With horror, I read the ‘news’ of plans for a Worldwide Christian prayer session for Israel set to go live for Hanukkah.
For those who are tone-deaf to my revulsion, the following comparison.
Just imagine Caucasians worldwide setting out to help non-Whites to think clearly. So racist!
How in the world, 70 years after Auschwitz, the moral bankruptcy of Europe, over half a century after Vatican II, do so many fundamentalist Christians still feel superior to the Jews? And are not even ashamed to say so out loud. As if they have to key to G^d’s heart and we Jews don’t.
We’re not talking about praying for Atheists (which is already so condescending) or Polytheists (do they really still exist?). No, Gentiles praying for Jews, the apple of G^d’s Eye.
Christian supremacy at its best, as always disguised as love. Disgusting!
A chutzpah that even Pharaoh didn’t commit. He didn’t have the audacity to tell Moses: I’ll pray for you. Of course, he asked Moses to pray for him.
I will give you an example to show I’m not exaggerating. One of the organizers remarked: “Hanukkah is prophetically significant, the Festival of Dedication, because Jesus himself celebrated it.” Without a Christian certification, Jewish holidays have no significance to her. And she doesn’t even know that Jesus celebrated all Jewish Festivals. You’d almost pity her.
You hypocrites (not all Christians!), go spend some time every week to end Christian supremacy and other forms of antisemitism in your own house!
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I like how Christianity calls upon their followers to lead a moral life, just like Islam does (though they each could use a return to the Jews to have a check-up and update on their present beliefs and teachings). These world-dominating religions clearly have a valid, constructive, and loving core.
I really admire and love so many sincere Christians I met who are humble, busy with helping others and being honest and kind, and determined to improve how they relate to themselves, their close ones, and far ones.
But when some start to trash the Jews, those who gave them most of their religion, one wonders. How can they follow a Jew of 2,000 years ago and with a straight face reject the Jews of now as being inferior to them?
Do they really think that Jewish Prayer is less powerful? That G^d is closer to them than to us? Really? Does Hell really have space for so many?
Being a friend of the Jews comes naturally almost to no one. Only if one’s family or congregation has held a true admiration of Jews. Prominent peaceful resistance Christian leaders who closely worked with the Jews, like Martin Luther King jr., Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi (his boyfriend was a Jew), may have prime followers who say really antisemitic things.
We Jews urgently need to pray more for them. That any heartlessness, hatred, and condescension among them will diminish and that their eyes, ears, and hearts will open to eternal truth, honesty, and the Heavenly teachings that we also received to teach them, soon and in our days.
And in case you now think that I’m being un-humble: When women, non-Whites, children, blue-color workers, LGBTQIA+, Jews, and every other oppressed group retake their rightful respected place under the sun and in society, that is not arrogance. That is progress, justice, and truth.
Our true Christian friends could help us to get to more unity among Jews. Out divisiveness is closely related to the hatred we have endured from outside. Such mediation is always helpful and noble. But they can help because they are outsiders to our stress, not because they are superior.
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
