Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 130
“How embarrassing for man to live in the shadow of greatness and to ignore it, to be a contemporary of God and not sense it. Religion depends upon what man does with his ultimate embarrassment.” (Who is Man pg. 112)
Immersing oneself in Rabbi Heschel’s teaching and finding oneself in his wisdom has been a journey of mine for the past 33 years and each time I do, I find new ways to apply his brilliance to living life well. Experiencing the beginning phrase today I find myself marveling even more at Rabbi Heschel’s courage and kindness, his bravery and humility.
Rabbi Heschel lived in the “shadow of greatness”, his ancestry goes back to the luminaries of the Hasidic Movement, yet unlike many people today he did not take his lineage as something to use to do less, to be entitled; he saw it as a blessing and an obligation. Living in the “shadow of greatness” spurred Rabbi Heschel to stand on the shoulders of his ancestors and find a path that was truly his, a path and way of being that matched the melody of his soul and answered God’s call to him.
How different it is today-people become celebrities instead of leaders, they cash in on the merits of their ancestors instead of growing the contribution their ancestors made. They believe they are entitled to the “best” and are insulted when they are not given the ‘respect’ they believe they have coming. We see this in our politics, we see this in business, we see this in all walks of life-whether rich or poor. While its easy to point out the spoiled rich, we see this also in young people who decide they don’t want an education and make it hard for someone else to get one with their antics and disruptions so they can ‘make a name for themselves’, etc.
We all live in the “shadow of greatness” of our founding fathers, our ancestors who fought in the different wars to preserve this Union and, as we have seen recently, there are people ready to exploit the sacrifice and trauma our ancestors experienced for their own desire for power. We are watching charlatans, politicians, whom Rabbi Heschel did not have a lot of respect for, power brokers, etc take the sacrifices of people since the Revolutionary War till today and bastardize them to serve their selfish, ego-driven need for power and absolute power at that. Rather than live in “the shadow of greatness” and enhance it, these mendacious people are using the power of the lie to destroy the “greatness” that has been bequeathed to them/us by our ancestors. As we are all immigrants, as we are all beneficiaries of the heroism of someone who came to these shores against the odds, because of injustice and hatred, lack of opportunity and hope, it is time for all of these deceivers and liars to stop ignoring the “shadow of greatness” that has been provided for them/us and begin to honor it.
Every day we see examples of people bastardizing their inheritance of greatness and using the power to serve themselves rather than serve God, serve another human being, serve humanity as a whole. We are teetering as a country, trying to decide of we are going to be ruled by another incarnation of King George and the Church of England- also known as Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, the Religious Right leaders, etc. We all “live in the shadow of greatness” and we are all responsible to ensure this experiment called the USA continues to honor our revolution, not return to being ruled by Kings and Churches. Rather than create more devices and distractions, rather than appeal to the vulnerabilities of humanity, it is time for all of us to stop this bastardization, it is time for us to build on the greatness we have been blessed to inherit, to realize and relish in our uniqueness and stop comparing and competing with one another so we can join and build together.
In recovery, we lived in the shadows and were afraid of greatness all the while falsely proclaiming how great we were/are. Living in these shadows rather than honoring the “shadow of greatness” Rabbi Heschel is teaching us about, allowed us to lie and hide, hurt and create fear for all who loved us. In recovery, we are more afraid of the hiding and lying, more afraid of harming a person and misusing the power we have than of being real, being vulnerable and being human.
I do “live in the shadow of greatness” and no longer ignore it. My ancestors came here from Poland and the Ukraine, they were decent and honest people and created a family that lived these values. My ancestors crossed the Red Sea 3300+ years ago and 100+ years ago. I was blessed to learn from the how they tied their shoes and then I decided I was ‘entitled’ to more and this caused pain, suffering and fear to all of my family and friends. It also sullied the good name my ancestors built. These past 33+ years have been spent honoring the “shadow of greatness” that my ancestors from the Red Sea to today have cast over me and, I pray, I have enlarged this shadow to give my daughter and grandson, the people I have encountered and aided as well as the many friends and extended family something to stand on and under. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark