Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 120
“The immediate certainty that we attain in moments of insight does not retain its intensity after the moments are gone. Moreover, such experiences are rare events. To some people they are like shooting stars, passing and unremembered. In others they kindle a light that is never quenched. The remembrance of that experience and the loyalty to the response of that moment are the forces that sustain our faith. In this sense, faith is faithfulness, loyalty to an event and loyalty to our response.” (God In Search of Man pg.132)
“In others they kindle a light that is never quenched” is, I believe, what sustained Rabbi Heschel, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, Mother Teresa, and sustains our luminaries today like Father Greg Boyle, Rev Mark Whitlock, Pastor John Pavlovitz, Rev William Barber, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Rabbi Sharon Brous, Rev Najuma Smith Pollard, and all of the people who come through racism, poverty, anti-semitism, hatred, slavery, abuse, addiction with hope, kindness and love in their beings rather than succumb to the negativity they have come through.
This light is the light of hope, of promise, of community, of commitment, of reciprocity. It is a light that shines deep inside of us to show us the basic goodness and strength of our being. We forget how strong our core inner life is because our minds get caught up in the things we don’t do well, the harm and hurt we experience from another person trying to enslave us, trying to make themselves look better by putting us down, etc. While this light shines through every infant and toddler, by the time of the ‘terrible threes’ we help our toddlers lose sight of this light. I just realized the ‘terrible twos and threes’ may be the reaction by our toddlers to either having this light quenched/hidden by parents, by life and/or their fighting to keep their light bright while the world and society works hard to block it?
This sentence sums up the challenge for every human being, as I am understanding it today: Are we going to bring the light we have in our souls, in our hearts, in our minds to bear upon our daily living and upon the life of our world or not? Rabbi Heschel’s challenge to us is immense and, I believe, he knows we can meet it and enjoy our light and the light of every human being in our realm. This light what gave strength and power to our Revolutionary War leaders, soldiers and statesmen, it gave courage and foresight to the brave Union soldiers who said NO to the hatred and slavery of the Confederacy. It gave commitment to the millions of young men and women who served in all of the wars of the 20th Century and into this Century. It is the light that gave power to the survivors of the Concentration Camps of WWII and all of the other atrocities since. It is the light that Rabbi Heschel has shared with us through his writings and through his activism. It is the light Rev King shared through his speeches and his leadership, it is the light that each of us has within us to show kindness and love to our fellow human being just because they need it. It is the light that we can turn inward to heal our wounds and our hurt. This light will not protect us from life’s ups and downs, illness, from the grief of betrayals and the mourning of our dead, it will, however, give us the strength to survive, thrive and heal stronger, wiser and kinder.
We all have this light in us, no matter how long it has been since we used it to see the world through. We all have the opportunity to shine our light onto every experience we have and see clearer how to respond to the challenge of being human, enabling this particular experience. We do this by continuing to live in God’s world, live in ways that remind us “God dwells among us” as the Bible teaches and we just have to recognize the divine image in us and around us. We do this be seeing one another as “divine reminders” as Rabbi Heschel teaches us elsewhere and end our incessant need to ‘kill the competition’. Rekindling this light can only happen through moments and experiences we are present in/for. Rekindling this light brings us closer to authentic living and closer to the relief of not hiding and being seen for who we truly are.
In recovery, we clear out the junk that has been cluttering our mind and our hearts and our souls so we can find and rekindle this light. For many people, ‘using’ was a search for this light and we believed we could find it and keep it through artificial means-wrong! We do our inventories to clear out the junk and find the good as well, we learn and remember that our traits that are underdeveloped are not bad, we just need to use them properly and we make our amends to the people we have harmed, to our self and to God. This is what enables us to rekindle the light Rabbi Heschel is speaking about and allow us to be present in this moment.
Rabbi Heschel, Rabbis Silverman, Omer-man, Shulwies, Feinstein, and so many others helped and help me keep this light burning brightly and Harriet, Heather, Neal, Sheri, my nieces and nephews help me stay true to my self. The many people, like all of you, who engage with me through these blogs, classes, one-on-one meetings, keep pushing me to ‘turn up the wattage’ on this light inside of me. This light and keeping it as bright as I can has gotten me through these difficult times, the grief of loss and the betrayals of people. I am committed to keep this light burning and brighter each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark