Daily Prophets
Day 46
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who present darkness as light and light as darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are so wise in their own opinions and clever in their own judgement. Who vindicate him who is in the wrong in return for a bribe and withhold vindication from one who is in the right.”(Isaiah 5:20,21, 23).
I read these words with terror and I’m amazed that the inhabitants of the land were not moved by this call to change. When the word Woe is used it is a sign of catastrophe about to come to people who are hellbent on their own destruction. It is also, in my reading a cry of compassion and pain, an identification with God and the pain, sorrow and compassion that God experiences in the moment.
Here we have people with a Spiritual Malady, as Moses Maimonides speaks about in his book Eight Chapters. The first indicator is the confusion of good and evil, light and dark, bitter and sweet. This happens when we allow our minds, emotions and rationalizations to overtake the call and knowledge of our soul. We do this when we are more interested in puffing ourselves up than in being grateful for the gifts we have been given. People in power have to remember that God has to rule their actions, not their false egos and drive for power, prestige and wealth.
The people Isaiah is speaking to believe that they are the smartest people in the room and they alone decide what is right and good. They don’t need anyone else’s help or input as they know best and will take care of their ‘people’, the ones who bribe them, kiss their butts, etc. They care nothing for what is right, they care only for their power and who will help them stay in power. These “wise and clever ones” are the ones who set up the ruin of Jerusalem and the destruction of Judah.
Rabbi Heschel explains: “The essence of blasphemy is confusion and in the eyes of the prophet, confusion is raging in the world”(The Prophets, pg 78). He also explains: “the people don’t know how sick they are. Human wisdom and understanding have failed to save man form pride, presumption and arrogance”(ibid, pg. 93). I am shaking at these words of explanation as well. OY! How prescient was Rabbi Heschel and how little have things changed in the world. We live in a state of confusion that only prayer, immersion in text, connection to and being directed by God will solve. Yet, we humans, continue to engage in the hubris of presumption and arrogance of cleverness. Bribes blind the eyes of the righteous we are taught in the Bible, yet we continue to take them and call ourselves righteous and just.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our political climate of today. Listening to some senators on their objections to President Biden’s cabinet picks is laughable. They are so wise and clever they think that we have forgotten their actions of lauding the inexperienced, political hacks of the previous administration that they approved willingly and quickly. These leaders are masters at the subterfuge and confusion that they use to blind the eyes of the people and steal from our pockets. Lindsey Graham, Joe Manchin, Ted Cruz, et al were willing to appoint an ambassador to Germany who was so outrageous in his tweets and, because it is a woman, oppose Neera Tanden for hers? This is their desire to confuse the people of this country as to their true motive, white, male power. Isaiah is calling these leaders to account and warning them of the destruction they are bringing to our country and our people. Yet, these ‘God-fearing’ bigots and idolators think they are too clever to get caught and will ‘rise up to the lord and be saved’ for causing ‘the rapture’ to happen. OY, VaVoy!
In recovery, we seek to undo the confusion that ruled our lives and that we promoted in the world. As a practicing addict confusion, misrepresenting, vindicating the wrong and convincing you it was right was standard operating procedure. We had lost the ability to distinguish light and dark, good and evil and sweet and bitter. We were in a deep Spiritual health emergency. Only when “admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable” could we begin to be lifted from our confusion. In fact, many people say it takes about 30 days after putting down the drink for the fog to lift. Only when we can admit that we are not so clever and wise, not the smartest people in the room and we have a soul sickness, can we begin to connect to and see the light of God and the light of others.
I have tried to be the smartest person in the room and thought I was so clever that I did two prison terms in California! That was prior to my recovery and becoming a Rabbi, lol. Yet, I still fall back into this mode, not as a means of trying to confuse or rule, rather as an outcome of my deep beliefs in what I am seeing. There are times when I have needed my glasses cleaned and believed the fog I was seeing was actually clear. Each of those times have led to bad outcomes. Luckily, I was able to listen to another(s) call me back to clarity. I continue to ‘clean my glasses’ often during the day to prevent the experience Isaiah is speaking about. Having done this, I am terrified to repeat these actions. How are you being too clever and wise for your own gain? How are you confusing good/evil, sweet/bitter, light/dark? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark