Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 180
“Meaning is found in responding to the demand, meaning is found in sensing the demand.” (Who is Man pg.108)
Today is the end of the 30th week of my writing, learning, immersing myself more and more in Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom, brilliance and teaching. It is also the day before Good Friday and the beginning of Passover and I hear Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above to be so important for this moment. We are in a moral, spiritual and physical crisis right now; Russia/Putin, Saudi Arabia/MBS, Syria/Assad, Iran/The Ayatollah, China/Xi, Hungary/Orban, etc are all trying to destroy the spiritual meaning of these Holy Days, the Holiness of the human being, the power of the human spirit and they are trying to bend the moral arc of the universe towards injustice! We have a two party system of government that is falling apart because these new lawmakers who do not want the government to force them to have vaccines, want the government to force women to have babies. There are lawmakers who defend the right of the gun owner and not the right of the victims of violence. There are people who believe and spread Antisemitism all the while calling themselves people of faith! There are lawmakers who still believe, enact laws and/or give lip service to the rhetoric of prejudice and hatred. These people and their supporters in the Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple are NOT responding to the demand of God, are not finding meaning in their lives except to hate, lie, denigrate their humanness along with the denigrating of all humanity.
The factual basis of Easter and Passover have been argued for a long time and, frankly, who cares! What is important is the demand that both of these Holy Days, the demand that Ramadan are putting out to and for us. It is a simple demand, really, the Torah says it in Deuteronomy, God’s demand is to be Godly, to act in the ways the Bible teaches us to towards one another and towards God, to act justly, lovingly, kindly, compassionately and truthfully. Rather a simple demand and we find it so hard to fulfill. We are so interested in winning that some of us, in the name of progressive values, in the name of welcoming all, in the name of conservative values, bulldoze our way through life believing we have the one way to fulfill God’s demand. How sad and harmful is this. How meaningless are these attempts at power through ‘the right side of the issues’.
What is being missed, ignored, etc is the demand of Easter, Passover, Ramadan, the demand of daily life is to make room at every table for every person who is hungry to “come and eat”, for every person “who is in need to partake in the Passover Sacrifice”. While these words come from the Haggadah, they are spoken daily in the Bible, we are reminded of our obligation/the demand to be open and welcoming, helpful and instructive in our prayers each and every day. Yet, we seem to miss this simple demand, this simple truth.
At our Seders (Passover Meals), at our breaking of the fast of Ramadan, at our Easter egg hunts, dinners, let’s change the discussion from what is wrong with those people to what is the call of God to help make our corner of the world better. Instead of complaining about what we lack and how others are lucky, thieves, ruthless, etc lets give gratitude for what we have and commit to the demand of God to be loving today. Let’s commit to the demand of God to do justly in all of our affairs-rich paying their fair share along with everyone else. Let us commit to the demand of God to speak truth and be open to learn more each day so our truth can become a reality and we can let go of the false ideas we have adopted. Let us commit to the demand of God to live on and with purpose to care for our fellow human being-we are our brother’s keeper, we do not have to continue to follow in Cain’s footsteps. Let us commit to the demand of God to show up without masks, without mental make-up, without pretense-just live our soul’s script, live the divine demand we are created to fulfill. Simple demand, simple ask and it is so hard for humanity to fulfill!
In recovery, we know it is a simple demand and we are constantly working to stop complicating our lives. Life is simple and complex, living entails: living in the both/and, the yin/yang, the black/white/grey and, most of all, living together and finding common ground to succeed in living a life of purpose and meaning. In recovery, we are in a daily struggle with our negativity and, each day, our care and concern for another soul, our care and concern for meeting God’s demand is at stake.
I am engaging in responding to the demands put in front of me rather than the ones that are in the past. I am realizing the demands change with my own spiritual growth and/or retardation. The number one demand is: stay the course of decency, stay the course of growing my inner life, stay the course of love, truth, kindness, compassion and justice. I hear the demand of the moment to spread the wisdom I have gained, share the experience I have and not worry about who takes it, who agrees with me and what happens after I am done. Just as with my former employment, once I leave a room, I am powerless over what people do with the wisdom, teaching, experience I have imparted. What they do is not the demand put on me- what I do with the gifts God gives me is the demand I am hearing. Get off the sidelines, get off dwelling on the past, get back into the purpose I was created for. This is the demand and in responding I will enhance meaning and purpose in my life. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark