d gave them came through us.
So, Jews will need to stay around forever. In the End, not to perfect the world anymore. But once the world is perfect, we still need to be here so that people can express their gratitude to us — for their sake.
The world cannot be perfect yet as long as there is no general gratefulness for G^d and the Jews.
We are not going anywhere. I thought at first.
But we can honor our parents also when they stopped parenting or are no longer around. So why do Jews need to stay around to honor them?
So maybe, when all is fine and dandy with the human being, when Paradise and Utopia are reached, maybe then we would discontinue to keep Commandments, can assimilate and intermarry?
But in any case, I don’t see a perfect world emerge any time soon. We’re still about to go extinct from greed and immorality, from climate change to nuclear war. So, for now, we Jews need to intensify and speed up keeping all Commandments and bring all human beings more of G^d’s Word — including and prominently about how to relate better to each other.
Together with all Gentiles trying to pass on as much as we understand.
NB: More than all Jews should start keeping Shabbat during this coronavirus pandemic, all religious people should inform themselves and start keeping distance from each other. That is what G^d demands.
Christians and Muslims may act better than Jews
At the same meeting spoke Rabbi Yitz Greenburg. He inspired me to write down some of what he said and add to it.
Christians and Muslims are the Jews’ prime students. And we know that we learn a lot from our teachers but even more from our colleagues but most we will learn from our students. But still, it should come as a shock to most Jews that some groups of Monotheists are ahead of us. Not because we are so competitive but rather because we have a Mission to accomplish. The Ten Commandments (and all their derivates) were given in no man’s land because they need to be taught to everyone.
Celibacy — We Jews don’t do that. Some priests report that it can’t be done. But many still try. What Jew would even try? (Except for some misguided Gay Jews?) We think it’s inhumane and unnecessarily harsh. But we can still admire the people who try.
Caring for people with severe brain damage — How many Jews have the patience for that? We don’t have to berate ourselves for running from this but at least we may admire selfless loving people who do this daily.
Loving Jews — You can be a Jew and hate Jews but you can’t be a proper Evangelical Christian and do that.
Not being scared of dying — Jews know better than anyone how dear life on earth is. Still, we are not commanded to be scared of dying. Many of us are, but many Muslims are not. It is not true that we need a fear of death to stay alive. A love for life would do. As many Muslims show.
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
