Daily Prophets
Day 21
“I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, justice, kindness and compassion. I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness and you will know Adonai.(Hosea 21, 22).
These words from Hosea are spoken each day of the week when we put on our T’fillin. After Hosea speaks of how the wife/Israel has whored herself to Baal and other false gods, he tells us of God’s desire for our return and God’s acceptance of us when we return in these verses. My brother, Rabbi Neal Borovitz, says we use these words as a way of declaring that “we bind ourselves to God and to others as brothers/sisters and the last line verb ‘know’ means willing to enter into an intimate relationship with both God and another.” I agree with him and he told me to do my own drosh as well:)
God made a Covenant with us, individually and collectively, at Sinai. It was a continuation of the Covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. With each generation we are able to discern more and more the subtleties of this Covenant and, as an individual and as Israel, deepen the ‘marriage’ to God, self and each other. This is the forever commitment. Every morning we get to recommit to God, self and another(s) our foreverness. Every morning we get to remember we are not in this alone.
The Covenant is made with all the elements that comprise a healthy and holy relationship. Even after Israel has strayed (and Hosea’s wife had strayed) God is taking us back with justice tempered by righteousness, kindness and compassion. Even though God has plenty of reasons to, God is not willing to cut ties forever with us, as individuals and as a people. Every morning we get to renew our vows to be just, righteous, kind and compassionate in all our affairs and with everyone we meet. Every morning we get to renew our commitment to act Godlike and take back the people who have broken their vows with us when they call.
The Covenant is made in and with faithfulness. Each morning we thank God for returning our soul to us with compassion and declare Great is Your faithfulness. Each morning when we put on T’fillin, and even if we don’t we can pray this prayer, we get to reaffirm our faithfulness and to God, to the principles of our Covenant and to our commitment to continue to deepen our understanding of and actions of faithfulness to and with our Covenant.
Rabbi Heschel says on page 57 of The Prophets “Knowledge encompasses inner appropriation, feeling, a reception into the soul… that it often , though not always, denotes an act involving concern, inner engagement, dedication, or attachment to a person. It also means to have sympathy, pity, or affection for someone.” Just as in a marriage, each day we get to know our partner better and more intimately. Rabbi Heschel is refining and redefining what knowing is here. While it has the connotation of sex in Hebrew, it is so much more. I am struck by this explanation of Rabbi Heschel’s.
To know God is to have inner engagement with God, to be attached to God and God’s principles and creations. To know God is to have concern for God and for God’s people, all of us humans. To know another person is to be attached, dedicated, show sympathy as a pathway of affection. To know your partner is to receive them into your soul and open your soul to receive theirs. This is our pathway to love, to reconciliation and, I would suggest to God.
Being in Recovery takes this daily betrothing. Each day we commit to our recovery through action, through principles, through service and through love. We get to be accepting of everyone as the 3rd Tradition of AA says, “the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking”. I would suggest that we all could apply this idea to our living. The only requirement for membership in our group is a desire to belong and bind ourselves to God, to the Covenant, and to one another!! Imagine how different life would be if we all could live this principle of recovery.
I realize that I have bound myself to God and to another(s) in so many ways over the years and I realize that I haven’t always done it with righteousness, kindness and compassion. I woke up this morning thinking about this passage and realized that I am bound to Beit T’Shuvah and Beit T’Shuvah is bound to me even though our relationship has changed. What hasn’t changed is my commitment to the Covenant and Principles Harriet and I read with the help of many people, especially Elaine Breslow, z”l. While I spent about 6 months lost and hurt, binding myself to God was the best healing agent along with Harriet and other friends and family. I harbor no resentments because I am bound to God and to humanity with justice, kindness, righteousness and compassion. I am bound in faithfulness and forever. This knowing of people, letting them into my soul and receiving theirs has been the gift of these past 32+ years. My covenant with Harriet, Heather, Neal, Sheri, nieces and nephews, friends has grown deeper and stronger because of this binding. I pray that you renew your covenant each day with more determination and love. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark