Daily Prophets
Day 191
“I lifted my eyes and saw a flying scroll. That, the angel explained, is the curse that goes out over the entire land, for everyone who has stolen…and gone unpunished and everyone who has sworn falsely and gone unpunished. Then the angel who spoke to me…said lift up your eyes and see what is approaching…That is evil and, thrusting it down in the tub, he pressed the leaden weight into its mouth.(Zechariah 5:1,3,5,8).
Zechariah is having another encounter with an angel and hearing messages that he wants us all to hear. In this chapter, he uses the same words to describe how he sees what he sees as God spoke to Abraham: “lift up your eyes and see” in the command form. I am continually surprised by this command because it makes so much sense and most of us continue to follow it. We are either looking around us, looking down, seeing things with the same eyes and same lens as we have seen them before, etc. The angel her and God to Abraham are calling on us to see the world as God sees the world, see the world as the angels see the world, and see the world as it really is; not just how we want it to be. Take off our blinders and SEE, the angel is telling the prophet and, in turn, telling us.
We have to see the thieves in our midst who have stolen and gone unpunished. How is this possible? These are the thieves who still our time, our trust, who deceive us and convince us that wrong is right and sour is sweet. These are the people who play on our vulnerabilities, engage us in false conspiracy theories, convince us that the false god of their making is really God, etc. These are the thieves who use every loophole to avoid guilt, avoid taxes, avoid caring for the poor, the needy and the stranger, avoid being responsible for the evil they have wrought and constantly blame someone else for their wrongdoing. They are the ones who cheat their labor force and then sue them and tie them up in court so their labor force can’t collect. They are the ones who pay fines and admit no guilt, they are the people who pack courts with judges who follow their ideology, not caring about justice. And, they are the same ones who swear in God’s name that they are the TRUE BELIEVERS! They are the clergy who preach that Jesus loves the lion more than the lamb, that Jesus believes if you are rich and healthy it is because God loves you and if you are poor and/or ill it is because God doesn’t love you. What BS! These are the people to whom the curse is coming, according to the angel of God. These are the people Zechariah are warning us about to stay away from and beware of.
We also have to see the evil that is in our midst and put a lid on it. This is also difficult to discern as we have experienced. We are in, and have been in at previous times, an assaultive moment. Our senses are being assaulted, truth is being assaulted, justice is being assaulted, our very ability to stay healthy is being assaulted, our individual uniqueness is being assaulted, our freedom to be who we are is being assaulted. Evil is not just being perpetrated by ‘the other side’, it is being perpetrated by many of us. It is wrong to take advantage of another person for your own gain and it is evil to make everyone conform to your way of thinking and being because it is ‘politically correct’ or ‘optics’. It is evil to subjugate Truth to political correctness and/or optics on either side of the spectrum. It is evil for the majority of us to allow this to continue. It is evil to subvert the laws and the government to serve one person/family as is done in autocratic countries like Hungary. It is evil to promote falsehoods about life saving vaccines, it is evil to promote falsehoods about Israel and Jews, Arab Countries and Muslims, immigrants and dreamers, etc. The prophet is telling us to put a lid on this type of behavior once and for all. As Edmund Burke said: “Evil flourishes when good people do nothing.” Charles Weller, a typing teacher, said: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country”. Will we?
In recovery, we have to constantly lift up eyes and see. We have looked through clouded glasses and lenses for our entire time prior to our recovery. The prophet is giving all of us a lesson that we all need to be in recovery from our willful blindness. In recovery, we continue to take inventory (do T’Shuvah) daily and are responsible for our misdeeds and our good deeds. In recovery, we are constantly putting a lid on our ability to do evil and we are continually searching ways to be of service to another(s), to put back into the world what we stole from it and to keep our word to friend and foe alike.
I have to constantly lift up my eyes and see as well. I have been guilty of not doing this and each time, I hurt myself, Harriet, Heather, and many people around me. I have been angry at myself for not seeing the evil around me, for thinking that the evil around me are actually friends because they swore falsely to me. I also realize that I have done the same and each time, I must make my amends. I realize that the evil I don’t see is much more subtle and the false oaths are much more cunning. I also know that I am not going to break because of them, I will survive and see more because of these experiences and I will continue to put a lid on my own evil inclinations and help others do the same with theirs. I am continuing to come to the aid of my fellow human beings, to do something when I see evil even when it could hurt me, as it has in the past. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark