Daily Prophets
Day 126
“And now, thus said the Lord, God of Hosts, God of Israel: why are you doing such great harm to yourselves…For you anger me by your deeds…They answered Jeremiah…We will not listen to you in the matter in which you spoke to us in the name of God. On the contrary, we will do everything we vowed to make offerings to the Queen of Heaven…as we and our fathers, our kings used to…(Jeremiah 44:7,8,15,16).
In speaking to the remnant that left Judea and went to Egypt, even though Jeremiah had told them not to, Jeremiah sees the people have not learned anything from their experiences nor have taken in the years of his prophecy nor the prophecy of those who preceded Jeremiah. The prophet is overwrought with fear for the people and anger towards them. He was brought to Egypt against his wishes, he risks his life again to save his people and to serve God. This is the greatness and dedication of the prophet. He just can’t keep his mouth shut and “stand idly by the blood of his brother”.
The first verse above is the question that continues to ring in my ears and, I believe, still is being asked by God up till today. Why do we do such great harm to ourselves? Are we just oblivious to what is happening in the world? Are we oblivious to the far reaching consequences of our behavior both good and bad? Are we too arrogant to see that we are carrying the errors of our ancestors into our present? Rather than do T’shuvah and Tikkun(repair) for the errors of our ancestors, we are compounding them by our own actions. Rather than search for ways to serve God and another(s), we seek more ways to serve ourselves and gain power over another(s) so they serve us also. Rather than seek truth, we seek to enlarge our mendacity, our self-deception, the deception of another(s) so we can gain more and more power.
It is so sad to see this happening on a macro and micro level, even and especially in some very large pulpits across our country. In churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, in the senate and house of representatives, in our state capitals and our local municipalities, people are preaching the gospel of senseless hatred, worship of idols, lies/twisting of truth, all while giving lip-service to serving God. These are the deeds that ‘anger’ God-a betrayal of our covenant with God, a refusal to follow the path of God (in our own manner), a refusal to do T’Shuvah and Tikkun-asking for forgiveness and changing our ways.
God is calling to us, still! Yet, the remnant then, as with many of us today, refuse to listen, refuse to heed God’s call. Just as today, both some of the people and some of the leaders mentioned above, by their actions refuse to listen to God’s call and the words of Jeremiah. They, like our ancestors, vow to act in the ways that caused the destruction of Israel, Judea and Jerusalem-believing they will be okay and flourish by flouting God. Insanity at its height!
Rabbi Heschel teaches: “The anger of the Lord is a tragic necessity, a calamity for man and grief for God. It is not an emotion he delights in, but an emotion He deplores…The Lord must punish, but He will not destroy.”(The Prophets pg. 294). Hearing these words of Rabbi Heschel, we are able to see our history in a different light. Rather than go along with the “party line” of Christianity and some Jews that God of the Hebrew Bible is an angry God, Rabbi Heschel, like Jeremiah above, is teaching us that God is not angry, we cause anger to be displayed because of our stubbornness and deafness. God grieves every time we cause our own destruction, our fall from grace, our exile. In the Talmud, we are taught that God cries out between the 2nd and 3rd watches at night, “My children are in Exile”. This cry is cry of deep pain and grief as Rabbi Heschel teaches. We can end the exile and the grief of both God and us through T’Shuvah and Tikkun-when will we ever learn and turn?
In recovery, we relish in God’s love and the love of a community that is dedicated to serving God and another(s). Our recovery is because we have returned from the exile we caused and we are welcomed back by God and community. So, we have to pay it forward through our deeds and our love, our loyalty and our devotion. In recovery, we keep learning each day, repairing our spirits and our actions each day and seeing the truth of ourselves and another(s) as well as the world a little more each day. This is how we have learned from our past and the past of our ancestors. This is being in recovery.
I lived in oblivion prior to my recovery and, I have fallen into obliviousness while in recovery. I have followed and put my trust in “People of the Lie” as M. Scott Peck writes about. I have misused the trust of another(s) on some occasions. I have been imperfect and continued to repair and grow from my errors. I have made it a point to not embody Einstein’s definition of Insanity and I am enraged by my obliviousness and the obliviousness of another(s). Watching people wrap themselves in ‘holy garb’ while doing unholy actions is infuriating to me. I, like my ancestor Jeremiah, could not hold myself back, many times when I was infuriated by the actions of these people, including myself. My anger got me into trouble because it was seen as personal, rather than my being angry at mendacity and lies, obliviousness and deeds which anger God. I would rather be me, with all the fallout, than live in mendacity. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark