Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Nathan Lopes Cardozo is an influential Orthodox rabbi[1] who writes for the Jerusalem Post and other news websites.[2]
Early life and family
Nathan Lopes Cardozo was born on 26 July 1946 in Amsterdam. Nathan was called after his father's youngest brother who was killed in the Holocaust. His father was a secular Jew who was proud of his Portuguese-Jewish origin. His mother was not Jewish. After his mother's Christian parents died, however, she was raised by the family of Cardozo's father's. Though not halachically Jewish, she was an integrated part of the community and spoke their language. Later on, she saved her husband and his family by hiding them in the center of Amsterdam while it was under Nazi occupation. Many times she risked her life by telling the Nazis that her husband and family were already taken to the concentration camps.
At age sixteen Cardozo converted to Judaism through the Amsterdam Rabbinate, formed by Hacham Rodrigues Pereira, Chief Rabbi Aron Schuster and Rabbi Benjamin Pels.
Cardozo spent the next 12 years studying at various Haredi Yeshivas such as Gateshead Talmudical College.[3][4] He received his semikhah from Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gurwitz, Rosh yeshiva of Gateshead.
Marriage and early career
At the age of 21, he married Freyda Gnesin, a young lady of Easter European descent whom he met in the synagogue of Haarlem.
Cardozo's mother converted to Judaism in her fifties, after being convinced by Cardozo of its beauty. Cardozo then changed his name from Nathan the son of Abraham (being the standard name for someone not born Jewish) to Nathan son of Jacob.
His later career
He currently is dean of the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem.[5]
Cardozo has five children and lives in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Writings
Cardozo has written several books, among them: The Torah as God's Mind, The Infinite Chain, Between Silence and Speech, and The Written and Oral Torah.[6]
References
- ↑ "Centuries after excommunication, time to void ban on Spinoza?". Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "The Jerusalem Post - Nathan Lopes Cardozo". Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "Faculty and Staff". David Cardozo Academy. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "The Kosher Bookworm An autobiography by a Jew who never should have been". The Jewish Star. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "The Jerusalem Post - Nathan Lopes Cardozo". Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "Books authored by Cardozo". Amazon. Retrieved 21 February 2016.