Daily Prophets
Day 9
Elijah’s departure from earth in a “fiery chariot” has led to many stories about him not dying. In fact, some say that Elijah’s return will herald the Messiah coming. Elijah is also used in Rabbinic literature as one who sits among the poor, strangers, etc waiting for someone to do a kindness. I think about Elijah from the Bible and the way that the Rabbis have recreated him to be and wonder why.
As I said in the beginning of this endeavor, the Prophets were the first spiritual counselors in our tradition. The Rabbis wanted to lessen the impact of the prophets in order to put more order into the world and not rely on inspiration, as my friend and teacher Rabbi Igael Gurin-Malous taught me yesterday when we were talking. The Rabbis were creative, for sure, in the ways they made the Talmud so central to our way of being for so long. The Rabbis were correct to distinguish that we would need a road map to live well. They were also afraid of Jews being wiped out because if the Prophets were central, the Jews would have tried another revolt against Rome and been annihilated.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about the Prophets and the Prophetic Voice filled all of his writings, in my opinion. His book on the Prophets got him out of his study and into the streets, according to his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, just prior to his death. All of his social justice work, his work with Vatican II, Rev. Martin Luther King, and the movement against the war in Vietnam, stemmed from his reading of the Prophets and Torah. He was vilified by some as mixing in where he didn’t belong and to him, these demonstrations, talks, writings were exactly where he belonged.
Rabbi Heschel serves as a model for all Rabbis. Let go of the need to worship the Halacha, let go of the desire to stay in the Beit Midrash, get out into the streets, stand up for those who need help and lead your congregations and organizations to do the work that God calls us to. These are more acceptable today than in earlier times, yet we are still not there. Too many Jews accept and agree with what happened at the Capital last Wednesday. In fact, there were Jews who participated with White Supremacists, people who think that “6 million wasn’t enough” who were proud of “Camp Aushwitz”!! I am aghast at this and I am angry. I am not afraid to say that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger. That is easy to do, as many Republicans are now saying. What is more difficult is to call out the people who helped foment this insurrection.
Elijah and the other Prophets would be screaming from the mountains and the valleys to throw out Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and the rest of the Republican Senators who objected after the insurrection and knew that they were playing a political game. Our Rabbis have to do the same, not just the liberal and/or progressive Rabbis (whatever that label means) but all Rabbis.
We have let politics intervene in our relationship with God. I hear the words of Amos ringing in my ears. “Adonai roars from Zion, shouts aloud from Jerusalem…For three transgressions of Tyre…they handed over an entire population to Edom ignoring the covenant of brotherhood.”(Amos 1:1,9). Can we hear God roaring or are we too devoted to worshiping the false idol of Halacha, the false idol of power, the false idol of lies? Amos is a shepherd and he is overwhelmed with and by God. He is calling to the rich, the mighty, the powerful. Today, we are too caught up in kissing the rings of these people to call to them to change their ways. What is wrong with our leaders that they cannot hear God roar? They are too fat with their power and they have wrapped themselves in the cloak of zealotry for god, an idol they have created. The Jesus they worship is the Jesus they have created who loves the rich and the powerful, not the poor and downtrodden. This is not the Jesus that I have learned about from my Christian/Catholic friends.
Just as the Jews who suck up to the Trumps, Cruz’, Hawley’s, McCarthy’s of the world are not worshiping Adonai. They are worshipping the Halacha, maybe, but really they too are cloaking themselves in righteousness and I am disgusted by it.
Amos is telling us that when we break the Covenant of brotherhood, we are playing with fire as the next verse says: “I will send down fire upon the wall of Tyre and it shall devour its fortresses.”(Amos1:10) We have broken the Covenant of brotherhood in this country for a long time. In the song “America the Beautiful” we sing “God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood”. Where is that brotherhood? It left the building when we stopped living by the good and following God’s call. It is time for us to listen to the Shepherd from Tekoa, use their spiritual guidance and throw out the bums who are trying to make our country into an authoritarian state with them being in charge.
We need to hear and heed the call of the Prophets and let them direct us. I understand the need for certainty which Halacha brings, I understand and agree that having a roadmap is important in order to navigate the world. I also understand and know that the Prophets’ voice is unstable and volatile. I have that voice and I have used it well most of the time and not so good at others. When I use it not so good, it is harmful and scary. When it is appropriate, I have saved lives. I am no prophet! I, like you, have a prophetic voice that has been handed down to all of us from our ancestors and I believe it is time to use it so America does not burn down. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark