Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Nathan Lopes Cardozo was born in Amsterdam and named 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.[https://www.skjaskoll.com/jewish-tradition-halacha-have-become-stagnant-an-interview-with-rabbi-nathan-lopes-cardozo/ Jewish tradition & Halacha have become stagnant: An Interview with Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo] His mother was an orphan. When her Christian parents died, she was raised by Jewish family members and became part of the community and spoke their language. During the Holocaust, she saved her husband and his family by hiding them in her apartment 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.

Due to his birth to a non-Jewish mother, Cardozo was technically not halakhically Jewish (natural-born Jewish status is conferred through one’s mother), but at age sixteen he formally converted to Judaism through the Amsterdam Rabbinate, formed by Hacham Salomon Rodrigues Pereira, Chief Rabbi Aron Schuster and Rabbi Benjamin Pels. His mother later converted to Judaism as well.

Cardozo spent the next 12 years studying at various Haredi Yeshivas such as Gateshead Talmudical College.{{cite web|title=Faculty and Staff|url=http://www.cardozoacademy.info/about-us/faculty-and-staff/|website=David Cardozo Academy|accessdate=21 February 2016}}{{cite news|title=The Kosher Bookworm An autobiography by a Jew who never should have been|url=http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/The-Kosher-BookwormAn-autobiography-by-a-Jew-who-never-should-have-been,4097?page=1&content_source=|accessdate=21 February 2016|agency=The Jewish Star}} He received his semikhah from Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gurwitz, Rosh yeshiva of Gateshead. He later received his Doctorate in Philosophy from Columbia Pacific University.{{Cite web |title=Dr. Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo {{!}} TheTorah.com |url=https://www.thetorah.com/author/nathan-lopes-cardozo |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=www.thetorah.com}}

Cardozo is the Founder and Dean of the David Cardozo Academy and the Bet Midrash of Avraham Avinu in Jerusalem. The academy is named for his great-great-grandfather, Rabbi David Cardozo, who was Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam's Portuguese-Spanish Synagogue.[https://www.jewishtelegraph.com/prof_277.html RABBI WANTS SHABBAT RESTAURANTS AND TRANSPORT] Cardozo is the author of 13 books and numerous articles in both English and Hebrew.[https://www.crescas.nl/columns/webcolumnlopescardozo/ce4oz/An-interview-with-Rabbi-Cardozo-Taking-issue/ An interview with Rabbi Cardozo: Taking issue] He heads a Think Tank focused on finding new Halachic and philosophical approaches to dealing with the crisis of religion and identity amongst Jews and the Jewish State of Israel.[https://elmad.pardes.org/2016/11/lonely-but-not-alone-a-film-on-the-incredible-life-of-rabbi-dr-nathan-lopes-cardozo-qa/ Lonely but Not Alone: A film on the incredible life of Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo – Q&A]

Some view Cardozo's opinions on the tenets of Judaism as not compatible with conventional Orthodox thought and custom. Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, a rabbinic coordinator for the Orthodox Union, said that Cardozo has "accepted the approach of the Conservative movement, which postulates that Halacha is not objective divine truth, is not fixed, and that it must change in accordance with the values of the times and with various needs."{{Cite news|last=Gordimer|first=Avrohom|title=No, Rabbi Cardozo, the Torah is Not Flawed|work=Cross-Currents|url=https://cross-currents.com/2016/10/30/no-rabbi-cardozo-the-torah-is-not-flawed/}}

Notably, Cardozo believes that the biblical prohibition against two men engaging in homosexual acts only applies to those who [https://www.jta.org/2019/05/27/israel/first-openly-gay-orthodox-rabbi-ordained-in-jerusalem.html are purely heterosexual].

Cardozo's ideas are debated social media, blogs, books and other forums.{{cite news|title=The Jerusalem Post - Nathan Lopes Cardozo|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com |url=http://www.jpost.com/Author/Nathan-Lopes-Cardozo|accessdate=21 February 2016}}

Cardozo maintains that his views remain within the acceptable realm of Orthodoxy and on numerous occasions distanced them from the Reform & Conservative movements.{{Cite web|title= The Philosophy and Purpose of Thoughts to Ponder|date=3 June 2021|url=https://www.cardozoacademy.org/the-philosophy-and-purpose-of-thoughts-to-ponder/|accessdate=7 March 2022}}{{Cite web|title= My Chareidi and Modern Orthodox Struggles|url=https://www.cardozoacademy.org/thoughtstoponder/my-chareidi-and-modern-orthodox-struggles/|accessdate=7 March 2022}}{{Cite web|title= Faith & Defiance - Chapter 8: Making Sense of a Mixed Marriage|url=https://www.cardozoacademy.org/faith-and-defiance/chapter-8-making-sense-of-a-mixed-marriage/

|accessdate=7 March 2022}}

At the age of 21, he married Freyda Gnesin, a woman of Eastern European descent whom he met in the synagogue of Haarlem.[https://www.cardozoacademy.org/faith-and-defiance/chapter-11-my-father-spinoza-and-i/ Chapter 11: My Father, Spinoza and I] After his mother's conversion to Judaism, Cardozo changed his name from Nathan the son of Abraham (being the standard name for someone not born Jewish) to Nathan son of Jacob.

Cardozo has five children and lives in the Bayit V'Gan neighborhood of Jerusalem.[https://www.skjaskoll.com/jewish-tradition-halacha-have-become-stagnant-an-interview-with-rabbi-nathan-lopes-cardozo/ Jewish tradition & Halacha have become stagnant: An Interview with Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo]

• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/9657108403 Thoughts to Ponder: Daring Observations About the Jewish Tradition]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00850DCBQ The Torah as God's Mind]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/9657108284 Judaism on Trial: An Unconventional Discussion about Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel]
• [https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH990011442620205171/NLI The Infinite Chain]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568213360 Between Silence and Speech]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010EW2WGI Crisis, Covenant and Creativity: Jewish Thoughts for a Complex World]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/965524010X For the Love of Israel and the Jewish People: Essays and Studies on Israel, Jews and Judaism]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/9655241149 The Tent of Avraham: Gleanings from the David Cardozo Academy]
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010WFC8FC The Written and Oral Torah].{{cite web|title=Books authored by Cardozo|url=https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00J8UMWEA|website=Amazon|accessdate=21 February 2016}}

In 2016, Cardozo wrote an Introduction to the Nehalel Siddur,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nehalel.com/contentsnbctext.html|title=ContentsNBCtext|website=www.nehalel.com|access-date=2016-08-14}} and a foreword for A Damaged Mirror: A story of memory and redemption.{{Cite web|url=http://www.damaged-mirror.com/about-the-book/rabbi-nathan-lopes-cardozos-foreword-to-a-damaged-mirror/|title=Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo's Foreword to A Damaged Mirror|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829032817/http://www.damaged-mirror.com/about-the-book/rabbi-nathan-lopes-cardozos-foreword-to-a-damaged-mirror/|archive-date=2016-08-29|url-status=dead}} His autobiography, Lonely But Not Alone, was released in late 2016.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/9655241696 "Lonely But Not Alone: A Spiritual Autobiography"] A film bearing the same name, Lonely But Not Alone, was made about his life.[https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/opinions/a-timid-hero/ A timid hero]

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Category:1946 births

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Category:Dutch Orthodox rabbis