Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 253
“To be human involves the ability to appreciate as well as the ability to give expression to appreciation. For thousands of years authentic existence included both manipulation and appreciation, utilization and celebration, both work and worship. In primitive society they were interdependent; in biblical religion they were interrelated. Today we face a different situation.” (Who is Man pg. 116)
As I have immersed myself in the first sentence above, I realize that our fear of appreciation, our fear of expressing appreciation, gratitude, our fear of ‘being in someone’s debt’, has led us to prejudice and hatred. It leads us to anger, blame and shame, it has led us to the erroneous tenet perpetrated by ‘societal norms’ that we should be able to “do it on our own”. Yet, this attitude flies in the face of the wisdom above, as I am experiencing it today. Appreciate is to appraise, value, put a price on, recognize the worth of; how can we do this if we are afraid to ask for help, if we are afraid to ‘be seen as weak’, afraid to acknowledge someone else, afraid to be grateful to God, to another human being for the aid, comfort and assistance they give us. Most of all, we seem to be afraid to acknowledge the contributions, dignity and worth of another person if they are ‘not like us’, ‘not our kind’. Hence the propensity towards prejudice, senseless hatred, racism, anti-semitism, Islamaphobia, etc.
Yet, what do we have to fear really? My appreciation of Rabbi Heschel, my recognizing the value of his teachings, the dignity of his being, my gratitude for him helping immensely to give me a life worth saving and helping me save my own life, only leads me to engage more and more in ‘good living’. When one is being human as the first sentence above describes, we become propelled to a way of living that is hate-free and welcoming to all. We become excited to see people, places, things, ideas, facts, teachings new each time we encounter them. Our loved ones become more interesting, important and appreciated because we discover more and more traits to be valued and more and more reasons to hold on to their love of us and reciprocate. Rather than being ‘one of the crowd’, engaging our ability to appreciate allows and reveals more of our uniqueness which then gets appreciated more by another.
Giving expression to appreciation strengthens our commitment to being a part of rather than apart from. While this mode of being has been bastardized over the millennia, as it is being right now by the authoritarians on both ends of the continuum, it is the gold standard of living well, as I read these words of praise, wisdom and learning from Rabbi Heschel today. Appreciation is one of the basic ingredients of being human, without it we are stuck in jealousy and rage, comparisons and competitions, false ego and pride, blame and shame. We are witnesses to these inhuman ways of being every day. When a Black man is shot 60+ times for running from police on a traffic stop and a White man is peacefully apprehended after he massacred people at an Independence Day parade in a Jewish neighborhood, we see the results and effects of our lack of appreciation, our lack of being human. When “Jews will not replace us” is seen as being said by “good people” as Trump and his minions have said, we experience the hatred and prejudice of people being supported and promoted by an authoritarian ‘wanta-be’. When we witness the immoral agreements of politicians like Moscow Mitch, Caving Kevin, Lying Ted, Little Marco, to go along with the authoritarian desires of Trump, of the Federalist society, of Tucker Carlson, we are witnesses to the destruction of what being human means according to the Bibles, the Koran, to Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, St. Francis, Rev. King, Rabbi Heschel, and so many others!
Yet, there are so many people who would rather engage in their own self-deceptions so they can believe these liars, these charlatans, these INHUMAN beings who are homo-sapiens. Our self-deception has led to the many ills and deaths of our current society and of past societies. Too many people are content with believing the lies they tell themselves and ignoring the call to appreciate the wisdom of our Ancient Teachings which have stood the test of time, ignoring the demand of God to rise to this occasion and respond to the question: “Where are you”, and following the charlatans and practitioners of mendacity named above and all of their ilk. We are in danger of losing the freedoms that this country was founded on, I saw a poster reminding everyone that this country, “founded to allow freedom from Religious persecution is using religion to persecute freedoms?” Appreciation and expressing our appreciation, recognizing the value of real freedom, living free of the pettiness, pride, envy and emnity that seems to overpower so many is the key to a better life.
In recovery, relearning to appreciate and express our appreciation is the key to our long-term recovery and to living well. We, who have bastardized all of the teachings of love, kindness, truth, justice, and compassion when we were not in recovery, are acutely aware of our need and desire to “BE HUMAN” again. We engage in living amends through our ability to grow in appreciation, to be unafraid to express it and to enjoy the aid and comfort of those who love us.
I will write more on this tomorrow. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark