Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 80
“What is the hope of man with his faithfulness being so feeble, vague, unstable and confused? The world that we have long held in trust has exploded in our hands, and a stream of guilt and misery has been unloosed which leaves no man’s integrity unmixed. But man has become callous to catastrophes. What is our hope with our callousness standing like a wall between our conscience and God?”(Man is Not Alone pg.147)
This teaching, these words is/are distressing, disturbing and distasteful. It forces us to face our selves, to do a true Chesbon HaNefesh, an accounting of our souls/our ways of being in the world. This accounting is for us to see what we have done well-as all accountings have to include assets and liabilities-and understand that what we have done well does not ‘take care of’ nor wipe out the negative ways we have done. This teaching is pointing out, to me, one of the most negative ways we behave, actions we take against self and another human being(s): callousness.
Rabbi Heschel is reminding us that there are more catastrophes than the ones we call catastrophes. Each time we ignore the plight of the poor and the needy, this is a catastrophe. While many people just shrug their shoulders at such events and see them as ‘just the way life is’ and/or ‘they get what they deserve/work for’ and/or, the new Prosperity Gospel lie, ‘God doesn’t love them as much as God loves the rich/me’. What we are seeing as ‘business as usual’ and/or ‘get real Rabbi, this is the way of the world’; Rabbi Heschel, the Prophets and God see as catastrophes! Yet, we have become so callous, hard-skinned that we are not aware of the catastrophes we are creating each and every day. We are so stuck, so unstable, so mixed up and so lacking of integrity we are blind to these truths, we are blind and unmoved by the calls of the poor and the needy. We have come to blame them for their problems and for the issues that face many of us! We are so callous, so hard-skinned that some people rejoice in their sorrow and misery. How sad, how sick, how unGodly!
Each time we deny righteous justice, as the Torah calls for, it is a catastrophe. Each time we engage in jury nullification we are creating a catastrophe. Each time we find a cop not guilty for the murder of another human being because she/he is a cop, the victim is black, white, asian, hispanic, and ‘had it coming to them’ we create a catastrophe. Different states favor either the employer or the employee in labor disputes and this prejudice creates catastrophes. Each time an innocent person is convicted is a catastrophe we are creating through our need to win and the deceit of the prosecution. Righteous justice means no bribes, no prejudice, can enter into our search for truth. Righteous justice is the search for compassionate and understanding and to be a person of truth seeking means to seek compassion, understanding as part of the whole story. Callousness to this is a catastrophe beyond measure that we are engaging in each and every day.
It is a catastrophe to categorize another human being(s) according to any measure. We are all human beings-no one has more dignity and value than any one else. We are all unique human beings so no one is the same as any one else. These two seemingly contradictory statements combine to remind us of the catastrophic nature of our categorizing people, comparing people, trying to get everyone to be the same, and/or ostracizing people who are ‘not like us’ from our midst and from the same opportunities we have. Be this because of the color of their skin, the religion they practice, the sexual orientation, the creed they live by, because they are male, female, and/or other, and because of their ethnicity; hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, Jewish, Irish, Italian, etc. who have all been, at one time and, in some cases, for all time seen as less than, people to be feared, etc. This catastrophic behavior is commonplace for many people and they proclaim the right to revere the leaders of the Confederacy for their prejudicial, pro-white stance and willingness to blow up the Union to keep another human beings down! We have seen this throughout history, read up on how the Jews were expelled from almost every country, and we are continuing it today in our ‘enlightened United States’ in our ‘God-fearing Christian country’. There are people who have become so hard-skinned as to believe causing these catastrophes and more, are their ways of serving God! More on this tomorrow
In recovery, we have to cut away the callousness of our past and keep ourselves fresh and alert to not allowing the callouses to grow back even stronger and harder. We do this by making sure we continue to do our amends, we continue to grow along spiritual lines and we continue to be grateful for what we have, share with another human being the bounty God has given us and work hard to not turn errors, missing the marks into catastrophes.
I am trembling over the ways I have been callous and the catastrophes I have caused. In looking at my recovery, I am aware of how many people have perceived me as callous and I know I am not as callous as some make me out to be. I also know that my actions have cause catastrophes that I was not aware of in the moment, I have caused heartache and hardship for another(s) without realizing it and this is another definition of callousness for me. I do T’Shuvah and change each day and learn from my errors as well. More tomorrow on this, God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark