Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 125
“Modern Man dwells upon the order and the power of nature; the prophets dwell upon the grandeur and creation of nature. The former directs his attention to the manageable and intelligible aspect of the universe; the later to its mystery and marvel.” (God in Search of Man pg 97)
We can follow the path of the Prophets, it is not a path that is open to a select few only, it is not the exclusive purview of the prophets. Rather, the prophets are the models, the inspirations and the leaders for us in dwelling upon the “grandeur and creation of nature” as well as “its mystery and marvel”. I also believe that Rabbi Heschel points us in this direction with his way of constantly being surprised by life. I am sure he was surprised by the inaction of some people and the amazing courage of some people. Most of all, from his interview with Carl Stern, I hear Rabbi Heschel’s call to us to stop being stale. We get stale when we live like the Greeks, believing we can control everything, put everything in order and use our intellect to have power over the universe, God and another human(s). We get stale when we fall into despair and hopelessness, we get stale when we stop seeing the divine image in every person, we get stale when we cannot discern what we are powerless over and what we should change as Rev. Niebuhr teaches us.
The prophets were powerless over the people of Israel and of Judah, yet they had the courage to change the things they should-namely their calling out to the people to repent and to return. They could do this because they were sure they were on a sacred mission and this mission was the way they could change the world. Even though they were aware their words could and would fall on deaf ears, even though they knew that others had come before them and the people didn’t change, they were able to keep their focus and direction towards the grandeur and the mystery of nature as well as the marvel of being a messenger of the Creator of nature. They were students and teachers of human nature and they knew that beyond nature was God and, rather than try and control God with rituals and rites and then go take advantage of the poor, the needy, the stranger and promote senseless, or free, hatred amongst the people; the prophets laid out a path of appreciation, apprehension and awe of God, of nature and of humanity.
This, I believe is the path of the prophets that Rabbi Heschel is speaking about. To “hold God and man in one thought, at one time, at all times” is the way of the prophet, according to Rabbi Heschel in his interview with Carl Stern. The prophet never lost hope for humankind to be able to repent, repair, change and return to God because the prophets knew that changing our selfish ways, changing our need to control the environment through intellect and order was the way back, the way of T’Shuvah and they knew, just as we know, that the gates of T’Shuvah are open 365 days/24 hours a day.
We can follow the path of the prophets when we live the first paragraph of the Serenity Prayer as Rev Niebuhr wrote it: God grant us the pleasure of clarity to take to/for our self the things we cannot change, the heart/strength to change the things we can. Being actively engaged in the world around us as well as in our inner life is the path of the prophets, letting go of our need to make order in our way and have control over everything and join with God’s order and surrender our need to control things we just can’t-like other people, places and things. When we engage in changing the things we should, we will take to the streets as Rabbi Heschel did, we will fight the injustice and the racism as well as the seemingly inbred nature of hatred of anyone not like me that permeates our society-then and now. We follow the path of the prophets when we “combine a very deep love, a powerful dissent, a painful rebuke, with unwavering hope” as Rabbi Heschel describes the prophet. We have within us the power and the strength to live this-we just need to let go of our need to control everything and be in the solution.
In recovery, we have to live the Serenity Prayer in order to survive and thrive. We are in recovery because our attempts to control everything, to be the puppet master and control people, etc failed miserably and we found ourselves lost, alone and in the depths of despair. Upon acknowledging our powerlessness, we could let go of the reins we were so tightly holding and find new and different ways of being fresh, free and join with the order of God/Higher Power. In recovery, we rediscover the path of the prophets and find clarity, pleasure and acceptance.
I have worked hard to follow the prophet’s path in the past 33 years. What I didn’t always follow was their knowledge that the people would not always listen. There were times, I realize from this teaching, when I was sure everyone saw what I saw and would agree and we would change course/the vision I had would be followed. I was so wrong and I am realizing the harm my inability to believe I could not ‘win the day’ brought to me, to Harriet and to many people. I am truly sorry for this. I also know that I have followed the prophet’s path because I have not given up, I have continued to put out the message God has given me, the Torah I have received from Mt. Sinai, and I do it loud and proud. This teaching gives me more strength, courage and commitment to keep combining, love, dissent, rebuke, and hope in all of my affairs and to keep God close to me always. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark