Biography:Mordechai Nessyahu

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Mordechai Nessyahu
מרדכי נסיהו
Mordechai Nessyahu
BornSeptember 25, 1929
DiedApril 23, 1997
OccupationIsraeli Political Theorist, Philosopher of Science
Known forOriginator of worldview "Cosmotheism"

Mordechai "Doskhi" Nessyahu (Hebrew: מרדכי נסיהו; September 25, 1929 – April 23, 1997) was an Israeli political theorist and philosopher of science, as well as the originator of a worldview he called cosmotheism.

Early life and education

Nessyahu was born and raised in Haifa to Tzipora (Feiga) and Naftali Zuchman. His mother, the daughter of a rebbe from the Skver dynasty of rebbes and a descendant of Mordechai Twersky, abandoned the Haredi world and became an atheist, and she had a great influence on shaping his path. He studied at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa. In his youth he was involved in communist activity but abandoned it. He served in the history branch of the IDF, where he where he produced, together with Yehoshua Ben-Arieh and others, the book "History of the War of Independence", the official summary of the War of Independence.[1][2] He studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was in charge of research in the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In his youth he was a member of Mapam.[3] subsequently, he joined Mapai and took part in the activities of "Mapai Youth". He was the editor of its "Ot" academic quarterly of the Alignment and directed the first seven cohorts of Mapai's Institute for Education at Beit Berl. During a sabbatical year he studied at Harvard University and conducted an extensive tour of African countries.

Author and researcher career

While studying physics and philosophy at the Hebrew University, Nessyahu began to formulate the worldview he eventually called cosmotheism, they referred to in some sources as cosmodeism.[4] [5] He exchanged several letters on the subject with Albert Einstein.[3] In 1953 he published a book in Hebrew entitled Cosmic Science and the Scientific Society which became the foundation of his eventual cosmotheistic formulation. Moshe Sharett, soon to be Israel's second prime minister, was so impressed by the book that he shared it with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. As a result, Nessyahu was appointed Director of the Research Department of the Israeli Labor Party.[6]

In the 1960s, Nessyahu supported Ben-Gurion in his political struggles within Mapai and was close to the "Ben-Gurion Youth" (including Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres), but did not leave Mapai with them when Rafi was established. After Dayan and Peres returned to the Labor Party, he joined the "Rafi Brigade" within the Labor Party in 1969. From that period until his retirement, he was head of the research department at Beit Berl.[7]

Nessyahu was often involved in ideological activity and for many years also served as the center of the platform committees for the election campaigns and the editor of the decision files of the Labor Party conferences and the various ideological committees that operated continuously between conferences in the last decades of the twentieth century. Over the years, he often wrote articles on ideological and political topics. During the "waiting period", before the Six-Day War, when Moshe Dayan sought to be appointed commander of the Southern Front, Mordechai Nessyahu, Mordechai Bar-On and Yitzhak Livni met with Dayan to convince him to agree to the demand to appoint him as Minister of Defense.

Nessyahu published five ideological and political books, which experts considered groundbreaking in their time. Moshe Sharett wrote in the introduction about his book "The Scientific Revolution and the Developing World": "An original book... the fruit of in-depth study by an Israeli thinker and researcher, a member of the new generation."[8] Prof. Yehezkel Dror wrote in the introduction about his book "Israel as a Challenge": "The main importance of the book is that it is a pioneering attempt at new thought."

The cosmotheistic hypothesis

Nessyahu postulated that a number of these conscious life-forms will conclude that they must strive to become part of the God-ing of the cosmos. The expansion of conscious life throughout the cosmos will eventually be unfettered by its physical limitations and ultimately conscious life will fill the entire cosmos; it will become co-eval with a cosmos that has dissolved into pure radiation as an inevitable consequence of entropy. Thus the cosmos will become in its entirety a conscious universal being — i.e., the cosmos will have become God. Cosmotheism posits God as the consequence of the cosmos and not as its cause. Not in the beginning God created the cosmos but in the end the evolutionary cosmos will have created God.[9]

Personal and death

In 1962, Nessyahu married Yehudit Nessyahu, one of the first women to hold a senior position in the Mossad.[2] She took part in Adolf Eichmann's capture as "Dina Ron".[2] Their only son, Chaim "Haymi" Nessyahu, was born in 1964 and became a doctor of mathematics. He died in his sleep while hiking in Nepal in 1994. During that time, Nesyahu retired and his health weakened and deteriorated. He died in 1997.

Publications

(all in Hebrew)

Books

  • Mada Ha'Cosmos ve-Hevrat Ha'Mada (Cosmic Science and the Scientific Society); Tel Aviv: Katavim, 1953
  • Shtei Drachim Vaderech (Two Roads and the Road); Tel Aviv: Ayanot, 1954[10]
  • Darkah shel Mapai (The Way of Mapai); Israel: Beit Berl, 1958
  • Ha-Mahapekhah ha-mada'it ṿeha-olam ha-mitpate'aḥ (The Scientific Revolution and the Developing World); Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1965[11]
  • Yiśrael ke-etgar: mi-20 la-medinah li-shenat 2000 (Israel as a challenge: from the State's 20th anniversary to the year 2000). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1969
  • Peace Time, Facts and Thoughts on the Oslo Track. Israel, 1994
  • Ḳosmoteizm (Cosmotheism). Ramat Gan: Poeṭiḳah, 1997

Articles

  • Mekhon Lehaskala Uleheker Tnu'at HaAvoda, Davar, 13 May 1955
  • Haprisha Umashma'uta (The Departure and its Significance), Davar, 9 July 1965[12]
  • Tafkidei Hamiflaga Hame'uhedet, Davar, 1 September 1967
  • Sipuach HaGada (Annexation of the Westbank), Al Hamishmar, 20 March 1970[13]
  • Lo Shalom De-Yure ella Hesder De-Facto (Not De-Jure Peace Bu a De-Facto Arrangement), Al Hamishar, 6 April 1970[14][15]
  • הוויכוח ב"עבודה" על עתיד הגדה, דבר, 17 בנובמבר 1972
  • מטרות חברתיות לטווח ארוך, דבר, 3 במרץ 1972
  • מנהיגות אידאולוגית מעוגנת במציאות, דבר, 31 בדצמבר 1973

References

  1. ↑ Eyal, Igal. "מבוא". in Zalmanovich, Boaz. קרבות מלחמת יום העצמאות: מפות ומבצעים, תש"ח-תש"ט - 1949-1947. https://www.idf.il/media/nzsbdhaw/%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%A6%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%93%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%99%D7%91.pdf. "האלבום לא יכול היה לצאת אל האור ולידיעת הציבור בישראל ללא עבודת המחקר הממושכת והאחראית של העוסקים במלאכה: פרופ' יהושע בן־אריה יבדל"א, מרדכי נסיהו (דוקשי) ז"ל, תנחום (טדי) פרויס ז"ל וד"ר אל"ם (בדימוס) מרדכי ("מורלה") בר־און יבדל"א, אשר פיקד על ענף ההיסטוריה באותם הימים" 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blau, Uri (18 September 2008). "יהודית נסיהו היא דינה רון, האשה שחטפה את אדולף אייכמן". Haaretz. https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/2008-09-18/ty-article/0000017f-e09c-d75c-a7ff-fc9d4e730000. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ben Ze'ev, Avraham (30 September 1953). "איינשטיין כותב ל'דוקשי'" (in he). Maariv. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/mar/1953/09/30/01/article/28. 
  4. ↑ Taylorian, Brandon (2024). "Astronism, Cosmism and Cosmodeism: An Analysis of the Space Religions espousing Transcension". Journal of Astronist Studies (Elsevier). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4926676. "This transformation of the cosmos which human beings have the opportunity to benefit from is called the Cosmotheistic Hypothesis which was originally developed by Israeli political theorist and philosopher Mordecai Nessyahu. The reason for Bisk’s present work is his attempt to fully transition Nessyahu’s Cosmotheistic Hypothesis into Cosmodeism.". 
  5. ↑ Bisk, Tsvi; Dror, Moshe (2003). "A Brief Introduction to the Cosmotheistic Hypothesis of Mordechai Nessyahu". Futurizing the Jews: Alternative Futures for Meaningful Jewish Existence in the 21st Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780313056819. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Futurizing_the_Jews/wkksEQAAQBAJ. 
  6. ↑ Yehoshua, Ben-Zion; Kedar, Aharon, eds (1978) (in he). אידיאולוגיה ומדיניות ציונית. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center. https://kotar.cet.ac.il/KotarApp/Viewer.aspx?nBookID=93952834. 
  7. ↑ Kadosh, Orna (25 April 1986). "בובה של מדינה" (in he). HaIr: p. 18. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/hairtlv/1986/04/25/01/article/36.1/. 
  8. ↑ Nessyahu, Mordechai (1965). המהפכה המדעית והעולם המתפתח. Tel Aviv: Am Oved. 
  9. ↑ Bisk, Tsvi (26 September 2025). "Religion? In The Space Age?". Sci Phi Journal (Brussels). "In the words of Israeli thinker Mordechai Nessyahu “not ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,’ but ‘in the end an evolving Cosmos will have created God'”. This would be Cosmodeism – the veneration of the Godness of existence as such.". 
  10. ↑ Avineri, Shlomo (27 December 1955). "לברור הסוציאליזם" (in he) (review). Hapoel Hatzair (Tel Aviv: Mapai) 49 (15): 10. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/hhr/1955/12/27/01/. 
  11. ↑ Eyal, A.S. (21 May 1956). "מדעי החברה: הסוציאליזם בימינו" (in he) (review). LaMerhav (Tel Aviv) 11 (3391): p. 5, 6. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/lmrv/1965/05/21/01/article/38/. 
  12. ↑ Wolfenson, Avraham (19 July 1965). "מ'מעוט' לרשימה עצמאית" (opinion). Davar (Tel Aviv) 41 (12204): p. 3. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dav/1965/07/19/01. 
  13. ↑ Oren, Mordechai (27 March 1970). "סיפוח מוסווה של הגדה נוסח מ. נסיהו" (opinion). Al Hamishmar (Tel Aviv) 27 (8130). https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/ahr/1970/03/27/01/article/32/. 
  14. ↑ Amitai, Yossi (6 April 1970). "ביקורת מוצדקת; טיעון מוטעה" (in he) (opinion). Al Hamishmar (Tel Aviv) 27 (8138): p. 3. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/ahr/1970/04/06/01/article/56/. 
  15. ↑ Oren, Mordechai (6 April 1970). "תשובת מרדכי אורן למ. נסיהו וי. אמיתי" (in he) (opinion). Al Hamishmar (Tel Aviv) 27 (8138): p. 3. https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/ahr/1970/04/06/01/article/56/. 



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