Daily Prophets
Day 15
As we prepare for the Inauguration of Joseph Robinette Biden, our 46th President, the words of Amos ring out to me. In Chapter 6 the prophet calls out to the people, exhorting them to see what truly is and how they have been acting. He calls out to the “notables of the leading nation on whom the house of Israel pin their hopes”(Amos 6:1). Amos is so concerned with the ways of the leaders how they are taking the people down a road of ruin and destruction. I am thinking about where we are as a country and a people. We have let our leaders take us down a ruinous path more than once. Our Government is based on checks and balances for justice and mercy, not a power grab for the financial benefit of a few elected people. Yet, these past 4 years have shown us what happens when this behavior is left largely unchecked. Let me be clear, this happens in Democratic and Republican administrations and with Congresspeople of both parties.
Amos is speaking to all of us when he says: “Yet you ward off a day of woe and convene a session of lawlessness.”(Amos 6:3). I am struck by how prescient his words are to all of us. We keep thinking the Prophets were only for their time yet, as with Torah, they are for all time. I am thinking about the times I have “convened sessions of lawlessness” this was the chaos and destruction of my days of active addiction. I wish I could say all the days of my recovery never had these sessions, yet this would be a lie. I, like many of us, have engaged in false pride as Amos tells the House of Israel: “Adonai swears I loathe the pride of Jacob and I detest his fortresses. I will declare forfeit city and inhabitants alike.”(Amos 6:*8). I am thinking of all the times I was so sure I was right and couldn’t hear others’ opinions, warnings and advice. I think of how I bought my own press at times and became blind to the dangers in front of me. I think of how I thought I had built a cushion, a protection around me it turned out to be forfeit. I blame no one for my destruction, I realize that I missed the signs because of my pride, my hurt and my disbelief. I am sad for those who suffered because of my pride over the 32 years of my leadership of Beit T’Shuvah. None of it was intentional, and it doesn’t matter, the actions were wrong and I am sorry. I ask all of us, on this day of a new administration beginning to see how our pride has caused lawlessness in our inner world and to those around us that we love and the ones we don’t love as well.
We are coming out of an administration that: “turned justice into poison weed and the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.”(Amos 6:12). The prophet Amos, in the name of Adonai is exhorting us to turn back to our roots as a people. The people Israel was founded on and with Grace, Justice, Righteousness and Truth. He is telling us that all of these fundamentals have been poisoned and ruined. When I look at the past 4 years, I see the same.
Justice has been perverted to serve Trump and his cronies, Grace has been granted to the powerful few, Righteousness was thrown to the ground like the family separation, and Truth was replaced with ‘alternative facts’. For 4 years we have been bombarded with lies, perversions, false pride and power grabs. While it is easy to blame Trump and his mobsters, it is more important to see how we all have done this in our own ways. It is imperative, if we are to learn from Amos to, to see how we are not so much better than people we look down upon. We have to see our own inner racism, we have to look at our own bias’ and prejudices that are “cancers of our souls” as Rabbi Heschel teaches. We all need to find our part in each and every interaction and not just blame another(s).
God is angry that the poor and the needy have been used and perverted. President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Congress, Courts, I pray that you will take your oaths seriously and not serve a political agenda. I pray that you will serve God’s agenda and the People’s agenda. I pray that the rest of us also serve God’s agenda and the People’s agenda-letting go of false pride, lawlessness, and revering justice, righteousness, truth, and Grace. Each of us has a part in this endeavor of democracy, will you step up to your part? Stay safe, God Bless Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the United States of America and you, Rabbi Mark