"Sensing the Wonder and Mystery of existence" ? - Year 4 Day 113

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 113

“Faith in God cannot be forced upon man. The issue is not only lack of faith but the vulgarization of faith, the misunderstanding and abuse of freedom. Our effort must involve a total reorientation about the nature of man and the world. And our hope lies in the certainty that all men are capable of sensing the wonder and mystery of existence and that all men have a capacity for reverence.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 20)

Reading and re-reading the words in bold above sadden me, enrage me, and leave me wondering what happened between the delivery of this talk, Rabbi Heschel’s teaching at both JTS and Union Theological Seminary, his friendship with MLK, his anti-Vietnam protesting and what we are experiencing today. What was the reason people wanted to believe the bullshit of televangelists rather than the truth and wisdom of people like Rabbi Heschel, the Berrigan Brothers, Rev. King, et al? How many times does humankind have to suffer the consequences and indignities of wanna be autocrats, real autocrats, and become enslaved to the rich and powerful before We the People say ENOUGH???

Religion is part of the problem unfortunately. Not religion per se, rather the way the ‘leaders of religious orders/movements’ have engaged in the “vulgarization of faith, the misunderstanding and abuse of freedom” as we discussed yesterday. The “total reorientation about the nature of man and the world” has to begin with the lying Bastards who proclaim ‘I know the word of god, I know the will of god’, making their will into God’s will and wanting people to worship them, not Christ, not Adonai, not Allah; these mendacious masters along with the Trump-Putin-Orban-Ayatollah-MBS crowd of autocrats are leading We the People in a “reorientation about the nature of man and the world” that is totally false, totally self-seeking and self-serving, totally against the authentic “nature of man and the world”. While we all have a Yetzer HaRa, an ‘evil’ inclination, as we find in the Cain and Abel story; “negativity desires you much and you can rule/master it”. One could say it is in our capability to do evil, to give into the evil ways we learn in our youth yet, the Bible teaches we don’t have to, we have a choice and those who claim we are born in sin, we are all sinners, etc miss the point the Bible is teaching, miss the point of Rabbi Heschel’s words above, miss the point of “I have a Dream”, miss the point of “judging a person on their character rather than the color of their skin”.

Religion is supposed to be leading this charge, hence Rabbi Heschel speaking at a conference on “Religion in a Free Society” in 1958; 67 years ago this need for We the People to engage in this “reorientation” was acknowledged, again as the Prophets acknowledged so long ago. Yet, We the People did not listen, instead we used and received religion as something to soothe us, something to caress us and lull us into some benign stupor. Religion is here to uproot us, it is a gift that allows us to reorient ourselves to the “true north” of being human, the honor and privilege of being a “partner with God” in the upkeep, discovery, and creativity of our world. It is past time for people to join Rev William Barber and pray at the Capital, it is time for We the People to protest and demand from LYING TED CRUZ, Cowardly Josh Hawley et al to put their money where their mouth is-if they are so concerned with ‘anti-christian bias’ why do they arrest a Preacher who is praying to Christ?? The absurdity is not lost on me. Where are the Clergy protesting this travesty of Justice when the insurrectionists are pardoned and called ‘heroes’ by the asshole in the White House and his henchmen/women, and an authentic Man of Faith is arrested for praying in “ the People’s House”. WTF??

We the People are being called to do two seemingly opposite actions at the same time; have hope and have certainty. If I am certain, why would I need hope one might ask. Certainty is the “firm conviction that something is the case, something is reliably true” and hope is defined as “a feeling of trust”. Neither of these are absolutes, yet they go together much better than one would think at first blush. Rabbi Heschel is coaching us to live into the “certainty” of our capability “of sensing the mystery and wonder of existence”. This teaching is calling to our souls, to our inner faith and knowing that humanity can rise above the lies, the obliviousness, the snake-oil sales pitches of the Clergy and their masters/slaves who are in power today in the U.S, Israel, Hungary, etc. This teaching is the essence of the religious life, it encapsulates the entire Bible, its message and its paths. As We the People say about the Bible: “It is a tree of life to all that grasp it, its ways are ways of pleasantness, all of its paths are peace.” Even the Rabbis of old knew that there is more than one way to understand and live into the Bible and they tell us this in the prayer we say before closing the Ark after reading the Torah. We the People have within us the capability to change course of our living, change the course of the nature of humankind, change the orientation of people towards doing the next right thing instead of the next expedient selfish action. We the People have the technology and the GPS guide, the Bible and its offshoots. Isn’t it time we demand they be used to solve our current and future problems, our current and future hatreds, our current and future autocratic enslavements??

I am enraged about Rev. Barber-full stop. I am totally pissed off at the Rabbis who, since 1958, have failed to heed the words of Rabbi Heschel and keep giving students bullshit pap-be it as dogma in some centers of Jewish Learning or be it ‘nice stories’ as in other centers of Jewish Learning. To be a Jew is to be obligated, to owe a debt that is never repaid, to honor the commitment of Na’Aseh V’Nishma, we will do and we will understand. This was so hard for me for so many years, I knew this to be true and my anger, resentment, experience of being alone in the world after my father’s death drowned out the truth my soul was begging me to hear. The actions I took because of anger, resentment, aloneness, and booze make me shiver and, while I have made my amends to the people I could, I have ‘paid my debt to society’, I know I was betraying the debt I had. I have been paying my debt for the past 37+ years, I have experienced the “reorientation” Rabbi Heschel is speaking about and I have been engaged in helping another(s) experience their own “reorientation” as well. It is an honor to be alive and I dedicate each day to learning new ways to reorient myself to honor my being in the Image of the divine. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Vulgarization of faith, misunderstanding and abuse of freedom leads us to... Year 4 Day 112

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 112

“Faith in God cannot be forced upon man. The issue is not only lack of faith but the vulgarization of faith, the misunderstanding and abuse of freedom. Our effort must involve a total reorientation about the nature of man and the world. And our hope lies in the certainty that all men are capable of sensing the wonder and mystery of existence and that all men have a capacity for reverence.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 20)

In the Haggadah we read from on Passover there is the terrible ‘story’ of the four sons, wherein both the “wise” son and the “evil” son ask the same question and, for some unknown reason, the Rabbis decided to make one of the son’s “evil”. They seem to be going against the first sentence above, “faith in God cannot be forced upon man”. Yet, it is not only the Rabbis of antiquity who go against the first sentence above, we see this phenomenon in every faith where fundamentalists rule and, truth be told, in every spiritual discipline that has a fundamentalist sect to it! This “forced” belief in God and “faith” in God has never worked so well, the Church tried it, and we ended up with the Spanish Inquisition which led to the downfall of Spain. While one could say there was success, what really happened was a sense of enslavement by the people for whom “faith in God” was being “forced” upon them and, in many instances, beautiful spiritual traditions were lost and the unique identities of tribes, peoples were eradicated, which made them and all of us poorer! We are seeing another incarnation of this terrible evil being perpetrated upon people in the U.S.A. by the ‘christian nationalists’, the people behind and implementing “project 2025”, the Trump White House Office of Faith, even the great Grifter-In-Chief, the consummate Mendacious Master, Donald Trump is calling for “christian values” to be taught in schools, to be the basis of ‘governance’. This asshole doesn’t even know what a true “Christian Value” is nor do the ‘religious’ fanatics around him! Yet, they are trying very hard to do to everyone what Rabbi Heschel is railing against and this is not good for people who authentically practice their faith, for whom “faith in God” is what keeps our engine running and ensures we always return to doing the “next right thing”!

The second sentence above is so important to roll around in, to immerse ourselves in. We do not have a “lack of faith”, we have the “vulgarization of faith, the misunderstand and abuse of freedom” happening, and I believe this is the greatest issue facing us and has always faced humanity. People have “faith” in themselves, “faith” in their beliefs, “faith” in their idols, “faith” in the lies they tell themselves, “faith” in their limited vision and eyesight about living, “faith” in their biases and prejudices, their judgmental attitudes, etc. Human beings do not suffer from a “lack of faith”, in my humble opinion, we suffer from misguided faith, from “vulgarization of faith”. Vulgar comes from the Latin meaning “common people” and is defined as “lacking sophistication, unrefined”. “Faith in God” can never become commonplace, we have seen what happens when it does, God is used as a weapon, as a punisher, as a threat, as a rewarder, as all things the human being(who isn’t being human) ‘makes’ God into-going against the 2nd Commandment of not making “false Images”, yet these ‘holy rollers’ who are trying to remake America, reduce Democracy, destroy the Constitution, continue to violate so many of the commandments, so many of the tenets of Christ, in their “vulgarization of faith”! The ‘holy rollers’ are not only believers, leaders, and followers of ‘christian nationalism’, they are being joined by fundamentalist Jews, Muslims, etc because, in some parallel universe, the Jews think these ‘friends of Israel’ who adhere to the KKK tenets, who are racists, and hate Jews while wanting Israel to start the war to end all wars and the Rapture come about, are their allies!! The ‘holy rollers’ want their freedom while denying the same to everyone else who is not in the upper echelons of their movement. They have no regard for the widow, the stranger, the poor, the needy, the orphan as Christ and the Bible exhort us to. They could care less about redeeming the captive and caring for one’s kinsmen, as we are commanded to do. Rather than build their tent large enough for all to enter, these ‘holy rollers’ deny entrance to anyone who is not pure in their beliefs, not a ‘good aryan’ in terms of dedication to their efforts and certainly not people of color or ‘those liberal jews’. “There shall be one law for the stranger and citizen alike”, “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” are anathema to the current administration and their ‘holy roller’ fan club. They are relishing their “abuse of freedom”, they revel in their cruelty, they admire their ability to make the ‘masses’ misunderstand what freedom is and should be.

WE THE PEOPLE have to stop this madness! We the People have to take to the streets, we have to march and pressure Congress to DO THEIR FUCKING JOB! We the People are being called upon to tear down the curtain on today’s version of “The Wizard of Oz/America”. We the People have to use our joy and love of God to promote the TRUTH about faith, it is a gift that every human being possess and We the People must fight against this “misunderstanding and abuse of freedom” that is being perpetrated upon the nation and the world. We the People have the examples of other periods in our history when standing UP for what is right and true and how our doing so changed the course of the country. These assholes in charge have been with us for a long time and We the People ignored them at our own peril and NOW is the TIME for We the People to take back our country from the fundamentalist ‘christian nationalists, take back Israel from the right-wing ‘fundamentalist jewish nationalists’, take back the “vulgarization of faith” that is so prevalent right now and end the “misunderstanding and abuse of freedom”! We the People must begin with ourselves, ridding ourselves of our own false gods, our own idolatry, and re-covenant with God, with our higher consciousness and take the next right action.

I have never been good with anything that is ‘forced’ upon me. I couldn’t believe the Bible as everything in it happened and is accurate, I couldn’t believe that good always triumphs over evil, I couldn’t believe in a god who would ‘take’ my father from me in my early teens. I see all of these “couldn’t’s” as “vulgarizations of faith”, as “misunderstandings” of freedom. I am beyond grateful that  I found a path back to the truth of living, to the honoring and engaging in “faith in God”. I work hard every day to rid myself of my “misunderstandings and abuse of freedom” so I can better serve community, family, friends, and myself. I don’t go along to get along and I no longer need to know the why’s of being cut off from some people, I no longer need to be right and I no longer need to be all wrong. This is the greatest freedom “faith in God” has brought to me! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Debt, Imperfection, Service to God, - Year 4 Day 111

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 111

“Ultimate commitment includes the consciousness of being accountable for the acts we perform under freedom; the awareness that what we own we owe; the capacity for repentance; that a life without the service of God is a secret scandal.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.20)

Yesterday Pope Frances was buried, not in the Vatican but rather a smaller private burial after the huge Chapel ceremony befitting a man who did so much for so many of the voiceless and powerless Catholics and non-Catholics across the globe. It brings to mind the power of the first phrase in bold above. Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, and other oligarchs as well as many people who are in the top 1% on the socio-economic scale believe they own their wealth, their property, their lives forgetting that they owe rather than own. Rabbi Heschel is reminding us, informing us that everything we ‘have’ is a gift, everything we ‘have’ is temporary, that everything we ‘have’ is to be used in service of something greater than ourselves, not for our own selfish desires and our misuse of the power each human being possess. What we ‘have’ is to be used to enhance our dignity and the dignity of every other human being we come into contact with either in person or virtually, in writing, painting, in whatever our creative talents are.    We are being called to remember who we are, human beings entrusted with making our corner of the world better for everyone around us and for the future generations, we are not to use up all the resources for our selfish desires, we are not to use what we have to enhance our own names, we are not to engage in actions that harm another, that enslave another, that belittle a sovereign nation nor their leader who is fighting, literally and figuratively, for the sovereignty of his nation, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio. The United States doesn’t own Greenland nor the Panama Canal, it doesn’t own the right to dictate to Ukraine to be happy that Putin is ‘giving up’ taking the entire country, no matter what these CHARLATANS in the administration are saying. Where is Paula Cain-White advising the President about “Christian Charity”? Where are the people reminding Trump that Pope Frances’ funeral was NOT about him? Why are all these “good christians”, who pray all the time in the White House, not telling the President what real Christian Values are from the Gospels of Christ not the prosperity Gospel they preach? Oh yeah, none of these ‘good christians’ and ‘good catholics’ and ‘good jews’ believe the words of the Bible, they only use them for their advantage, so they believe they can OWN the Bible’s narrative as well as everything else. Talk about desecration of the Word of God-these assholes are Mendacious Masters at this!!

The second phrase in bold above is what life is really all about, as I am hearing Rabbi Heschel this morning. “The capacity for repentance” is at the core of the human experience, it is the recognition of our imperfect nature, of our ability to make mistakes, learn from them, repair the damage, and re-sew the fabric of relationships we tore apart. Every human being has this “capacity for repentance” and it is horribly distressing that so many people have lost the willingness to say: “OOPS, I MADE A MISTAKE”. However, it goes hand in hand with the lie people tell themselves that they “own” what they have, they can do what they want with their lives, so they are never wrong nor do they have to make amends, engage in repentance nor accept the T’Shuvah(repentance) of anyone else! Rather, they use the vulnerabilities of another against them, they use the repentance of another to their advantage and they actually believe they are impervious to mistakes, they are incapable of making an error, and, like Trump and Nixon believe, if they are doing something, it must be true, correct and right. This is how far away we are from this phrase as well as “what we own, we owe”! Yet, the Republican Congress, the MAGA crowd still support this ‘perfect’ incarnation of ‘christ’, this ‘messiah’ as he has been anointed by the ‘prosperity gospel’ crowd. Rather than lead us in repentance, as Pope Frances did, these lying Clergy, of all the faiths that still support the Mendacious Masters, are leading people to their own ruin and away from “the service of God”.

I would disagree with Rabbi Heschel’s last phrase, just a bit. The lack of living “in the service of God” is no longer “a secret scandal”. This scandal is in front of our eyes and in our faces, the question is when We the People will “lift up our eyes and see”, when will We the People look inside of our souls, into our inner lives and admit the true nature of our wrongs against our souls, our fellow human beings and against God? When will We the People develop a plan of action that moves us closer to our authentic self, closer to the awareness of the debt we “owe” for being alive, the “capacity for repentance” and the power to move forward in our new path of “service to God”? These are the gifts we receive for being human, rather than just human beings. We the People are being called upon in this time of the counting of the Omer, the countdown to Mount Sinai, the days until we receive the Torah, the Pentecostal as some Christians call Shavuot. We the People need to open our ears and our eyes and get ourselves clean enough to be able to receive the Torah this year, be able to embrace it more, be clean enough to re-covenant with God, with one another and live our humility out loud, be grateful for what we have and what we don’t have, look upon our “capacity for repentance” as the gift of growth and awareness, and remember whatever we do has to be “in service to God” and in service to one another. This means accepting the repentance of another as God accepts ours, knowing we have to care for what we owe and be stewards of the earth for the next generations, not ‘drill baby drill’. We the People have to demand of ourselves and one another, a rebirth of spirit, a rebirth of decency, a rebirth of caring, a rebirth of justice, a rebirth of “love your neighbor as yourself”, “love the stranger”, “care for the needy, the poor, the widow and the orphan”.

I have been living these phrases for the past 37 years. Certainly not perfectly and to the best of my ability in the moment. I know the path of “repentance” is hard and not guaranteed to re-sew the fabric I have torn, I know that living “in service to God” is more than saying blessings, more than studying the Torah, more than doing the rituals, to be “in service to God” I look at people like Rabbi Heschel, Rev. King, my grandfathers, Pope Frances, and so many others as examples and for guidance. I am so sad and enraged at the terrible turn our country as taken and I am powerless to change it alone, yet together, through writing, talking, respecting the Tzelem of the MAGA crowd, I can continue to stay in “line with the divine” and live a little better each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Commitment, Accountability are fundamentals for living a life of freedom - Year 4 Day 110

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 110

“Ultimate commitment includes the consciousness of being accountable for the acts we perform under freedom; the awareness that what we own we owe; the capacity for repentance; that a life without the service of God is a secret scandal.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.20)

The truths, values, morals expressed in the sentence above are undeniable for people of faith, people of spirit and, knowing this, people of non-faith, people who are mendacious, thieves, spiritual rapists use these tenets in the most egregious manner. We are, once again, witnessing this phenomenon today, when Trump gives Putin kudos for raping Ukraine and says “Russia is giving up taking the whole country” as some sort of sacrifice or compromise, accountability is thrown out the window. Of course, when Trump refuses to be accountable and the Supreme Court says only he is not accountable for his actions, what can one expect? The people who help him be unaccountable, who support his betraying the tenets of “freedom” and our Constitution, they will find out they are accountable and suffer for their rape of “freedom”.

Accountability is the first lesson Adam, Eve, and their son, Cain learn in the Bible. While they have free-will choice, they quickly learn that this doesn’t lead to them being able to do whatever they want to do. Cain is marked, Adam and Eve have to leave their beautiful home they were gifted, all because they did not think they would be held accountable. When they were held accountable, Adam ‘divorced’ himself from God (an interpretation of the Hebrew) and Cain cried like a stuffed pig! “I do what I want AND being held accountable-how outrageous” they seem to be saying, just like Trump and the Jan.6th rioters, the white people who lynched so many Black people, who killed Leo Frank, the Germans who helped, participated in the Shoah, the Polish people who joyously killed the Jews in their midst, ad infinitum throughout history. Yet, as the first phrase above comes to remind us, there can be no real, no “ultimate commitment” without the “consciousness of being accountable for the acts we perform under freedom”. When we are enslaved, when we are threatened with death, we are not doing anything “under freedom” and this is a very important distinction.

The law firms, the corporations, Columbia University, and all of the other entities that are bending the knee, kissing the ring, have their noses so far up Trump’s ass that if he stops short they will need surgery to have it removed, all believe they will escape accountability. The Republican lawmakers who are meekly going along with this carnage, this rape of our Constitution, the desecration of the Declaration of Independence, the dishonoring of the men who fought at Lexington and Concord 250 years ago, think they can skate by and they are refusing to be accountable even to their constituents, because they believe they don’t have to worry about being re-elected because Trump is going to cancel elections as we know them! We are being taken advantage of by the very people and institutions we believed we could trust to keep us safe, to keep one another in check, to honor the Oath of Office they take. How foolish we are/were.

Religious Institutions are, in my opinion, the worst betrayers of the first phrase above. When ‘orthodox’ jews, ‘prosperity gospel’ christians, ‘radical’ islamists claim that they are doing what God wants, what it says in the Bible, Koran, We the People have to start calling BULLSHIT on them. When these charlatans keep spouting that “Trump is the anointed one of Jesus Christ” We the People need to stand up and demonstrate outside of their churches, temples, mosques for Truth, for Justice, for Mercy, and demand that these idolators stop walking in the footsteps of Pharaoh, end their incessant drive to destroy Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity, Islam and be accountable for their theft of the souls and the minds of their followers. We the People are being called by this first phrase above to call these desecrators of God’s name to account, to hold them responsible for their free-will sins and lies, for their using the vulnerabilities of people against them, thus engaging in the most evil of actions, as M.Scott Peck teaches. These so-called ‘people of faith’ are the same as Laban, the same as Bilaam, opaque MF’s who are for sale to the highest bidder, liars and cheats, spiritual rapists, and crooks. Yet, they are so ‘revered’, Trump has given them an office in the White House and he has instituted an “anti-christian bias” campaign in the Department of Justice-because christians like the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys all have been discriminated against whenever they are held accountable. In this upside down ‘religious’ view, accountability for anything ‘we’ do is wrong and accountability for everything ‘those people’ do is good, even if it is lawful, if it promotes freedom as promised in the first amendment. We the People have to STAND UP and hold these assholes accountable, beginning with the Clergy, beginning with these so-called ‘good christian, jewish, muslim folk’! Remember, what someone will do to another human being, they will do to you!

I had planned on writing on the whole sentence when I sat down and got carried away with the idea of “ultimate commitment”. The difference between me 39 years ago and me since 1987, is that I possess the “consciousness of being accountable for the acts I perform under freedom” and, while I do not always agree with someone else’s interpretation of my acts, I do agree that I am accountable for my actions. I have taken the hits and the kudos and have grown in my equanimity in my responses to both. This is in direct contrast to my earlier days when I denied all responsibility and always had someone, something else to blame for my failures, my actions. This is the difference between Mark Borovitz the slave and Mark Borovitz the free person. This is the difference between living under ‘the rules don’t apply to me’ and living a covenantal life. Having the “consciousness of being accountable” gives me pause before I take an action, it also causes me to trust what I know in my soul as the next right thing to do-no matter the outcome-because we all know that we can do what is right and good and not ‘win’. Being accountable has also made it easy for people to target me and I accept this truth with greater serenity, greater clarity than I ever have. I am not afraid to be asked Reb Zuysa’s question:”why were you not more like Mark Borovitz?”. I live me, messy, error-filled, fallible, imperfect, infinitely worthy and full of dignity, equal to all and honoring the uniqueness of me and of you. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Ultimate Commitments, Sacrifices, Moral and Spiritual Exaltations- are these the foundations of your living? Year 4 Day 109

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 109

“Religion’s major effort must be to counteract the deflation of man, the trivialization of human existence. Our religious traditions claim that man is capable of sacrifice, discipline, of moral and spiritual exaltation, that every man is capable of an ultimate commitment.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 20)

Continuing on from yesterday’s quote, I did get caught up in the first sentence because it is so enraging to me the bastardization of religion, the grift being perpetrated upon unsuspecting decent people by the charlatans and idolators who have ‘anointed’ Donald Trump as the messiah, as Jesus’ warrior-going against everything Jesus says in the Gospels, but don’t let truth get in the way of a good con!

The embolden words above point to the issue that has haunted “religion” almost from the beginning. While the claims above are absolutely true, the people ‘in charge’, the “trusted servants” have been preaching a gospel of more, more, more for themselves and their benefactors, not more “sacrifice” for God, for one another! They have made “sacrifice” synonymous with give more to the church, to the pastor, don’t you realize Joel Osteen needs another car, another jet, another…! These mendacious ‘religious’ figures like Paula Cain-White are so excited to sell their wares on the Government website and claim they are ‘healing’ people and doing ‘god’s work’ when God calls for us to sacrifice to help the poor and the needy, the widow and the orphan, we make sacrifices to acknowledge our errors and celebrate our good fortunes-we are not called upon to “sacrifice” to make the Priests rich-only to give them enough to maintain themselves, their households and the Temple-not build multi-million dollar homes with 24 car garages, etc.

“Religion” has been overtaken by human beings who are only interested in their agendas, not God’s, not the agenda of the Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, the Prophets, etc. They are disciplined when it comes to their lies, their grab for power, their hatred of anyone who isn’t a White Anglo Saxon Christian and adheres to the fascist agendas of Trump, the autocratic agendas of Putin and Orban, etc. What is totally baffling is how many Jews follow and get in bed with these descendants of the KKK and relish it! The “discipline” spoken about above has been replaced by the ‘discipline’ of loyalty to boss, fidelity to the ‘cause’, and subjugation of everything one knows about right and wrong to follow the ‘righteous indignation’ of the religious zealots who believe that their ‘brand’ of christianity should be the nation’s religion. And the Jews who support this and them have forgotten how, throughout history, it is never “good for the Jews” when ‘christianity’ takes over the land.

The only “ultimate commitment” being sought, demanded today by the clergy in powerful positions nationally, seems to be the “ultimate commitment” to themselves, to giving them money, to supporting the fascism of Trump, Vance, the Republican Party and, of course, the autocracy of Vladimir Putin, cause after all, he is a white man! The “moral and spiritual exaltation” being peddled is one of the ‘high’ one gets from knowing they are supporting their pastor, they are helping to annihilate the ‘enemies’ of the dictator, they are helping to raise up “der fuhrer” a little higher who in turn is raising up the ways of christ, the warrior king-just like the Gospels proclaim??? WHAT THE FUCK are people thinking??!!

We the People are being called to recapture our individual capability to “sacrifice” what is in our interest for the sake of what is best for another, for the whole. As Rabbi Heschel says, I am paraphrasing, the interests of another has to be my concern. We the People are being reminded of our opportunity to “sacrifice” for the greater good of all, to let go of our inflated egos and become right-sized once again. We are being called to live into our unique talents and spread them throughout our corner of the world for the benefit of another(s) and the fulfillment of our soul. This is the “moral and spiritual exaltation” I believe Rabbi Heschel is speaking about. In the 95 days of absolute CHAOS, brought about by Trump and the Republican Party, we are witnessing the destruction of every tenet, every moral and spiritual pillar upon which “religion” has stood, thereby destroying what “religion” is so they can establish their “fourth reich” with Trump as “der fuhrer” and Leavitt and Bondi as Goebbels, Hegseth as Goring, Lutnick as Bormann, Vought and Miller along with Bannon as Himmler, and Musk (and the other billionaires who joined the band) as Krupp, Farben, Vogler! We the People have to accept the mantle of “ultimate commitment” to Truth, to Decency, to Morality, to Spiritual Connection, to Living the Covenant made at Mount Sinai, to Justice, to Mercy, to Kindness, to Forgiveness, to Compassion, to Mercy, etc. These are facets of the Covenant made at Sinai, these are part of the promises made by God to Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, these are the fundamental tenets of the Bible. Only when We the People commit to and follow through on these covenantal agreements, only when We the People stay loyal to the principles that brought us out of Egypt and gave us the courage, the strength, the faith to enter the land of Canaan, can we defeat the charlatans, the idolators, the fascists! It takes more than a fascist regime to defeat the people who adhere to the Covenant, who are partners with the Ineffable One in living into the fullness, the richness, the greatness of being human!

I keep hearing this call to DO SOMETHING and I never experience that I am doing ‘enough’! I think this is a plague that visits itself upon so many people who are, like the little boy, putting their fingers in the dam only to have more leaks spring up. Yet, I also realize that I can do only what I can do and I am powerless to make another person hear me, to dictate to another person what they should do. I can, however, influence, cajole, manipulate another person into seeing the path of living well that is uniquely theirs. I can and have helped people find their way through a mass of confusion, lies they tell themselves, see what they have been oblivious to and find their passion and purpose as well as their spiritual core. My life, these past 38 years, is lived and living in “moral and spiritual exaltation” as imperfectly as I am-this is the “address” I live at. I live with joy and spirit, passion and a moral compass that points true north, even when I can’t follow it. I am my father’s son, I am, once again, on the trek from Egypt to Sinai, from slavery to freedom and my “sacrifices” are gifts to myself which allow me to be of service to another. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Deflation and trivialization of the human being has become the way of politics, religion! Year 4 Day 108

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 108

“Religion’s major effort must be to counteract the deflation of man, the trivialization of human existence. Our religious traditions claim that man is capable of sacrifice, discipline, of moral and spiritual exaltation, that every man is capable of an ultimate commitment.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 20)

Ruminating in the words above, as in all of the words of the giants of religious faith, asking the right questions of our religious leaders, delving into the words of the Bible, the New Testament individually and finding ourselves in the texts, as all the characters, all of the archetypes is the only way to utilize this wisdom and all wisdom. I would say, once again, Rabbi Heschel’s prescience is on display here. He saw the dumbing down of religion, especially Judaism in the 1950’s and looked upon it with horror! He missed the Judaism of his youth, maybe an idealized one maybe not, but a Judaism that was vibrant and true, one that was lived in all areas of life, wasn’t relegated to Services on Friday night and Saturday morning. In the words above, I hear his lament at the state of religion, all religions, in the late 1950’s and can hear him crying at the state of religion in 2025!

Be it the New Apostolic Reformation, the Prosperity Gospels, the ‘Orthodoxy’ of Ben G’Vir, Smotrich, the settlers, the radical Islamists, all of these movements have contributed to “the deflation of man” rather than “counteract” it. This is where we find ourselves today, in a world that is upside down, in a world where ‘religious fervor’ is contributing, aiding and abetting “the trivialization of human existence”, rather than reminding us that we are all created equal, all in the Image of God, all with “certain unalienable rights”… How is it possible that We the People could buy into the lies that ‘those’ people are less important, have less value than we do, therefore they should be our slaves, our lackeys, the focus of our anger and revenge? How is it possible that this fucked-up way of thinking and acting could be led by those ‘good christian folk’ who deny the essence and basics of Jesus’ teachings? It is a mystery to many of us who cannot comprehend this type of Idol Worship, this way of desecrating God’s Name. Yet, we are in such a state and without divine intervention through We the People this could be the death knell of truth, kindness, justice, mercy, and walking in the ways of God!

How is it possible? We are in the state we are in because We the People fell asleep, because instead of heeding the words of Rabbi Heschel, we allowed, helped to make a few generations of religious idiots, we are guilty of dumbing religion down so much that it became totally irrelevant to the everyday lives of most people except for the fanatics and the truly religious people-not the same person of course. Rather than see the importance of humanity, some ‘religious folk’ have created a hierarchy of human beings, be it the deplorable comment of Hillary Clinton, the terrible rhetoric of Trump(even in his Easter message), the demeaning of people by Mitt Romney, the hatred of Bannon, Miller, Rogan, et al towards anyone who is ‘not with us’ and, of course, we can’t leave out the ‘religious leadership’ who call for the deportations of people without due process, the formal naming of America as a ‘christian nation’, the support of marches like the one in Charlottesville where “Jews will not replace us” was chanted loudly and proudly. All of this and more is possible in a country founded as a refuge, a place to flee to, by those experiencing religious persecution, those unable to move up in the society they were living in, by those who believed every human was entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” when the foundational story is changed to make the Confederacy the martyrs, when the foundational story is to glorify the worst behavior, slavery, and yearn for ‘those good old days’. All of these terrible things are possible when religion is overtaken by idolators, charlatans, grifters and autocratic sociopaths, as we are experiencing today. One has to give the current ‘religious’ fakers credit as they have been at their destruction of the values of Christ, Moses, Buddha, et al, since the 1950’s and their efforts have borne fruit because the rest of us, the rest of the religious leadership allowed for pap to be given to our children and the dumbing down of religious ideas, of the tenets of faith to adults so people are not really interested in what the Bible has to say, what Judaism can teach us about living life in freedom, in obligation, in gratitude, in paying it forward, in vibrancy.

It is time, actually past time, for We the People to demand truth from our religious leadership, to take up the mantle they have abandoned and desecrated, the mantle of honoring ourselves and every other human being as being “created in the Image of the divine”, endowed with a higher consciousness and an intuitive mind, both gifts that are to be used for the betterment of everyone, not just the ‘privileged few’. We the People must inflate ourselves with the dignity and value we are born with, we must fill ourselves up the knowledge we are all created equal. We are being called by the words above, by our Bible to honor the uniqueness of each individual knowing that ‘sameness’ is not going to fix our broken world, rejoicing in the skills and talents of the people around us to care for their corner of the garden that is this world, while we tend to our unique plot in the garden we have been entrusted with. We the People have to say NO to Paula Cain-White and her bullshit ‘office of faith’, her constant ‘praying to Jesus’ for Trump to continue his uprooting of fundamental freedoms. We the People are being called to demand of the Congress they do their FUCKING JOB and stop living in fear of Trump and losing an election. It is time for We the People to get out the vote, to demonstrate even more, to make Tesla a bigger loser and stop the tariffs that are killing our economy, We the People have to demand a restoration of the importance of human existence with our actions, not our whining!

As one who deflated and trivialized my own life, the first sentence above overtook me in a way I was not prepared for. I have worked the past 38+years to pump up my spiritual life, to be a serious motherfucker when it comes to living life well. I know the pitfalls of my way of being, I know the ostracization associated with not going along since my youth. I have always voiced my opposition to the way things are supposed to go and the rejection of my words and knowing is what led me to give up and this is the path of deflation and trivialization that I have fought against in my recovery. I will not give up, I will continue to fight for what is holy and what is right, I will continue to fight for the dignity of every human being be it with the person themselves and/or another. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Trivialization of existence or "acts of worship" that give meaning and purpose to life? Year 4 Day 107

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 107

“Acts of worship counteract the trivialization of existence. Both involve the person, and give him a sense of living in ultimate relationships. Both of them are ways of teaching man how to stand alone and not be alone, of teaching man that God is a refuge, not a security.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.20)

Reading and re-reading these words can give one a wonderfully painful look at one’s mode of living! Some of the “acts of worship” were delineated in the past two days and involve integrity, moral dedications, intellectual pursuits, etc. These are the “acts of worship that counteract the trivialization of existence”. Rabbi Heschel’s use of the word “both” takes me a minute to understand, I am not sure I do and here is my best effort. “Both” “acts of worship” and “trivialization of existence” “involve the person”. The question is how does “trivialization of existence help a human being to have “a sense of living in ultimate relationships” and “how to stand alone and not be alone”?

When we recognize our trivializing of our life through meaningless pursuits of gold and greed, of fame and power, of self-deception and the deception of another, we come to realize there is something bigger than ourselves, there is more to life than pleasure. This, of course, is the great issue of our time and every era: helping We the People get out of our narrow thinking; our confined spaces of me, me, me; our personal Egypts and out from under the ‘new Pharaoh’ who imposes harsh labor upon us. “Trivialization of existence” is what is happening right now in Washington D.C. and across our country, it is happening in Russia, in El Salvador, in Hungary, in Turkey, in many countries in the Arab world and, unfortunately, in Israel also. The stupid pursuit of fame and fortune by the current administration belies the “oath of office” Trump and Vance took, belies the “oath of office” the Senate and House members took, belies the “oath of office” the Federal Courts took! And these bullshit artists, and they are artists, have convinced enough of a plurality to continue to govern and rape the very people who elected them, whom they consider suckers, losers, and ‘marks’. These bullshit artists, unfortunately, include many ‘people of the cloth’. Clergy who have decided to sell their souls for a few trinkets much like the Indians did with Manhattan. Clergy who have rejected the path set forth by people of faith like Mother Theresa, Rev. King, Thomas Merton, Rabbi Heschel, Pope Frances, etc and seek to enrich themselves and empower themselves with lies, with fake holy water, and trample on the very “acts of worship” that Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha laid out for them and for us.

What is learned by the “trivialization of existence” by people who engage in “acts of worship” is how much better life is when one knows the joy, pain, uplift and exhilaration of “living in ultimate relationships” both with the Ineffable One and with one’s partner, with one’s Chaverim, one’s spiritual friends. What is learned by those of us who believe in living with moral dedication, integrity, etc is that we can stand on our own two feet because, as the “Footprints” poem says: “the time you saw only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you”. Our “acts of worship” have taught us that we know “how to stand alone and not be alone” because we are always near to our core spiritual self and to the spiritual force in the Universe. We know we are in a relationship that goes beyond words and is inexplicable. Instead of buying the subterfuge of the grifters and deceivers, we know that inexplicable does not mean not real, doesn’t mean fantasy, airy fairy. This is the lie these bullshit artists are trying to peddle so they can have the power using empty “acts of worship” to confuse us. The saddest reality is that so many people don’t know this. They are being fed lies and deceptions, subterfuges and mendacities for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so they can no longer tell the difference between truth and lies.

The last phrase above is truly mind-blowing to me: “security” comes from the Latin meaning “free from care” and “refuge” comes from the Latin meaning “flee back”. Being connected to God is not “free from cares and troubles” as some charlatans promote. Rather connected to God is a “refuge”, a place to “flee back” to every time we are lost, every time we mistakenly think we are alone, every time we need Good Orderly Direction, every time we think we are alone like Jacob thought when he had both of his dreams. When “acts of worship” is the blueprint of living we follow, when we know that we are in “ultimate relationship” with one another and with God, when we accept the truth of our need for one another in order to be more connected to the Ineffable One, we are deeply entrenched in living a life of purpose and meaning rather than a life exemplifying the “trivialization of existence”. It is up to We the People to take back our country, to take back our religious traditions and return them both to being on the path that our ideals and goals have set for us. It is time for We the People to demand of ourselves and one another, of the current administration and the current Congress that we are once again that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth”. We are still fighting the Civil War, it is not about North and South, it is about decency and freedom vs. power and autocracy. It is about living into and being changed by our “acts of worship” that Jesus actually called for, that Moses actually said, and no longer allow the grifters, the liars, the idolators who promote lies in the names of Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed to have power and rule. This is the call of the moment for We the People, will you answer it?

Sitting here since 2:30 this morning, reading and re-reading these words, listening to the lies of Netanyahu, Trump and the rest of their ilk, remind me of the myriad of times the “trivialization of existence” was my life. As Malcolm X says: “an examined life is painful”. Yet, because I must, can and do live an “examined life” as Socrates promoted, I can do my T’Shuvah, I can change, repair, repent and, most of all, “flee back” to the embrace of the Ineffable One. I find “refuge” in my spiritual practice, it helps me deal with life in new and profoundly different ways than I did when “trivialization” was the modality I followed. Caring, compassion, truth, justice, integrity, intellectual pursuits, love, all pay greater dividends than “trivialization” ever did. I was a ‘snake oil salesman’ for a while and I am here to preach the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of “acts of worship”, the Gospel of spiritual counseling to find our true self and live an authentic life. Mine has not always been pretty nor ‘politically correct’, and I have not compromised my values, my truth, my voice no matter what the cost-and it has, at times, been heavy. I know I don’t “stand alone” and this is what brings me comfort and strength every day to keep on keeping on. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Make America Moral Again, Make America Just Again - Year 4 Day 106

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 106

“Judaism claims that the way to nobility of the soul is the art of sanctifying time. Moral dedications, acts of worship, intellectual pursuits are means in the art of sanctification of time. Personal concern for justice in the market place, for integrity in public affairs and in public relations is a prerequisite for our right to pray.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.20)

WOW! Can you imagine what Rabbi Heschel, Rev. King, et al would be saying today? Trump using the Easter Holiday to denigrate a different political party, spew hatred and lies, and calling it a “happy easter” message, is not exactly what I envision the Church Leaders had in mind when they speak of the resurrection! Also, yesterday, Pope Francis died, a man who epitomized the values above and exhorted all of us to live into them.

“Nobility of the soul” is attained through “moral dedications, acts of worship” and we seem to be lacking in these areas greatly, as a human race. While there are many specific instances of great moral courage and acts of worship that individuals do, when Churches, Synagogues, Mosques are encouraging their congregants to support an immoral person as ‘leader of the free world’, when they are celebrating and extolling the cruelty of the current administration and the cruelty around the world of autocrats, wanna-be dictators, authoritarian leadership, humanity is in serious decline. When “intellectual pursuits” are condemned as “elitist”, when worship becomes a way to bow down to “der fuhrer”, when “moral dedications” are denigrated and called stupid or only for suckers and losers, when the rich and the powerful forget they have what they have because of another(s), when they forget their obligations to those who have less, we are teetering on the brink of the abyss. We have been here before, Rome, Greece, Ancient Israel, Spain, England, France, Germany, have all fallen because of their mistreatment of their citizens and strangers alike.

We seem to conveniently forget the lessons of history, we use the term “reflect” instead of “repeats” to further distance ourselves from these lessons. Yet, “moral dedications, acts of worship, intellectual pursuits” are the only way to achieve “nobility of the soul”, the truest path to raising humanity to the level we belong on and is compatible with being a partner in creation with God. These are the paths to engaging our higher consciousness so we do for another that which we want for ourselves and we follow the words of Hillel: “what is hateful to you, do not do unto another human being”.

Yet this way of being seems ‘out of vogue’ in today’s political climate. It is only for “suckers, fools and losers” according to Trump, Lutnick, Vought, Musk, Miller, Vance, Hegseth, et al. The Republican Congresspeople, the Republican Senators all are like trained seals and we can see the light leave their eyes, replaced by anger, hatred, and in some cases, fear. They all deride “elite institutions” while being alumni from them. They all complain about the “criminal immigrants” while not looking at their own criminality, their own drunkenness, their own giving away of state secrets, their own love affair with Putin, their own debasing of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. “Personal concern of justice in the Market place, for integrity in public affairs” is laughed at in today’s America by at least 40% of Americans and a whole lot of Israelis. What is so fascinating to me, to many people, is these attributes which help us attain nobility of the soul are at the core of Christ’s teachings in the Gospels as I understand them, they are at the core of the demands of the Prophets, and the core of the Torah. “Justice, Justice you shall pursue” is quoted often, the Holiness Code is the core of Leviticus, the 10 Commandments call upon all of us to “not bear false witness”, yet the ‘good christian folk’ in the White House do every day! Marco Rubio knows that Russia started a war with Ukraine and now he lauds Putin? We are declining as a society, as a country precisely because we are failing to engage in acts which help us attain “nobility of the soul”!

With the death of Pope Frances, one must hope the new “Conclave” will not choose his successor to be someone who wants to be more restrictive and more isolating. With the news of Pete Hegseth sharing attack plans with his wife, lawyer, etc and, possibly, being drunk on the job, one must hope that Joni Ernst calls for his resignation. With the ways of the Trump White House, J.D. Vance(what is his real name), one can only hope that the Republicans in the House and Senate will say NO to Elon Musk, to the cruelty being shown to hard-working Americans in our Government Jobs. In this moment We the People must STAND UP and call for a return to “moral dedications, acts of worship, intellectual pursuits, personal concerns of justice in the market place, integrity in public affairs”! We the People are being called by the words above, by our hearing of the words from Mt. Sinai, by the teachings of Christ, by the meditations of our mind which lead to higher consciousness to demand these from leaders, to practice these actions in all of our affairs, to be in recovery from our addiction to cruelty, our adjustment to lies and self-deceptions, our engagement in idolatry and other forms of debasing our humanity. We the People have to demand from ourselves, one another, and the assholes in DC and in Jerusalem, what the prophet Hosea says: Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for oyou have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD;(Hosea 14”1-2). We the People can and must take the reins back, take back the reigning of our country and:”Proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein”(Lev. 25:10).

As one who engaged in the exact opposite of the pursuits of “noflitlity of the soul”, I know the people in charge right now, I know the people who are part of the MAGA crowd because, while I never held their political views, I certainly adhered to their disregard for everything that helps raise one’s soul, that would detract from me “getting mine”, for a period of 22 years. In those years, I was, in my core, miserable, angry with myself and believing I could never return. It took being arrested again, an ecstatic intervention by God, and a dedication to learning to bring me back to engaging in acts which infuse “nobility in my soul”. Mendacity on every level makes me crazy, whether it is me or another human being engaging in it, I get volcanic when I see what is and my vision, my truth is constantly denied by rich and poor alike, when my contributions to society are deemed less than because I had a ‘niche rabbinate’ serving ‘those people’. What most don’t realize is that volcanic eruptions are hallmarks of Judaism, just read the Bible:), and lets all of us engage in them. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

What is worthy of sanctification in your life, how do you show this? Year 4 Day 105

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 105

“Judaism claims that the way to nobility of the soul is the art of sanctifying time. Moral dedications, acts of worship, intellectual pursuits are means in the art of sanctification of time. Personal concern for justice in the market place, for integrity in public affairs and in public relations is a prerequisite for our right to pray.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.20)

Sanctify is defined as “set apart, holy, consecrate”, and with these definitions, which are all similar, I hear Rabbi Heschel and all spiritual paths calling us to remember and act in a manner which is compatible with there never being another moment like this one again. Treating our soul as royal, as noble, is the path to treating ourselves as children of the Sovereign, ie God, as the prayer Avinu Malkeynu reminds us. This prayer is said during the period prior to and on Yom Kippur. It is a prayer of reminding each of us that we are royalty, that we are born in nobility because we are all children of the Sovereign-not just Jews, all people. When we recite this prayer, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to “set ourselves apart” from the lower, baser instincts which allow us to forget this truth, gives us permission to see another human being as “unhuman” as the New Apostolic Reformation people deem/term anyone who isn’t part of them! These are the people who are proclaiming the trampling of our constitution, getting rid of “due process” is ordained by Christ! These are the people who, praying over Donald Trump, heralding him as “the anointed one”, are praying in the White House, rejoicing over the cruelty, and seeking power for themselves and their cronies so we become a ‘christian nation’ having nothing to do with the teachings of Christ.

We are in dangerous times, we are in worse times than we were in during the great depression years. Then, there was no Atomic Bomb, then we were not able to hear the lies spread by Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, as quickly as we hear the lies of Putin, Orban, Netanyahu, Trump, Musk, Miller, Vance, Rubio, etc. Then the idea of bots and other social media hackers was unheard of and today these social media liars are so prevalent we have no idea of what is true and what isn’t. The assault on the truth that Hitler and his thugs began is on steroids under Putin, Trump, Bibi and their gangs of thieves. As a Jew, I am most distressed by the desecration of the soul of the State of Israel that Netanyahu has led and is doubling down upon. His rejection of justice, his rejection of seeing people, especially one’s enemy, as created in the Image of God, his disregard for the holiness code denies the claim and truth of the first sentence above. Of course as an American, I am deeply ashamed of the attack on the soul of our country, the desecration of the underpinnings of our democracy by these supposed ‘religious’ people and the great ‘friend of the jew’, the guy who hangs out with anti-semites who claims to be fighting anti-semitism, and wants to have the U.S.A. be a ‘christian nation’ which historically has been bad for the Jews, Donald Trump!

Yet, in Synagogues across the world, these two mendacious charlatans, these two gross idolators are hailed as messiah-like, and in some cases as the messiah himself! Two men who lead so many others to relish cruelty, to engage in lies and deceptions, to “blame other for what they are guilty of” as Goebbels taught, to deny, deny, lie, lie, like Roy Cohn taught, to scapegoat the Jews like George Soros, Janet Yellen, etc, and then brag about hiring ‘those jew lawyers’. Rather than using our prayers to enhance “the nobility of the soul”, these ‘frum yidden’ (dogmatic Jews) of all stripes, bastardize these prayers, they commit the worst of sins: Hillul HaShem, desecration of God’s name. They trample on the second and third commandments by using pictures of their ‘rebbes’ as their focus in prayer, they take the name of God in vain by supporting cruelty, they shit on the Bible by leaving Shabbat Services to go to their “kiddish clubs” and then accuse everyone else of being ‘bad jews’! This is how far we have fallen as a religion, as a people, as “children of the sovereign”. How sad, how dangerous for the world and, as Rabbi Heschel said during the Vietnam War: “How can I pray when I have on my conscience the awareness that I am co-responsible for the death of innocent people in Vietnam. In a free society, some are guilty, all are responsible.”

We the People are doing something as evidenced by the 700 different protests yesterday, by the large crowds gathering to hear Bernie Sanders and AOC, by the amount of calls to elected officials, by the number of lawsuits being filed. We the People are learning how to talk to our neighbors who are still in the ether of Trump and MAGA, if they are able to hear. We the People have to continue to remember that even our ‘enemies’ are created in the Image of God, even those who are trying to kill us say “avinu malkeynu” in one form or another, so, while if they are coming for us literally-killing them first is self-defense, We the People have to demonstrate the respect and love that the holiness code commands of us. We the People have to rebuke them in ways that will help them restore “the nobility of their souls”. We the People have to love them in ways that will help them “set themselves apart” from the lies, self-deceptions and deceptions of another(s) that has led them to: reject Godliness; abhor what Christ says in the Gospels; embrace fascism and/or its methods. We the People are being called in this moment to be “sanctifying time” by making sure we use each and every moment to honor the teachings of God, to engage in the ways of treating one another as fellow travelers on the journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai to our proper place in this world. We the People have to engage in the idea of Easter as I understand it: that truth, kindness, justice, righteousness, love will be resurrected and the standard by which we all live. Take that Trump, Netanyahu, et al!

Of course I have failed in “sanctifying time” often and I regard each moment as different. I know, in my bones, that there is never going to be this moment again, I will never write these words in this way, with this passion nor intention again because each moment allows me to either grow in “the nobility of my soul” or retard “the nobility of my soul”. I am guilty of the latter, and relish the opportunities to engage in the former. I am constantly learning and moving, mostly forward, I am constantly seeking to understand myself better and better, to be less reactive, to be more proactive. I realize each moment is more precious as I grow older and as Harriet grows older. I miss my daughter and grandson being closer and I relish the moments of connection with them, my siblings, my family. Taking time to be with friends, to play bridge, to pray, to study with my teachers and friends are ways I am “sanctifying time” and growing “the nobility of my soul”. This is my way of being Jewish, this is my way of honoring you, me, God. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

How are you honoring the wisdom, experience and truth of people who have come before you? Year 4 Day 104

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 104

“The modern man has not only forgotten how to be alone; he finds it even difficult to be with his fellow man. He not only runs away from himself; he runs away from his family. To children, “Honor your father and your mother,” is an irrational suggestion. The normal relationship is dull; deviation is where pleasure is found.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.19)

I continue to be amazed at Rabbi Heschel’s prescience. There is a movement, an offshoot of Bowens Family Systems Therapy, that is called the “estrangement movement”, where children stop talking to their parents, stop communicating in any and every way, and do this for their protection against abusive parents. While there are many cases of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by parents, this ‘movement’ has become a catch-all for children who do not want the responsibility of “Honor you father and mother”. This commandment does not say love, it says “honor”, which I understand to mean acknowledging they did the best they could and they brought us into the world. Yet, there are online chat groups for these ‘children’ who want to absolve themselves of their responsibility to fulfill this commandment, abdicate their responsibility to their parents, and, basically, punish the ‘offending’ parent by withdrawing themselves and their families from them. Since Murray Bowen started using his theory in the 1950’s, maybe Rabbi Heschel heard about it and realized the horror and destruction it would bring. Of course there are many of these cases where detachment is necessary and not necessarily estrangement. I believe there are many cases where the ‘child’, who is an adult, just doesn’t want to deal with the truths that their parents are speaking, accept the wisdom of their parents, and/or don’t want to admit their own errors in the relationship. It is a sad state of affairs that therapists recommend this drastic measure and we are seeing how this “estrangement movement” is happening in all areas of life.

“Honor your father and your mother”, when understood as the Kotzker Rebbe tells us to understand the 10 commandments, personally, could also mean to honor the wisdom of our ancestors, of those who have come before us. The Bible is a source of wisdom that is to be honored, the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence of both the U.S. and Israel, are also our “father and mother” in the spiritual and moral realms. Yet, as we see today, these holy texts are being abused, torn to shreds, misused, abbreviated for the ‘good’ of the autocrat and charlatan, etc. When people cheer Miller and Homan for their cruelty in snatching people off the street, when Trump declares he doesn’t have to abide by the Amendment granting birthright citizenship, when Musk says he can do what he wants to the different departments created by Congress, we are watching in real time the destruction of our holy document, the U.S. Constitution. The fact that this shredding of our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, by so-called ‘religious people’, the ‘good christian folk’ and ‘god-fearing jews’ who are promoting this way of being are IDOLATORS, they are using the guise of religion to enrich themselves, to have power over the people and remake the U.S into a dictatorship using the playbook of Stalin, Putin, Hitler, Orban, etc. These people do not worship anything other than themselves, their power, their bank accounts. To them, honoring the wisdom, the sacrifices of our ancestors is stupid, it is for “losers and suckers” just like Military Service is to Donald Trump. For people who believe that Mein Kampf should be kept in the Military Library and Maya Angelou should not, for people who repeat the lies of Vladimir Putin that Ukraine started the war, “honor your father and your mother is an irrational suggestion”.

We the People are being called to act in this moment, just as we were called to act in 1958 by Rabbi Heschel. It is almost past time for We the People to stand up for truth, to stand up for our fellow human beings, to stand up for honoring our ancestors and the foundational documents of morality, equality, decency and freedom. We the People are experiencing the confluence of the end of Passover, the season of our liberation and journey to freedom and Easter, the season of resurrection. This confluence, I am seeing, as a sign from the Universe, from the Ineffable One, our higher consciousness, that it is time to “resurrect” our veneration for the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, to to “resurrect” our love and learning of how to be human from the Bible, the New Testament, whichever spiritual text is the foundation of your faith/non-faith.

We the People are being called to resume our “normal relationships” with one another, these include helping the poor and the needy, welcoming the stranger and embracing the widow and the orphan, ransoming the captive and redeeming our kinsmen. Sending people off to some terrible jail in El Salvador without due process is wrong, it is scary and it sets a precedent that Trump and his cronies like Vought, Miller, Bannon want to use on American Citizens as well as on ‘illegal’ aliens. We the People are being reminded to repair the relationships we have caused to be severed, do our T’Shuvah and to accept the T’Shuvah of another person. I have defined Unconditional Love as what God practices: Openness our return, wanting to reunite with God’s people. This is the same for us humans, I believe. Being easily appeased, wanting to repair the relationships that have been torn apart is the essence of unconditional love and what we would want for ourselves. Unless you are like Trump and some of these children who believe they do nothing wrong and everything is someone else's fault! Isn’t it time to heed the call of the universe to find ways to be more human each day?

I am thinking of my own rejection of my father’s teachings from 1967-87, where I knew what was right and did the opposite anyway. I was so deep in my own “estrangement” and anger that my father died so young and when I needed him most, I was so alone because my mother just did not get me, that I failed to “honor your father” and this still brings tears to my heart. I did, however, find ways to “honor your father” in my recovery by honoring my mother, even though she did not understand me nor care to know me. I realized she did the best she could and that was enough along with knowing my father would want me to honor her. I also began and have continued to honor the Bible’s teachings and wisdom in how to live which makes me all the more enraged when the Charlatans and Idolators spew their lies about what the Bible says by picking words, phrases out of context and purposely ignore the real message. I will continue to speak truth to power, I will continue to fight for reconciliation with the texts, with the people, with our spiritual knowing and our inner life. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Deepening our connections to our selves and to another(s) or keeping life at a distance through Virtual "friends"? Year 4 Day 103

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 103

“The modern man has not only forgotten how to be alone; he finds it even difficult to be with his fellow man. He not only runs away from himself; he runs away from his family. To children, “Honor your father and your mother,” is an irrational suggestion. The normal relationship is dull; deviation is where pleasure is found.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.19)

OY!! Thinking about when these words were written and given that 67 years later this situation has only grown bigger and bigger, one can be amazed at the prescience of Rabbi Heschel and understand how the experience of Nazi Germany, the lessons from that fine, educated, erudite, cultural land could fall into the rotten, the cruel, the hate-filled, the murderous, country that led to the death of 10’s of millions of people. Looking at America today, watching the horror show that Netanyahu is leading in Israel, we have to ask ourselves: “what are we going to tell our children and grandchildren we did during the attack on democracy, the attack on personal relationships, the attack on our spiritual connections?”

With the advent of technology, being alone seems easier because we can constantly distract ourselves, yet are we alone when we are on our devices? Younger people than I seem to text one another constantly, kids don’t pick up the phone when parents call, they text a message that is pre-loaded onto their phone. With email, texting, the art of connection, the need to see people face to face, to hear their voices, seems to be waning. Yet, every human being is hungry for connection so we go onto Facebook, that paragon of virtue and truth-NOT- and see how many ‘likes’ we get, see how many ‘friends’ we have and pat ourselves on the back for having so many ‘connections’. The problem, of course, is by forgetting “how to be alone”, we have also forgotten how “to be with our fellow” human beings! We are living in the ‘virtual’ world so much, it is easier and easier for an Orange Grifter and his Idolatrous cronies/bedfellows to pick our pockets, to sell us a line of horseshit a mile long and put us under the ether so bad by the time we come out, we are living in a country that is nothing like the one we have known all our lives. The worst thing is that the young people, people who are under 30 have had at least 1/2 their lives living under the lies of Trump, the Tea Party, etc and those who are under 50 have spent 30 years under the rhetoric of war against the democrats who are evil and sinners, thanks to Newt Gingrich. Is it any wonder why people retreat to their devices?

We “find it difficult to be with” our fellow human beings especially when we have disagreements over politics, over religion, over morality and decency. Rabbi Heschel had that rare gift of being able to speak with everyone respectfully and thoughtfully no matter their differences, it is increasingly more difficult to do this as the polarization than Nixon really leaned into is at its full zenith right now. The people, especially Jews, who laud Trump’s bullshit ‘anti-antisemitism’ campaign have “drunk the juice” and are going against their best interests, the best interests of Jews and humanity, and the Will of God as the Bible relates it to us! Being used as a pawn is nothing new to Jews, it has been done to us for the millennia, yet volunteering for it is a rather new phenomenon, I believe. We the People need to engage in a “dark night of the soul” as Jacob did and wrestle with our angels, wrestle with our inclinations, and, upon meeting with our better self, our higher consciousness, surrender to it, ask it for a blessing and be transformed. It is a hard exercise, being transformed by this “dark night of the soul” is the hardest part, it didn’t happen completely for Jacob and it is hard to “nullify your will before God’s will so that God’s will becomes your will” as Pirke Avot teaches and, not impossible. While we will not be perfect, we can and will raise the lows as many of us have.

“He runs away from his family” is also on steroids now. It has been with us forever as Deuteronomy commands a man to treat the first born son of his first wife as his first born even though he may have children with the second wife who he likes better. Today, in modernity, men forget about their children from the first marriage, they walk away from their responsibilities without a care and say “next”. Women carry grudges and anger at being left while not taking responsibility for their part, for not engaging in the solution when problems first arise. We are seeing skyrocketing divorce rates because couples are not being held to their vows by their clergy, by their therapists, by their families, by themselves. The Vows of a Marriage Ceremony are the blueprints for how to make the marriage work, they are the paths of both positive actions each partner commits to take and the negative paths each partner commits to NOT go down. Yet, after the ceremony, most couples never look at their vows again, so the marriage decays, rots, and falls apart.

Instead of running away from family, from connections with another(s), from one’s inner self, We the People have to regain our spiritual foundations. We the People are being called to engage in the “dark night of the soul” with the promise of Hosea, “I will take them back in love” and the promise of Jeremiah, “I will heal their backsliding”. We the People are desperately needed to take back our rightful place in the world as decent, kind, truthful people leading one another forward to “a more perfect union” rather than allow these idolators, these bullshit artists, these mendacious bullies take us back to a time of physical slavery and spiritual enslavement as well. We the People need a spiritual guide to help us sort out the ‘wheat from the chaff’ in our inner dialogues, help us “grow along spiritual lines” and embrace our imperfections knowing they make us more human and connect us more with one another and the force in the universe. We the People are being gifted with knowledge and armed with the experiences and strength of our ancestors so we can stand up for democracy and the dignity, the worth of every human being.

I am guilty of being on devices too much, I can’t stand what is happening, my ADHD kicks in and I surrender to it rather than surrendering to being totally engaged. I am afraid of not being distracted because I know how my intensity can scare people, can come off as anger and rage and, while it is some times, it is a fear and deep sense of failing to help someone else not ‘fall off the cliff’ into the abyss of mendacity and self-deception. I know I too have to change, I work on it constantly and it is tough. Yet, I commit to leaving this slavery as well so I can be more connected to myself and those around me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Debunking Truth, Virtue, Moral Values or Uplifting them - Year 4 Day 102

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 102

“Reverence for man has been strenuously refuted as sentimental eyewash. We all ride on the highways of debunking. There seems to be no question in our mind that there is no depth to virtue, no reality to integrity; that all we can do is to graft goodness upon selfishness, to use truth as a pragmatic pretext, and to relish self-indulgence in all values.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 19)

The words above, the sentiment behind them are on full display in our world today. Gandhi, King, Patrick Henry, Lincoln, are laughed at by today’s administration as “suckers and losers”, Grant, Lee, Washington, Eisenhower are seen as fools for going to war by Trump and his gang of thugs. Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims are seen as pawns to be used for a minute to achieve an end and then discarded and thrown to the racist, antisemitic Klansmen/women who are the core of the MAGA gang. Truth is a useless attribute in today’s world both on the right and the left. Everything rides “on the highways of debunking”. There is nothing sacred, nothing holy in America to some people except cruelty, power, wealth, and lies. This is where we find ourselves today, where Rabbi Heschel saw us in 1958, we have been digging a deep foundation in these unholy, disrespectful ways of being and now we have built a Mega-Mansion out of “debunking”, an Eiffel Tower made from “no virtue” and without any “integrity”. Our building blocks are “selfishness” and “self-indulgence” which has led us to the brink of losing our democracy to an authoritarian asshole and his brain trust of charlatans and idolators.

Instead of debunking the false theories and misstatements of ‘alternative facts’, we have spent the past 67 years giving them more credence by ignoring them, by looking at the people spewing them as idiots and the ones who bought into these mendacities as lost sheep who weren’t worth talking to and educating. The far left have thought their shit doesn’t stink and anyone who is not in lock-step with them is just wrong the same as the far right does, the difference being the far right was catering their lies to the whims and prejudices of the masses while the far left couldn’t be bothered to lower themselves to speak to the people in ways the people could hear. They only wanted the people to come up to their level-what hubris and what a terrible way to treat a fellow human being and this is from ‘the good guys’! Both extremes have unclean hands in the “debunking” of democratic values, in the discarding of “integrity”, and until the rest of us take our own personal responsibility for helping to further this terrible way of being, nothing will change.

Law Firms that are bowing down to Trump, Universities that are, Business’ that are doing the same are all IDOLATORS! They are buying into the bullshit that Trump is ‘the anointed one’ that is being promoted by Paula Cain-White and other New Apostolic Reformation ideologies. They are acting from fear, not faith. They are being expedient not living with integrity. They are showing they have “no depth to virtue” and that whatever good they have done was done for their own “selfishness”. People who continue to support the way things are going are saying YES to “self-indulgence” as the primary “value” in their living. We are at a crossroads that, if We the People, make the wrong choice will be very hard to come back from in the near future. What has been done and is being done to “Truth” is the most devastating crime of all that is being perpetrated. The case of Mr. Abrego Garcia is the most obvious case in point. The administration admitted their error, they then said “so what”, then Stephen Miller said they did not make a mistake and they were not going to do anything to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia back home no matter what the court said. Trump has said out loud that he would send American Citizens to El Salvador prisons, he is going to set up Detention Camps and the IDIOTIC JEWS who still support him are in a drunken stupor if they think “Jews will not replace us” and “there are good people on both sides” is no longer valid to Trump, Vought, Vance, et al! Yet, this is where we find ourselves. The question is where do We the People go from here.

We the People need only to immerse ourselves in the ideas expressed above. End the “debunking” of ideas and truths, of past court rulings and amendments to the Constitution, of scientific facts and vaccines that have been life saving to so many of us who took the Polio, Measles and so many other vaccines. We the People have to demand of ourselves to live our “virtues” and our values as we go about our daily lives, remembering that “virtue” comes from the Latin meaning merit, valor. We the People are being called to live into our whole being, to living an “intact” life, not denying any of our parts and harnessing our “evil inclination” to do good. We the People will no longer  “graft goodness upon selfishness”. We the People are being commanded to live in “truth” and not use it as a ‘spinning’ wheel to trot out when we can twist it to our advantage, “truth” has to be the basis of all decisions and judgements and we can only find “truth” when we listen to the inner voice of our “intuitive mind”. Facts can be interpreted and misinterpreted in many ways, “truth” is-full stop. Finally, the demand to We the People is to end our “self-indulgences” and stop making them our “values”! These ways of being only happen when we see that we are all part of the world, that each person is to be judged and embraced based on the “content of their character” and We the People have to be constantly reaching out and raising the “content of character” of the people who are still engaged in the idolatrous ways listed above. This is our calling, this is our destiny, this is a privilege for all of us to be of service.

I have lived both ways. I am an Aid, a witness here to testify that living in opposition to the current administration and in opposition to the idolatrous ways listed above is far, far superior than giving into the lure of selfishness, self-indulgence, no integrity, etc.. I am humbled by the grace I have been given to return from my own indulgence in the terrible ways of being listed above and honored to be one of the healers for people who seek healing. It is Passover and I am begging everyone to get the fuck up out of the slavery of complicit and fearful behavior with the liars and grifters. Let’s march to Sinai together and in 46 days receive Torah again and, this year, use it to fight the false witness’ and the Pharaoh’s within and outside of ourselves. Let’s use these 6+weeks to hone our inner voice so we are constantly hearing it instead of K-fuck radio which tells us to sell our souls. Let’s use this march towards Sinai, the receiving of Torah to strengthen our resolve to do right and embrace the wisdom, the paths so we CHOOSE LIFE! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

What, Whom do you "stand in awe of" and how do your actions prove or disprove your words? Year 4 Day 101

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 101

“Reverence for man has been strenuously refuted as sentimental eyewash. We all ride on the highways of debunking. There seems to be no question in our mind that there is no depth to virtue, no reality to integrity; that all we can do is to graft goodness upon selfishness, to use truth as a pragmatic pretext, and to relish self-indulgence in all values.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 19)

Waking up this morning after wrestling all night with my soul’s calling, my prophetic voice inside, and the goings on in the world and reading this first sentence, makes me want to cry, yell, scream and, like the youth I was in the 1960’s go march and change the world. “Reverence” comes from the Latin meaning: “to stand in awe of”. We no longer “stand in awe” of one another unless the person we revere has made a lot of money, done something extraordinary, or are told to my “der fuhrer”, Pharaoh’s courtiers, idolatrous clergy, etc. People “stand in awe” of grifters like Musk and Trump, liars like Bondi, Rubio, Graham, Miller, and people with a lot of money like Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc. The “awe” people have for the charlatans is not the same “reverence” Rabbi Heschel is speaking about, it is the “awe” of jealousy, of fear, of wanting something, etc.

We no longer see one another as “made in the Image of the Divine”. Be it the New Apostolic Reformation who call anyone who isn’t subservient to their views “unhuman” or the “prosperity gospel” people who tell you that god doesn’t love the poor so keep giving your money to your preacher so god will love him more and by extension you more, the Right-wing Jews who believe the enemy of my enemy is my friend and have bought into authoritarian concepts and governance, the Trumps, the Kushners, the billionaires like Musk et al, none of these entities have “reverence for man”, they only revere power, money, control so they do everything and anything to get these and maintain these positions. Lie, cheat, steal, bully, denigrate, go against the Constitution, bastardize the Bible, the New Testament, whatever it takes to grab and maintain power for the sake of self, not for the sake of heaven, not for the sake of making anything better. We are, once again, witnessing the denigration of the human spirit, the refutation of the words of the Bible in Genesis, the belief expressed in the Talmud of the preciousness, infinite worth of every human being, the equal dignity that is inherent in every human being, and the uniqueness of every human being so there is no comparison nor competition because each of us is worth the world.

We are three days out from our slavery in Egypt, we are wandering along, nor sure of our route, trusting in Moses because, even in our misery and despair, we were able to keep some “reverence for man” and this has grown since our release from captivity. Without “reverence for man” why would we believe in the possibility of becoming liberated from Pharaoh’s servitude, how could we believe in a man like Moses? Only “reverence for man” allows us to hear the truth spoken by another as well as the lies spoken by the same person. Only “reverence for man” obligates us to “welcome the stranger, take care of the poor, feed the hungry,” etc. Making “reverence for man” “sentimental eyewash” cheapens every human being, it is another way of telling one another “you don’t really matter”, it is the narcissists playbook, the authoritarian’s way to power and the grifter’s path to picking your pockets. And, it is being used like a Stradivarius Violin in this moment. We all suffer from this refutation of the dignity of the human being, and like justice, when “reverence for man” is denied for one person, it is denied to all people. This way of being can only lead to more devastation like the bombing of the Governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pa on the first night of Passover, no less. The lack of outcry from the White House, from the Republicans is astounding and predictable when “reverence for man has been strenuously refuted as sentimental eyewash”.

I did not plan to spend so much space on the first sentence above and I am enraged by the truth of Rabbi Heschel’s words in 1958 and how We the People have allowed this truth to gain more and more power through the likes of Gingrich, Palin, Meadows, Jordan, Trump, Kushner, Miller, Bondi, Rubio, RFK Jr., etc. We the People need to stop our pussyfooting around, We the People have to demand the Chuck Schumer step down as he is ineffectual and flaccid as the leader of the minority. We the People have to call out the Supreme Court for their shirking their responsibility, their breaking of the oath to defend the Constitution and not bend it to Trump’s will. We the People are being called to put on “a new pair of glasses”, to recover our inner hearing of the “still, small voice” inside of each of us, and to take the next right action to ensure the dignity and worth of our self and every other self on this planet. We the People are obligated to “proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” meaning we can’t decide to send these American’s to El Salvador because they don’t agree with us as Trump alluded to wanting to do yesterday, it means we can’t deport people with valid visas and green cards without due process. It means We the People have to “stand up for God, with God” and use our prophetic voices, stand on the inheritance we have as descendants of the prophets to speak truth to these assholes in power. Pharaoh eventually heard, his courtiers knew way before he could admit his impotence, and we all have both the Pharaoh and Moses energy within us-which one we choose to use is up to us. “Now is the time for all people to come to the aid of their country” is the phrase We the People have to keep repeating and living into. Without “reverence for man”, we are nothing but human doings, we are easily led to slaughter like sheep and we become putty in the hands of the grifters-in-chief!

Having run cons and getting away with them, until I didn’t, I know the power of the con, the lie, the grift and one can only pull a good con off when there is no “reverence for man”. I have spent the last 37+ years doing a living T’Shuvah for all of the times I denigrated God by denigrating human beings. I have spent these years helping people learn how to express gratitude, responsibility for their errors, desire for reconnections, and love for humankind; which has helped me have deepen my own ways of living in these ways. I am unorthodox, I am loud and I care deeply for and believe in “reverence for man” as the only way to find wholeness. It is only through “reverence for man” that I can meet God in the throne room for 10 seconds each day and I am grateful for these 10 seconds and do my best to honor this experience with my actions. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Spiritual Defamation or Reformation-which are you involved in today? Year 4 Day 100

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 100

“We have made great contributions to the spiritual defamation of man. Far from eliminating the fear of man, our novels and theories depict man as untrustworthy, passion-ridden, self-seeking, and disingenuous.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 19)

Today, on the second day of Passover, reading these words, looking at the Haggadah’s readings, seeing what is happening in our time and in history, recent and 1000’s of years ago, can only make a person shudder, think and look inside of her/himself to see how one can stop defaming their own spirituality and the spirituality of another. Immersing ourselves in these two sentences, We the People only have to look at our current leadership here and abroad to see that Pharaoh is alive and well, Pharaoh’s courtiers/minions are emboldened and running to serve Pharaoh. Evil is in our midst, it is cunning, baffling and, when we do nothing to stop it early, it seems all-powerful. Isn’t it time to exam this phenomenon and take actions to stop “the spiritual defamation of man”?

It is happening now, as it always has happened. People seeking power and fame, money and prestige find someone, some group, who they can pick on, whom they can make to be “an other” and then defame them and convince everyone else that only “those people” are the problem, let’s deport them, let’s deprive them of their dignity and their humanity so it will be good for us. The greatest “spiritual defamation” happens when other minorities go along with this bullshit believing it won’t happen to me, now and/or ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. As soon as this “defamation” starts to take hold it is a short road till this way of being spreads to all of the other minorities, all of the people who resist the Pharaoh. We see this happening now as we see it in the Bible and throughout the history of humankind.

Perhaps, the worst “spiritual defamation” is best described in the Bible in Exodus Chapter 1 and in the Haggadah as well. Pharaoh says the Israelite people are more numerous and mighty than we are and if/when we are attacked, they will join with our enemies so let us deal shrewdly with them. The next sentence is there were taskmasters set over the Hebrews and we become enslaved. It is incredible that the people around this “new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph” wouldn’t stand up for the Hebrews because of what Joseph had done to save Egypt, because of the many years of being their neighbors, because of the myriad of relationships the people of Egypt had with the Hebrews. Yet, they didn’t. So the need to “deal shrewdly”, to enslave the people and, here is the “worst spiritual defamation”, the willingness of the Hebrews, who were mightier, more numerous, than the Pharaoh’s people, to become enslaved!

Rather than learn from this experience, Jews have continued to go along to get along, they have continued to ignore the warning signs of autocracy, of racism, antisemitism, and “spiritual defamation”. Mainly, I believe, because we have done a piss-poor job of raising the spiritual health of our family, friends, neighbors and people. In the 10th Century, Maimonides wrote a book called “Shemonah Perakim”, aka the Eight Chapters, which deals with the need for physicians of the soul, with the need for people to seek out and accept the spiritual healing they need so they can become whole. We are in the 21st Century and the Rabbis still don’t see this job as that important. When discussing it with colleagues and administrators of Jewish Institutions of learning, from Pre-K through Rabbinics, I am told that I am a “niche” Rabbi and ‘regular’ Jews don’t need the counseling I give to ‘those people’. Well, it sure as hell seems like we read the Haggadah and go through the Seder without it going through us. It sure as hell seems like we read Torah, we go through it line by line and nothing is penetrating because the Clergy is too afraid to stop defaming their own souls by continuing the charade passed down by the Pharaoh of believing their own bullshit and they are answering to a Board of Directors instead of answering to the call of their own souls and the call/demands of the Bible and the universe.

The Bible depicts the best and worst of humanity. It doesn’t’ believe we are stuck in the worst nor does it believe we are defined by our worst actions. Yet, it is a book that is either unread on the shelf(if people even own one), perused and argued about through the commentaries, and/or abused to prove a point that an autocrat, Jewish and non-Jewish want to prove. Yet, the prophets call out to us: “return, do T’Shuvah, God loves you, your backsliding can be healed. However, most people don’t read nor hear the call of the prophets, they don’t heed nor hear the call of our ancestors who lost their lives to people who practice “spiritual defamation”. This is because we are perpetrating it upon ourselves. We are constantly engaging in “spiritual defamation” every time we miss an opportunity to see our whole and authentic self. We are engaging in this soul-killing disease every time we buy the lies and bullshit of Trump, Pharaoh, Bibi, etc because we think “they are good for the Jews”.

It is time for We the People to demand of our institutions, our clergy, our parents, our children that Spiritual Health is mandatory for all people associated with us. It is time for We the People to stop making excuses for bad, wrong behaviors and actions that are done in the name of ‘the people’. It is time for We the People to end our need for being liked at the cost of our souls, at the cost of truth, at the cost of justice. It is time for We the People to stop the lies of the last sentence above and promote the truth of our unique value, infinite dignity, and spiritual connection with all. It is time for We the People to take our first steps out of the slavery that caused us to ‘give in’ to the bully, to ‘buy into’ the grifter’s bullshit, to indulge in our self-deception and relish being deceived by the liar-in-chief. As the Rabbis of the Haggadah did in B’Nei Brak, let’s put our heads together and find a path forward out of the slavery we have willingly walked into and “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein”!

I have been in the “spiritual reformation” business since 1988. It is a hard business because reaching in to someone’s soul, cleaning it, guarding it, pumping it up with vitamin C of the soul-spirituality. I know this from my own personal experience of not being able to hear the myriad of people calling out to me when I was in “spiritual defamation” of myself and those around me. We are in a time where spiritual reformation, spiritual redemption is needed desperately. Through books, writings, on-line classes, individual spiritual counseling, I am here to help! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Are we, human beings, "capable of discerning between right and wrong" or has the majority of people lost their ability to do this? Year 4 Day 99

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 99

“The principle of majority decision, the binding force of a majority, depends upon the assumption that the individuals who make up the majority are capable of discerning between right and wrong. But we are gradually led to believe that man is incapable of making a significant moral judgement.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.18)

Today is the first day of Passover, we have left the confines of Egypt, the boundaries of our enslavement and are now on our way to “the Promised Land”. Participating in the Seder I went to last night, the different polemics against early Christianity are apparent, the re-writing of history, somewhat, are present in the Haggadah, because of a “majority decision” in the Rabbinic Council of the 2nd Century, influenced heavily by Rabbi Akiva probably. While these sages were certainly “capable of discerning between right and wrong”, their prejudices, their agendas overcame their commitment to “let all who are hungry partake in the Passover, let all who are needy come and eat”. This is to show us how difficult it is to continue to make “ a significant moral judgement” when our egos, our agendas, our needs overtake our knowledge of “right and wrong”. This is not a polemic against the Rabbis of the early 2nd Century, it is just another way to see the agenda of the authors of the Haggadah so we can take from it what is spiritually important, what is morally just, and work to merge our agendas with the one of the Haggadah: Slavery Must End!

We the People have been living in a mostly “free” society and we are still at the mercy of the lawmakers in Washington and in our individual states. We have watched, many of us with horror, the disintegration of “the majority’s” ability to discern “between right and wrong” as “Party uber alles” is the name of the game for the Republicans in Congress and in State Houses across the land. They have no interest in making these discernments, they have no interest in ensuring the freedom of every person. The words in the Declaration of Independence mean nothing to “a majority” of Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives. They are not interested in what is good for the majority of their constituents nor the majority of the Country, they only care about what the wealthy are telling them and following the whims and whipsaws of “der fuhrer”, Donald Trump. This has been the case since Newt Gingrich in 1994 and what is happening now is the acme of his path to domination. In a “free society”, domination is not the goal, the goal is “we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal”. We have failed in these past 249 years to make what is a “self-evident” truth a reality in our country, in our states, in our hearts. Our failure was corrected for a minute in 1964 and 1965 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and the Republicans and the ‘conservative’ Judges of the Supreme Court have been whittling away at these laws ever since where today, they are pretty much non-existent. The Declaration also states: “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, yet We the People have not held our elected officials accountable enough to make these “unalienable Rights” become a reality for all people.

Rabbi Heschel’s last sentence above points to the erosion of humanity in our Country that has also been with us since our founding. Be it Black people, Chinese people, Irish, Italian, Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, the “white majority” of elected officials have sided with prejudice and slavery, denial of equality in pay, in ability to vote, in dignity and worth to anyone “not like us”. Today’s situation is a continuation of the plague that has been with us since our beginning. The Civil War that broke out in fighting in April of 1861 was the physical manifestation of the internal civil war in the Congress, in the States, in each individual. Today’s chaos is the physical manifestation of the internal rejection of responsibility for our own actions, the manifestation of blame someone of that which you are guilty of as Josef Goebbels taught. It is the logical outcome of years of erosion of our “capability of discerning between right and wrong”! For all the handwringing of the Democrats, they also are guilty, not as blatantly, not as cruelly, yet they also have moved from the foundational tenets of “certain unalienable rights” when they were more concerned about a small minority of people than they were about the majority, when they thought themselves so superior they did not have to explain and help people understand their reasoning and the truth that “justice too long delayed is justice denied”.

The Declaration of Independence, the Passover Story in the Bible point to the responsibility of We the People: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” This is what the New Apostolic Reformation and Project 2025 are doing and they are not doing it to make it better, they are the architects and ‘generals’ of ensuring that the Federal Government “becomes destructive of these ends” “the ends” mentioned above.

We the People, are being called to regain our capability “of discerning between right and wrong”. The people who are continuing to work at the Law Firms who have kissed Donald Trump’s ass should resign, be bought out, etc rather than work for a legal firm who’s no longer “capable of discerning between right and wrong”! We the People have to demand of our elected officials there agreement and their enforcement of the Constitutional separation of powers and stand up to the Bully in the White House, to the architects of “christian nationalism” and end their misguided placating, shaking in their boots when these chaos makers, haters, autocrats, theocrats, make a statement. We the People have to stop quaking in our own boots, stop buying into the chaos and stand firm within our selves in what we know to “be self-evident” and not buy into the deception and mendacity of people who are trying hard to make all of us “incapable of making a significant moral judgement”. This is the essence of Passover, of Easter, of honoring the people who braved the ocean to come to America since 1607.

I know what it is like to be unable of “making a significant moral choice” as my history points out. I also know that when I do make “a significant moral choice” it doesn’t always bode well for me and I am fine with this truth. This year, this Passover, I am free from any need to “go along” with evil when I am aware of it happening. I am also free from needing people to respond to me, to see me for who and what I am. It is enough that I know who I am and that my close family/friends see me and know me. In this way, I keep discerning “right and wrong” and choosing the “right” path mostly. God Bless, lets stay out of Egypt and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Motivated or Propelled, Striving or driven, which describes you? Year 4 Day 98

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 98

“We are losing our capacity for freedom. New forces have emerged which regulate our actions. Modern man is not motivated anymore, he is being propelled; he does not strive anymore, he is being driven.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.18)

On the eve of the Great Shabbat, the Shabbat before Passover, and the eve of Passover (which begins Saturday evening), and, in the current chaotic state of the world thanks to the Republican Party’s choice to give free reign to Trump, the New Apostolic Reformation, and the Billionaire Boys club Trump has managed to coerce into joining him, the words above take on a more ominous and urgent meaning. Whether one is celebrating Easter or Passover (or both) the spiritual, moral, and political meaning of both of these Holy Day Celebrations is freedom.

Rabbi Heschel speaks elsewhere that “self-deception is a major disease” and these words show the depth of our self-deception. So many people ‘rebel’ against the ‘regulations’ of moral behavior as laid out in the Bible-not that everything in the Bible is moral behavior. So many people want “to be free to be me” not realizing how much of their ‘freedom’ is regulated by our peers, by our opposition to something rather than by our inner lives and/or our moving towards something. We are constantly rebelling from something rather than rebelling to something. Passover is the rebellion of a group of people in their march towards freedom of mind, body and spirit. Easter, in my opinion, is the rebellion of a group of people towards freedom from the chains of slavery of the mind, body and spirit imposed by the ruling class. Whether one celebrates either or neither, both of these Holy Days represent the triumph of the spirit over the rational mind. Why bother to rebel when the forces are so much greater than we are is the rational response, the response of a “free person” is: of course we can be free if we are willing to make the foundation of our rebellion “going to freedom”.

Yet, the very forces that promote both of these Holy Days, both of these Freedom seeking festivals, have within them forces that want to “regulate our actions” instead of allowing We the People to explore new ways and paths to “freedom”, there are forces in both faiths that want to tell us exactly what the Bible is saying rather than allowing us to seek the 70 ways to understand the Bible. They are the people who say “my way or the highway” and, in today’s America, want to banish, imprison, and deny basic rights to those who don’t fall into lockstep with them. The rise of the New Apostolic Reformation is the rise of authoritarianism through a perverted, in my opinion, relationship with the New Testament-where giving to the Pastors, making sure the Clergy are rich will help the poor person who is giving their last spare change! They are the Prosperity Gospel people who want to control every aspect of a person's life and do not want “freedom of religion”, they want the US to be a “christian nation” as they determine ‘christianity’.

Be it this ‘new’ Church, the Billionaire Boys Club of Trump and his pals who have made more fortunes while so many of us have lost our shirts in the volatile stock market based on his tariff bullshit, or the Jews who are certain that Israel should own the West Bank and Gaza, who believe in the messianic vision of Netanyahu, Trump, et al, who are willing to overlook the authoritarian ways of Orban, Putin, Netanyahu, Trump and be propelled to go against the very morality they proclaim to adhere to. So many people are willing to ‘get into bed’ with people who hate Jews, who hate people of color, who hate everyone but themselves and ‘their people’ because they are being propelled by their own hatred of uncertainty, their own hatred of equality, their own fear/hatred of the responsibilities of “freedom”. The people who fall into these categories are in the self-deception that they are “free”, they lie to themselves and believe they are the script writers of their lives rather than see how they are pawns, actors in a drama written by the autocrat, the cult leader, “der fuhrer”! This is not only sad, it is dangerous.

We the People have to use the upcoming Holy Days to re-invigorate our spiritual life, to recall and make fresh our journey to Sinai, to freedom because of accepting the “yoke of the kingdom of heaven”, of living into the truth of our higher consciousness rather than the desires of our base desires. Be it sex, business, child rearing, entertainment, sports, home life, any part of our daily living, we have the choice to live from our rational minds and rationalize our bad behaviors, excuse our thefts and lies, believe in the mendacity of another(s) and to live from our higher consciousness, our inner truths, do Tshuvah for our errors each day, forgive ourselves and one another for our imperfect moments, see the spark of uniqueness in one another and fulfill the task only we can fulfill. We the People, like our ancestors in Egypt, cannot be swayed or dismayed by the small numbers of our group, remembering only 20-50% of the slaves left Egypt. We the People get to make our journey different than the one laid out in the Bible, we get to find the common ground with one another, we get to join hands and work together as human beings seeking a better life for ourselves and one another, we get to fulfill the moral codes of the Bible by “loving our neighbor as ourself”, “Rebuking our neighbor and not bearing guilt because of it”, “Caring for the stranger, the poor, the needy”, etc. At the beginning of the Seder, we invite all who are in need to join and all who are hungry to have a seat at the table. We the People can make this a reality in this moment, We the People can, and must, join together to “liberate our souls” and liberate our bodies this year so we can rebel to and live in our higher consciousness, our spiritual values.

These words come to me in a moment of chaos in the world, uncertainty in the future, and deep faith that “let freedom ring” will win the day. The battle for the soul of America and Israel has been ongoing since their inception. In Biblical times we read about the battles for the soul of the Israelite people and the truth that we were never ONE PEOPLE, there has always been factions and the uniting of these factions happened maybe during part of the reign of King David. On Saturday evening and Sunday evening, I will be concentrating on my inner freedom to be who I am, on my inner freedom to speak the words and perform the deeds that my higher consciousness, my soul motivate me to rather than the ones that will ‘get me ahead’. I commit to strive to be more like myself, the self I was created to be in this next year, I commit to being more proactive in my fights for your freedom as well. I commit to rebelling towards Godliness rather than away from it. I commit to being more human, more willing to accept my imperfections and strive to be a little better each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.

How are you stifling your uniqueness by conforming to the "standardization" of societal norms? Year 4 Day 97

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 97

“Standardization corrodes the sense of ultimate significance. Man to his own self becomes increasingly vapid, cheap, insignificant. Yet without the sense of ultimate significance and ultimate preciousness of one’s own existence, freedom becomes a hollow phrase.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.18)

Throughout the history of humankind, we have been obsessed with “standardization”, with making sure everyone does something the same way. “This is the way we have always done it” is a constant, soul-killing refrain and much overused. Galileo, Da Vinci, were shunned because of being different, being innovators, being artists in their own right. The prophets were ignored because the messages they were preaching and teaching were ‘anti-establishment’, while being for the human spirit. Society has been seeking to “corroded the sense of ultimate significance” in human beings for a long time and, I believe, the reason is to keep people ‘under control’. The surest way to enslave a person is to “corrode the sense of ultimate significance” within the person, it robs one of their inherent dignity and worth, it chokes the spiritual arteries with so much plaque, people are unable to hear “the still small voice” of their higher consciousness, their higher self. This is the path for Monarchs, Caesars, Pharaohs, Idolatrous Clergy of all stripes, Dictators, Autocrats, Fundamentalists of all types, etc. This is the path to hell for a democratic nation and the road to abject misery for a human being. It is also a path followed by both the right and the left; both, in their search for continued power and control, “corrode the sense of ultimate significance” in different ways, with different rhetoric and with the same goal-control and :standardization”.

Given the pressure to “fit in”, the “standardization” of education, is it any wonder that human beings are becoming more and more “vapid, cheap, insignificant” to themselves? The epidemic of addiction is a sign, the epidemic of pills to make you happy, the diagnosis’ of depression that has increased, the diagnosis’ of "bipolar disorder has skyrocketed, putting kids on Adderall for what is normal behavior in young boys and using it to help kids get better scores on their tests are all signs. The race to “make it”, to “grab the American Dream” only to be bitterly disappointed that it doesn’t bring the ‘inner peace’ and happiness one was promised. “Why bother, what’s the point” is a constant refrain among people who have bought into the lies of society that they don’t matter! We are living, once again, in an era where the only ones who think they are important are the arrogant, entitled rich people and even they have to keep getting more and more to validate their self-worth, they have to be meaner and crueler so they can keep their positions of control; this is the government we are living under right now and the ‘way of the world’ we are being sold-“it’s for your own good, you’ll see” says the liar-in-chief and his guppies, the people who have bought into their own lack of worth, their own insignificance keep swallowing this bullshit. The triumph of Trump, of Project 2025 is the triumph of the ‘ruling class’ to convince enough people of their insignificance and that “only I can give you significance again” to win an election, or at least steal it with great stealth.

We the People have to regain our sense of worthiness, our sense of dignity, our sense of significance which are inherent in our being born! Every one of us possess’ infinite worth and dignity, each of us fills a different divine/earthly need, there is a uniqueness about every human being that no one else has. We the People are being called upon with the words above, with the times we are in to STAND UP and take our proper places and not buckle under to the current autocrats, fascists who want to convince us of our “insignificance”. It is time for us to “come to the aid of our countrymen” and come to the aid of our selves. We the People have to learn/relearn the lessons of the Bible, not the Trump bullshit one, the real one written in Hebrew, not the translations which are commentaries in and of themselves, but to study in the original or with someone who knows the Hebrew and can hold more than one interpretation at one time. Since there are 70 ways to understand the Hebrew Bible, we are given the “freedom” to learn and use the teachings in ways that are appropriate for this moment, not being stuck in 15th Century Poland nor 5th Century Rome.

Living into our own “ultimate significance” is the point of both Passover and Easter! Why celebrate liberation from the Pharaoh, then and now, if not the acknowledge our own “significance”? The Seder is not some ancient ritual that is like a Jewish Thanksgiving, it is a dynamic moment in our lives, yet because it has become so “standardized”, we say the same words each year without ever considering their meaning, their importance for our own liberation and journey to freedom. “We were slaves in Egypt” is not a phrase to describe a historical event, it is a reminder, a call and a warning to all of us to examine-what are we enslaved to in this moment and “standardization corrodes the sense of ultimate significance” is one that most people ignore. Needing to keep the Seder going for hours and hours is not adding to its importance nor its message, using just the words of the Haggadah doesn’t help us liberate our souls and our higher consciousness. Only by speaking from our “significant, precious” selves can we light a pathway out of the current Egypt we are in personally and the current Egypt we and the people with us at the Seder are in collectively. This is our challenge this year as in every year, and especially this year.

I do my best to acknowledge my own significance and it is hard at times. When I was ‘retired’, told my way and being wasn’t needed any more, the organization had to ‘move on’, it took a minute for me to regain my sense of “significance, preciousness”. I still fall prey to forgetting it and those moments are less and less. It is hard for me, at times, to break free of the “standardization” which is so prevalent and I continue to rebel against it. I will not succumb to the call of societal norms, nor will I be “adjusted to conventional notions” because, as Rabbi Heschel has taught me over the years, my inner life, my soul calls for me to live into my uniqueness and honor yours. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Going along to get along denies our Uniqueness and threatens our freedom - Year 4 Day 96

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 96

“The threat to freedom lies in the process of reducing human relations to a matter of fact. Human life is no longer a drama; it is a routine. Uniqueness is suppressed, repetitiveness prevails. We teach our students how to recognize the labels, not how to develop a taste.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 18)

Sitting here, at my computer, reading and re-reading these words, being immersed in the happenings of our world right now, eyes wide open to what is, reeling from the pendulum swings of the ‘progressives’ and the ‘conservatives’, knowing neither side lives their self-proclaimed labels, I am reminded that our story, unfortunately, is not a new story. When I was first learning the “con” game, I was told there are no “new” cons, just variations on old ones. The same is true for we humans, “the threat to freedom” has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. It is not always, of course, an outside threat, many of “the threats to freedom” come from our rational minds towards ourselves. Many people use rational arguments to “reduce human relations to a matter of fact” within themselves. Without a rich, developed inner life, without a connection to the core of being within each and every one of us, our thinking and acting has to be “the process of reducing human relations to a matter of fact”. In other words, we make our relations impersonal and unemotional, “just the facts, please”. We may have ‘feelings’ for another human being, they are overridden by the lies we tell ourselves, the deceptions we fall into and the pros and cons calculations we do when deciding life issues, whom to marry, etc, and/or we allow our feelings to override what our soul knows is best, hence we follow the cult leader to our detriment, we bow down, raise our arms in salute to “der fuhrer”, etc.

While it is important to have a “routine”, it is criminal to make our “routines” routine! When we want to “take the drama” out of our living, we are also taking away our humanity, our “freedom” and our ability to connect on a soul to soul basis. This is the great “threat to freedom”; living in role to role relationships. I am hearing Rabbi Heschel exhort us all, especially in these days leading up to Passover and Easter, to let go of the lies and the bullshit we have bought into, “lift up our eyes and see” the narrow places our role to role relationships have put us into, truly experience the box our “routines” have placed us in and realize the taskmasters that “reducing human relations to a matter of fact” put over us! The “drama” of “human life” is not about being ‘drama queens’, not about trying to get attention, it is about living in the reality of what is and the reality of what ought to be at the same time. While one cannot command the actions of another, engaging in the “drama” of “human life” means we can challenge the beliefs of the people around us, challenge our own beliefs, check to see if we are taking actions that move “freedom” forward or are we retarding both our own “freedom” and that of another(s), are we allowing “der fuhrer” and her/his minions to retard our “freedom” by their decrees and fiats?

Throughout history, this “threat to freedom” has reared its ugly head. It starts out the same, one ‘side’ wins control and they proceed to suppress anything that is not ‘like us’. One’s uniqueness is not rewarded, even though it is God-given, it is seen as a threat to the control and power grab of ‘the current administration’. What is called for is “wash, rinse, iron, repeat”, because this is the path to domination and control for ‘the winners’. Domination and control are, of course, the enemies of “freedom” and this is the battles of this country since its inception. We are still waging war with one another to make ‘everyone come over to our side’-which is antithesis of “freedom”. Rather than see the power of everyone’s uniqueness, rather than respect the bright light that science shines on the world, the inner light religious texts bring out in each and every one of us-people are invested in doing the same things over and over again. Make America Great Again is a repetitiveness that kills the human spirit, it makes routine what is dramatic and awesome, it takes the soul to soul connection and kills it, it makes religion serve it and boasts that this is ‘god’s will’. Yet because they said it loud enough and long enough, because they put it out over the airwaves, people have willingly given up their uniqueness to be ‘part of the crowd’, become automatons in their marching lock-step with “der fuhrer” and we are all suffering for this.

We the People, at this time of year when the spiritual forces are inclined greatly to support the liberation of our souls, the march towards “freedom”, have to do more than “recognize the labels” of what it means to “be human”. We the People are being called to task, We the People are being held accountable for our willingness to march into the narrow place of “reducing human relations to a matter of fact”. We the People are being reminded that we are more than routines, we are more than human doings. We the People are being called to “rise to a higher plane of existence” than the ones we are living in/on at this moment so we can appreciate, support and embrace the uniqueness of our selves and everyone else. As we approach Easter and Passover, this year, with all of the chaos that “der fuhrer” and his henchmen are putting into the world, into our lives, I hear Rabbi Heschel, and the foundational texts of all faiths, demanding We the People “develop a taste” for what true “freedom” is. I hear Easter and Passover calling to us to eat the bitter herbs so we remember the “bitterness of slavery” that we supposedly left 3500+ years ago and we seem to keep returning to Egypt-a forbidden action in the Bible. This year, during the Seder, take extra time to talk about the verse; “in every generation humans are to see themselves as if they too were liberated from Egypt”. The Rabbis, in their wisdom I believe, know we would keep returning or wanting to return to Egypt, to some narrow place, to bend the knee to some dictator, some “fuhrer” and ask us each year to leave it quickly, if not forever. This is the inner work that makes life a “human drama”, gives us “taste” of joy and “safeguards our “freedoms”.

Writing this blog is a “routine” and I never approach it routinely, I am always excited, learning, seeing these words with new eyes. I continue to “develop a taste” of newness, freshness in these ancient words and thoughts. I love the “drama” of human life and, when bored have created unnecessary drama at times in the past. I also engage in supporting the uniqueness of another and of me without being jealous and am always in awe of the unique creativity of another human being. I know how easy it is to fall into repetitiveness and how soul crushing it is. I believe I have “taught” my partners in learning how to “develop a taste” rather than read the commentaries of another and make it theirs. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

What are you doing to prepare for the Freedom/Liberation festivals of Passover and Easter? -Year 4 Day 95

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 95

“The insecurity of freedom is a bitter fact of historical experience. In times of unemployment, vociferous demagogues are capable of leading the people into a state of mind in which they are ready to barter their freedom for any bargain. In times of prosperity hidden persuaders are capable of leading the same people into selling their conscience for success. Unless a person learns how to rise daily to a higher plane of living, to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs, will he in a moment of crisis insist upon loyalty to freedom?”(Insecurity of Freedom pg 18)

The last sentence above is what I am hearing loud and clear in this moment and have in every moment since December 10, 1986, the last time I was arrested. In fact, even before that date, the idea that I have to “rise daily to a higher plane” was something I knew and beat myself up about when I could not. It has been the bane of my existence forever. This idea, of course, is expressed in the Bible when God asks Cain:”why are you angry, why is your face fallen? If you do well, acceptance, if you don’t, negativity couches at your door, it desires you much and you can rule it.”(Gen.4:6-7).

What seems so clear to me today, is that without engaging our ability to ‘master’ the negativity inside of us and outside of us, we can never be free! All of our talk of freedom is inane and boring without our engagement with the negativity/Yetzer HaRa that is within us and using it for good, not selfish needs. Being able to “rise daily to a higher plane of living” is an essential element of our ability to be free and to maintain our freedom. For some, this is a new concept and as I am writing this, I am realizing this nuance that I am not sure I was aware of consciously prior to re-reading this teaching of Rabbi Heschel.

In these times, like all times, when people are interested in “where’s mine”, “this is mine and you can’t have it”, “fuck the poor, they are unloved by God if they are poor”, and other such bullshit, “rise daily to a higher plane of living” is all about their selfish desires. The idea of “to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs” is about as stupid an idea as possible to these people. Asking Trump, Vought, Miller, et al to “rise daily to a higher plane” for them is the same as asking them to be more cruel, make more money off of their grifts, be more racist, hateful and destructive. It is crucial for us to realize that when people are spiritually ill, speaking to them in ways we speak to the spiritual seeker is like talking to a deaf person. We are told “do not curse the deaf”, “don’t put a stumbling block before the blind”, yet when we think of the spiritually ill person, think of a person who revels in cruelty, We the People have to speak to them in the language they can understand, not the language that We the People want to speak in. The ‘ruling class’ in this country right now is worse than it has ever been, the people in charge are making the far-left progressives look better than they should! They are making some people wax nostalgically for Nixon and Agnew! Yet, the only language Trump, Putin, Netanyahu understand is the language of strength, the use of the power, We the People have within us. It is not to convince them through weapons, it is to let them know their time is short, that We the People are going to “insist upon loyalty to freedom” from ourselves and one another which is something they cannot take away from us.

Here we are, 5 days from celebrating the liberation of the 12 Tribes of Israel, some other slave populations, knowing that there is a possibility that the text in the Bible points to only 20% or maybe 50% of the people actually left! When we are so enslaved, so burdened down with what is happening on the outside that we do not take the time to engage with our inner life, there is no way for a person “to rise daily to a higher plane of living”, we see in the story of Moses killing the taskmaster and then being taunted about it by Jews, that even when one “cares for that which surpasses him” one is suspect by people because of their own inability to do the same. “What’s the gimmick”, “what is the con he is running now” are questions people ask when one “surpasses” oneself in order to “care for” another human being. “Why do you care” was a daily question asked of me when I was working and the answer of “you are a human being, you are important, you matter” was refreshing, gave people a moment to catch their breath, and because they did not have a practice to “rise daily to a higher plane of living” they were suspicious. Isn’t this just so sad-we suspect those who reach out and go along with the assholes who want to screw us over??!!

We the People, in these days before Passover, in the 12 days before Easter, are being called to let go of the leavening that surrounds our souls, that is blocking our hearts from accepting the “letters of Torah”. We the People are commanded to be one grain of sand better each day, we are not commanded to be perfect. We the People are needed to stop the suspicion around rising “to a higher plane of living”, around “to care for that which surpasses us”. We the People are needed to be the prophetic voices of today, going to the “gates of the City”, speaking truth to power, sitting with the people that are rejected by the “clergy who believe the poor are unloved by God”, who have served our country and thrown away by a government that is too involved with paperwork that with service. Again, this is not just an issue for today, it is an issue that has plagued us as a nation, as a human race forever! Yet, We the People have the spiritual wherewithal to change what is happening, what has happened and influence what will happen. We the People, can and must be diligent to “learn how to rise daily to a higher plane of living, to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs” and, as it says in Pirke Avot, practice random acts of lovingkindness which will keep the world from falling. We the People must STAND UP to the bullies, SPEAK UP to the liars, and “INSIST upon loyalty to FREEDOM” from our elected officials.

As I stated in the beginning, I have known these words and these actions to be true and necessary from childhood, my father and grandfathers insisted upon it, taught it to all of us. I ran away from it when I felt alone and not understood nor cared for after my father’s death. I realize that his spirit has been with me forever, his teachings and ways reverberate in my consciousness and unconscious.I have lived the teaching above to the best of my ability each day, I rise one grain of sand daily, I seek to get out of my way by being of service to another human being, I make my tshuvahs where and when I realize my errors and I practice gratitude daily. Most of all, loyalty to freedom, loyalty to principles, loyalty to the love I receive daily is an absolute necessity for me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Do you "barter your freedom" for imaginary bargains? - Year 4 Day 94

Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 4 Day 94

“The insecurity of freedom is a bitter fact of historical experience. In times of unemployment, vociferous demagogues are capable of leading the people into a state of mind in which they are ready to barter their freedom for any bargain. In times of prosperity hidden persuaders are capable of leading the same people into selling their conscience for success. Unless a person learns how to rise daily to a higher plane of living, to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs, will he in a moment of crisis insist upon loyalty to freedom?”(Insecurity of Freedom pg 18)

OY! I read this pearls from Rabbi Heschel, I pray, I study, just as other people do the same with other teachers, philosophers, clergy, spiritual paths and I am in complete bewilderment as to why this truth of “the insecurity of freedom” hasn’t been emblazoned between our eyes, what the issue is when Jews put T’fillin on their heads that this message doesn’t go to our hearts and souls. I am in complete bafflement as to how, after millennia of experience with this truth, that humanity is unable to accept and live in to it, have a daily practice which acknowledges this “bitter fact of historical experience” and SHEMA, hear, listen and understand, the call of the universe that “freedom” is more powerful than slavery, that the “insecurity of freedom” is causes by “vociferous demagogues” leading the uninformed, the lazy, the ‘where’s mine and how can I get it’ people to “barter their freedom”.

Remembering that the title of this paper I am quoting from is called “Religion in a Free Society”, we have to wonder what Rabbi Heschel is seeing in the late 1950’s in America that makes him so concerned, exert so much energy on warning us, informing us of that which we are not seeing, according to what I hear him saying this morning, and, what we were blind to then as well as what We the People are not seeing in this moment. For some of us, these words are ringing so true, so powerfully, we search for answers as to how we got to this place, where a demagogue is so capable of “leading the people into a state of mind in which they are ready to barter their freedom for any bargain”. We are seeing this with the Law Firms who have capitulated to Trump’s demands to stop defending the law and defend his law instead, we see this with the MAGA crowd who have bartered their freedom and their well-being financially and health-wise to these charlatans for some fantasy “bargain”. We are hearing the grift of the idolators claiming to be ‘good christians’ who promote the idea that God/Christ loves you if you are rich and if you are not but donate to Pastor Paula White-Cain and buy her ‘passover blessing kit’, your life will improve. The grift of the priesthood is what caused the destruction of both the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judea) in ancient times. It is what the prophets warned about, it must be what Jesus was talking about when he bewailed and railed against the “money-changers” in the Temple. Yet, these “vociferous demagogues” have convinced almost half of the United States that doing what they did in ancient times will have a different result today-talk about not knowing, heeding, believing in “a bitter fact of historical experience”!

Rabbi Heschel is not using “times of unemployment” and “times of prosperity” to necessarily show different moments, because as we can see, even in “times of unemployment”, the rich can get richer; even in times of prosperity, the gap between rich and not rich can grow exponentially. I do believe he is telling us to be on guard no matter what economic times we are in so it is a “both/and” approach, I believe. We are living in such a time today-full stop. The gap between rich and not rich keeps growing and, no matter how much bullshit is thrown against the wall; Trump, Musk, Vance, Lutnick, Bannon are not populists who are “for the people”, they do not believe in “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Yet, these power-mad individuals, as a group, have shown their capability in “leading the people into a state of mind in which they are ready to barter their freedom”. We saw this in Russia with Putin, we see this in Hungary with Orban, we are witnessing this in Israel with Netanyahu, and we are experiencing this in America with Trump. We are “not better off today than we were 4 years ago” because we are losing our freedom little by little, a lot by a lot, we are being gouged by higher prices, lower taxes on the rich, less services from the government, broken promises made by earlier administrations by the current one, the ripping apart of the Constitution by this administration and the lies of the Fox NOTNEWS! Murdoch’s own paper, The Wall Street Journal, is calling this shit nuts-yet FOXNOTNEWS continues to promote the lies, the misdirections, the “vociferous demagoguery” of Trump, Lutnick, Hegseth, Gabbard, et al.

In 6 nights We the People will begin the celebration of Passover with a gathering of people, reading the Haggadah, partaking of a meal, and promising “Next Year in Jerusalem”, next year we will freer; in 12 nights Christians will celebrate the “Last Supper” and then Easter on the following Sunday. Passover, Easter are not abstractions nor are they ‘hopes and wishes’; they are real celebrations that We the People commit to be the reality for now and for ever. They are real manifestations of God’s Will, they appeal to the truth found in our Higher Consciousness. We the People have an advantage that the people who experienced the first Easter, the first Passover, did not have. We have the knowing that these celebrations are about to happen and the question We the People have to ask is: “what inner life wrestling do I need to do, what slavery do I have to leave, what lies do I need to let go of, to be able to honor the gift of “freedom” that I/we have been graced with”. This is the crucial question before us and too many people are unaware of this question, unaware they have the ‘right’ answers to the wrong questions! What are the 4 questions the adults need to ask and how will we answer the child’s questions: “what did you do while the “vociferous demagogues” were taking away our freedoms?”

I am letting go of the slavery of needing another to validate me. I know I have kept silent at times so you would like me. I know that the phone not ringing, my requests being ignored have made me retreat. I know that I ‘talk’ to myself not understanding being left out, cut out and all of these occurrences have left me not sure of my self, not sure of my place. This Pesach, I am recommitting to BEING ME! There are two books I am publishing, Harriet is publishing one book and we are going to launch an online salon for learning together in small groups. I hope you find your slavery this year also. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.