Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 107
“Responsiveness to God cannot be copied; it must be original with every soul. Even the meaning of the divine is not grasped when imposed by a doctrine, when accepted by hearsay.”(Man is Not Alone pg. 91)
In a world dominated by social media copycats, celebrity impersonators, wanna be famous for doing nothing culture, the first statement above is anathema. In a world where politicians continue to curry favor with the “boss” so as to not hear “you’re fired” by imitating the “boss”, copying his cadence and words, promoting his lies and bowing down to kiss his ring, these words have to be denied. Yet, some 70+ years ago, Rabbi Heschel was warning us about precisely this moment, which is not a new moment of course, it is a moment, a way that has repeated itself over and over again throughout our history-copying the ways of another, worshiping of authoritarianism and authoritarians, bowing down at the feet of ‘the current stars’ and fads of the moment. What most of these idol worshipers don’t realize is how far away they are and are going from truth, from God, from authenticity, decency, kindness and their own spiritual core.
Rabbi Heschel’s solution is simple and so difficult, at times, to fulfill. We are taught in Religious Institutions how to pray, how to learn, what to pray, what to learn, etc. We are taught the ways of acting, thinking, worshiping and loving God and another human being of our ancestors, of the Bible and either explicitly or implicitly told this is the ‘only way’ to do it right. In 1951, when this book was published, very few were aware of their inauthentic way of responding to God, even fewer were aware that God was still calling “Ayecha”(where are you”) every day to all of us and, a handful of people, were brave enough to speak out about this sameness that was happening in Churches, Temples, Mosques, etc. Rabbi Heschel was brave and willing to stand up to the ridicule he may have gotten, the anger he may have encountered from the people who just wanted to maintain the status quo, ‘don’t rock the boat, Rabbi Heschel’ may have been on many people’s minds, the membership numbers grew and people were bored and felt it a chore to go to many houses of worship as is still the case now. 70+ years later, even the ‘innovations’ are being copied by everyone else! We have to stop trying to be like someone else and appreciate our unique being and be responsive to God, to another human being, to nature, to animals in our own unique way. We have to appreciate and be responsive to all of these entities because God is in all of them, they all contain the Ineffable and we have to meet the ineffable in each of these entities with the ineffable in us, as Rabbi Heschel teaches us, so our response has to be our own. Otherwise, we are lost, we are adrift and we are in danger of dimming the light, the brightness and the brilliance of our spirit and soul.
I am not speaking of changing the prayerbook for everyone, although I learned that the prayer book originally had the opening idea, the closing blessing and space in-between for each person to add their personal prayer/conversation with God, with their inner life. Doing this ensured that everyone’s response was original. However, to ensure uniformity, to keep control of what was happening, the Rabbis codified the prayerbook, the Talmud, the Bible, so it would be somewhat unchangeable, everyone would have the same text to recite in the same melody and we could become good soldiers for God. Rabbi Heschel is blowing that way of being up, to me, with this first sentence above. He followed the Halacha (the law) and made sure to integrate Agada (intention). He prayed the prayers in his own unique manner and intensity, I believe, and he was an original thinker, scholar, human being. He saw the unique humanity in every soul, he was responsive to the moment, to the call of God in each moment and his activism was not for his ego, rather it was his unique response to God’s call for all of us to be more human, to see the ineffable in each and every human being, in nature, in the animal kingdom and respond to the needs of people rather than using their vulnerabilities against them! We need to respond to God, to God’s call to us, to the call of another human being in an original, kind, caring, loving, just, etc manner, otherwise we become robots and automatons, no longer being human.
In recovery, we are told that the 12 steps are suggestive only. It is also suggested to choose a sponsor who has what you want and go through the steps with them in a manner that works for both of you. Yet, as with everything in life, there are many people who say: “The Big Book says” when it doesn’t. There are people who want unity to mean sameness, who are afraid to not be in a narrow pathway of recovery for fear of ‘using’ again. What they don’t realize is they are still living in an addictive manner. In recovery, we can, and I believe we must, experience the freedom of expression, the freedom of a unique response to God, to life; gratitude as a personal and unique action.
When I first read this passage so many years ago, I made a commitment to follow Rabbi Heschel’s guidance. I have worked diligently to keep everything fresh, to keep myself fresh and I have succeeded mostly. There are times when my response is similar/the same on more than one occasion and these are times when I am not being original. Today is new so my response has to be new, different, nuanced otherwise I am being stale, even copying my yesterday self is not good, as I understand Rabbi Heschel this morning. More tomorrow, God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark