Daily Prophets
Day 193
“And the word of God came to me saying: “Say to all the people and to the priests; when you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you fast for My benefit? Look this is the message that God proclaimed through the earlier prophets…Thus says the Lord: Judge with true justice, deal with compassion and kindness with one another. Do not defraud the widow, orphan, stranger, poor and do not plot evil against one another. They paid no heed.”(Zechariah7:5,7,9,10,11).
Zechariah is delivering a message that is as relevant now as it was then, is as true now as it was then and we continue to “present our backs and turn a deaf ear”(ibid;11) to God and to each other.
The question in the first verse above is an important one for all of us to answer. God is telling us to stop playing the “optics” game. While the Rabbis were concerned with “maris ayin”, how things look, they were not implying that we should only care about how things look. God is calling all of us out, when we fast on Tisha B’Av are we fasting for our benefit-to show false piety as we and our ancestors have done in the past? During the years of exile, have we fasted in order to bring about a spiritual awakening within ourselves, acknowledging our responsibility for the destruction of the world and life God had given us? Or, as God is suggesting, do we fast in order to comply with ‘the law’ and to look good to one another? If there is no spiritual awakening on Tisha B’Av, if there is no uncovering of how we are still engaged in harshness, perverted justice and seeking of power for our own sake-the fast is a false fast and worthless in God’s eyes.
On Yom Kippur, are we fasting so we can reconnect with God, reconnect with our souls and reconnect as a community and dedicate ourselves to work together to live more justly, more compassionately, more kindly, to stop getting together to exert power, subterfuge, and mendacity over others, to stop plotting evil against our fellow humans? This is what the prophet and God are asking us in this first verse and it is a haunting question as we are in the month of Elul to take stock of our year, our lies, our successes and our missing the marks. Are we engaged in an authentic review or are we just concerned with optics. “Never let them see you sweat” is a phrase used to help people deny what is truly going on within them. People will come to Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur and beat their chests and cry, etc. all the while plotting the meal, their next move in their power game and what is wrong with the service and the Rabbi. I shudder at our inability to learn from 2500+ years ago, all of the ‘smart’ people. Truly, we have gotten better at believing our own self-deception and getting others to go along with our mendacity in their desire to be deceived.
The last verses leaves me in trembling awe. The message of the prophets is simple and in keeping with the message of Torah, which we read year after year: “take care of the widow, the orphan, the poor and the stranger; live in truth, justice, kindness and compassion; stop trying to make yourself better by harming another human being and learn to live together as a community.” Yet, the people of Judah, including the priests, failed to hear and return to God and God’s ways. As I look at the charlatans who proclaim loudly how they know the ways of God and they alone practice them and this gives them the right and power to stop another from voting, having control of their body, etc, I am concerned for our country and our world. Where are these charlatans open hearts and who will rescue us from their power grab?
Rabbi Heschel teaches that “spiritual deprivation will be but an intensification or an extension of what they themselves had done to their own souls.”(The Prophets pg. 90). Many people ask “where is/was God?” In recovery, we know that God is as close to us as we permit God to be. In recovery, we are grateful for the opportunity to return, to hear the call after being deaf for so long, to turn to face God rather than run from God. In recovery, we seek to find ways to connect and respect the rights and the life of every human being. In recovery we are deeply aware of our need for community, for guidance and for our ability to engage in self-deception and in truth. In recovery, we live our lives in service of God and God’s will for us.
I know deafness well, prior to recovery, I had a PhD in deafness and turning my back. I have been blessed with better hearing of God and another in these past 32+ years. My fasts have been to connect with God and with another more and more each year, my outreach to the stranger, the poor and the needy has increased over the years and I have learned more and more about myself as well. God’s blessings are abundant in my life and I have honored them much more than not. I have made errors, sometimes big ones, and I have stood up and been responsible for them. As I reflect on my last Shabbat leading a service at Beit T’Shuvah this week, I am excited for what is next, sad for the way I am leaving and know that serving God with compassion, truth, justice and kindness is what is most important. In this way, I/we serve ourselves and everyone according to God’s way, no more plotting revenge, evil, power, just being decent is the path the prophet is telling us. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark