Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 170
“The source of insight is an awareness of being called upon to answer. Over and above personal problems, there is an objective challenge to overcome inequity, injustice, helplessness, suffering, carelessness, oppression.” (Who is Man pg. 107)
The last pair in this sentence/teaching is “carelessness, oppression”. Rabbi Heschel’s words here echo for us the words of the prophets, the message of the prophets, the message of the Bible, the message of the psalmist, the message of God. Namely, we can be better than our base instincts of kill or be killed, survival of the fittest, etc. we can go beyond our own personal problems, obsessions, feelings, desires to meet and overcome the objective challenge of carelessness and oppression. Yet, while the truth of these words is beyond doubt, the ability to take the actions to make them come to fruition seem to be much more difficult for many people. John F. Kennedy told us to: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” and in the 60’s up to today young people join the Peace Corp and spread goodness and kindness, ingenuity and wisdom around the globe. Yet, we have lost thae spirit of camaraderie, the spirit of working together to make the necessary changes to overcome carelessness and oppression. Rather, many people have accused everyone else of being careless and seek to rule over people according to their conservative, progressive values and their prejudices and dogmas.
We have become careless with what it means to ensure the freedoms of our revolution of 1776, our constitution, our Bible. We have become careless with the ways in which we treat one another and our respect for the dignity and God Image found in every human being. We have become careless in our dealings with our own inner life-believing that we can be okay from the outside in, rather than realizing a healthy, free life begins with a healthy, rich and free inner life. We are careless with the soul of another, rather than advocating for our own soul and the souls of another(s), we seek only to advocate for what our desires are at the expense of anyone and everyone else. We are careless with our affections, living in a transactional world where our word is as good only for this moment because a better ‘deal’ may come along. We are careless with our relationships, we can stop talking to our loved ones because of a single slight, a different way of relating and children cut their parents off, siblings stop talking to one another until a funeral makes them share the same space, spouses ‘lose interest’ in one another and decide to divorce rather than caring for the soul of the marriage.
The oppression that exists today is palpable, we see it in Ukraine, we see it in Los Angeles, we see it in China and we see it in Florida, we see it in Israel and we see it in New York. There is not a part of our earth which is oppression free and this is so sad. We oppress one another, even intimate relationships, with our inability to meet and overcome the objective challenges that are placed in front of us, be they physical health issues, mental health issues, spiritual health issues, financial issues, personality issues, etc. We oppress one another with force of will, with power, with seduction, with money, with power/position, with fear, with love. Most of us do not realize the ways we oppress one another because we do not investigate our inner life enough, we are not doing our T’Shuvah writing each day, we are not using prayer to ‘look inside of ourselves’ as the Hebrew word for prayer can be translated to. We are not seeing ourselves in every story, every chapter of the Bible and we have ceased to listen to the message of the prophets personally. Rabbi Heschel’s optimism is refreshing and, hopefully, catching/infectious. We can and must overcome the careless and oppressive ways we live. We can and must rise up to meet and overcome the challenges of “inequity, injustice, helplessness, suffering, carelessness, oppression.” We have the power of our own souls to make this happen, it is time for us to be advocates of our souls and then advocate for the souls of another so we meet, overcome, and, please God, put to rest these UnGodly ways of life. It is time for all good people to come to the aid of our country, our fellow human beings and our self.
In recovery, we have suffered the negative consequences of our carelessness and the people who have been around us have experienced the oppressive ways we have acted towards them. Our daily goal is to live one grain of sand better, repair one careless path we had taken, make amends for the oppressive ways we interacted with another person and move forward in meeting and overcoming the challenges Rabbi Heschel speaks of.
I have been careless and oppressive-sometimes knowingly and usually unknowingly. I am constantly seeking to rise up and meet this challenge in myself and in the world. I have done a better job helping another meet this challenge in themself and how they can repair the damage they have wrought than I do helping myself at times. I realize, in this moment, that much of my carelessness has been the result of either past oppressions, feeling oppressed in the moment or anticipating someone oppressing me. It has made me oppressive and careless as a defense mechanism rather than for my pleasure and power. My commitment is to continue to meet and overcome the challenges Rabbi Heschel speaks of a little more each day. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark