Daily Prophets
Day 57
“In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. My heart cries out for Moab…”(Isaiah 15:3,5)
I chose these verses for today as they depict the choices the Moabites made, the consequences of their choices and the compassion of Isaiah. The Moabites were enemies of Israel they attacked them, etc. and, like with Nineveh in the Book of Jonah, they knew to “gird themselves with sackcloth” in order to stave off their destruction. Yet, did they really mean it?
Here, one could make a case that the Moabites were merely trying to appease God and did not really mean the repentance that wearing sackcloth indicated in those times. I am thinking of how often, even today, we put on clothes that merely give the appearance of something, a facade if you will, without any real meaning behind our actions. The Moabites may have been trying to put up a facade to avoid being destroyed.
The crying and howling also seem a little disingenuous. I am sure that they were scared and upon seeing the destruction coming, their fear turned into the crying, howling, weeping. Yet, again for me, it is not the howling, weeping and crying of one who has seen what their actions wrought and is repentant for them. It is someone doing what it takes to look a certain way.
And yet, through all of this, Isaiah still finds compassion for Moab. Not that he is arguing for them being saved, just the compassion and sadness that it has come to this. I hear God’s compassion, sadness and love in Isaiah’s words. This compassion and love is what the prophet is teaching all of us to practice, I believe.
Rabbi Heschel’s teachings about mental make-up in his book Man is Not Alone, are stuck in my being after reading this chapter of Isaiah. He speaks about masks and how we hide behind our different facades throughout his writings and I hear the voice of our Prophets and God calling us out to be real, especially in the subchapter, Faith is a Blush, from Man is Not Alone, page 91.He speaks about Isaiah’s compassion not as mocking as some commentators do, rather as real and shows his oneness with the people and his oneness with God. After all, isn’t this what we all need to aspire to do, be one with ourselves, another(s) and God? This is the essence of the Shema, I believe.
OY, if our leaders in statehouses and Washington DC would only Shema to the words of their faiths! If they would hear, listen and understand that we are all part of the Oneness of God, they would not work so hard to exclude so many people, they would stop seeing another as The Other. They could stop being so afraid of their own shadows and embrace the uniqueness of another(s). If they would only stop wearing the mental make-up and the masks that prevent them from serving We, The People, and stop them from serving White Power. They will wear sackcloth one day and they will look like they were repentant and on the side of the people come election season and it is our duty to point out their lies and their masks so we put people of principle into office, people who want to serve others rather than themselves. I pray that the Senate will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill and ensure the right to liberty and justice for all!
In recovery, we drop our masks and remove our mental make-up. When we put on our sackcloth and weep, it is true remorse, otherwise we can’t be in recovery! Recovery is about truth, justice, taking responsibility, having compassion and giving love. We reject our past falseness and our past falsehoods, we have a 4th step to rid ourselves of the lies and resentments, we follow this up with a 10th step every day to continue to root out the lies, errors and resentments that we accumulate each day. In recovery, we have compassion for those who still suffer and we understand that the consequences they experience are not “punishments” rather they are wake-up calls to return to God, to decency, to recovery.
In my life, I have been both Moab and Isaiah. I have made false claims of repentance and sorrow when I was drinking and doing crime. In fact, I lied to my daughter when she was only 5 saying I was done with that life and I would never leave her again. I have been living my repentance for that lie and so many others for the past 32+years of my recovery. I have not made any amends/T’Shuvah that I haven’t meant. Even if I had to be shown my part by someone else, I could own it-eventually. I have a lot of compassion and, like Isaiah, my heart aches for those who “cannot or will not follow this simple program” to follow God’s Will and path. I keep searching for the ways I am still hiding and I pray that everyone will. I keep searching for ways to serve another(s) and am grateful that God continues to show me the way. What mental make-up and facades are you still wearing? When will you return to your essence and connect with God and life as your authentic self? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark