Daily Prophets
Day 58
“Let My outcasts, the outcasts of Moab live with you; be a refuge to them from the face of the plunderer; for the extortioner is at an end, the plunderer ceases… And in mercy a throne was established; he sat upon it in truthfulness in the tent of David, judging, seeking judgement and quick to be righteous. We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is very proud, of his arrogance, and his pride and his anger; but his boasts are false.”(Isaiah 16:4-6).
Isaiah is, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, holding God and human in one moment, in one thought, I believe in these verses. He is calling out for Judah to be a safe harbor for refugees. Caring for the stranger is an integral part of Torah and being Jewish. It is God who is owning the outcast and I shudder to realize how often we forget this. I read the first verse above as a call for us/me to do God’s work, care for the outcast and the refugee. These people need safe harbor and the evil that was heaped upon them will end and they need to know they belong in the world and haven’t been forgotten or shunned.
The second verse is teaching me/us that a throne/government is established as an act of mercy by God. Not only is government a merciful action, the formula for real governance is truth, justice, continual learning, and righteousness. This was the formula that God gave us through King David and everyone who followed/follows is supposed to live this formula, alas it hasn’t happened, which is why the prophet has to instruct us to take in the outcasts and refuges>
The last verse above is reminding us where our arrogance, pride and anger will lead us, to destruction. Boasts are false because people of true accomplishment let their work speak for themselves. We live in a world that has always had braggarts and angry people who try to bully, extort, plunder, etc. Isaiah is telling us that this way only leads to destruction and 2000+ years later, we still haven’t learned.
Rabbi Heschel uses these verses to demonstrate God being at One with God’s people. Rabbi Heschel’s experience of the prophets speaking for God and reminding us that we are never alone, God is calling demanding, cajoling and delivering justice, which at times means destruction. Here, God is saying to Judah, (all of us today) that justice, truth, righteousness, continually seeking all of these are the foundation of our living. This is how we are One with God, I am understanding Rabbi Heschel’s writing in The Prophets on pages 108-110 to remind us that our relationship is reciprocal, God calls to us, we listen and respond in kind.
We, the People, have to immerse ourselves in these verses and thoughts in order to choose our representative government wisely. Our politicians have forgotten that all of us “Real Americans” come from people seeking refuge here. Instead of welcoming the stranger, being a refuge for outcasts as the poem on the Statue of Liberty promises, we have become one of those places that is creating refugees and making outcasts of another(s) human beings. Instead of justice, righteousness, truth and seeking to learn more ways to help, our politicians and courts have promoted the interests of the wealthy, being intolerant of justice, laughing at righteousness and promoting the Big Lie as truth. They boast about their arrogance and pride.
In recovery, we know all about the hell we create through arrogance and pride. We know what promoting the Big Lie does to our soul and the souls and lives of the people around us. We are well aware of where our anger and false boasting got us, drunker, higher, gambling more, etc. In recovery, truth, justice and righteousness are foundational elements of life for us. We seek out and welcome the refugees from addictive behaviors and substances, as the 3rd tradition of AA says: “The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.” This, I believe, is Isaiah’s words above in action. In recovery, we know that we were given a safe harbor, people were righteous and kind, loving and forgiving towards us, so we must pay it forward to others and use our stories not as personal trophies, rather as proof that with God, loving people and willingness to engage in letting go of the Big Lies we have told ourselves, recovery is possible and joyous.
I have, as usual, lived both sides of these verses. I have been boastful, arrogant and proud to a fault as well as in proper measure in my addictive years and in my recovery at times. I have spent much more of my years in recovery welcoming the outcast, helping the refugee and judging in truth, righteousness and kindness. I do this by welcoming the outcast and refugee in me. I know that I have worked very hard to let people know that I love them, they belong to our community and they belong in and are needed in the world. I am responsible for my errors and I have stood up and said so, changed at least one grain of sand and continue to learn, to live more justly, and to deepen my connection to God, family, my soul to soul relationships, community, world. How are you living justly and righteously today? How do you let the refugee and outcast know you are safe harbor for them? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark