Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Day 311
“To the sense of indebtedness, the meaning of existence lies in reciprocity. In receiving a pleasure, we must return a prayer; in attaining a success, we radiate compassion.” (Who is Man pg. 118)
Rabbi Heschel is always reminding us of our need to live a life of reciprocity, a life of giving and taking, a life of doing and being, a life of action and reflection, etc. Rabbi Heschel’s message is very clear to me, experience our life as a work of art, reminding ourselves that we are the artist creating it. Creating it well means living in the both/and; not the either/or. Looking for our uniqueness, cultivating our inner life into a rich landscape of connection to God, to another(s), to the world. Yet, we continue to “miss the mark” in this area, we continue to blame and shame, to lie and deceive, to place optics over substance, to create gargoyles instead of The David or The Moses as Michelangelo did. He was an amazing sculpture and one of the stories we have about him is that he just chipped away the marble that was hiding our view of these amazing sculptures. For him, I believe, sculpting was a pleasure and his response to the question of how he did it, was his prayer of gratitude to God for his talent.
Humanity has always, to a greater or lesser extent, taken pleasure as an entitlement not a gift. Reciprocity has always been seen as a one-way street by the majority of people, especially people who are in power or think they should be in power. They do not have a sense of indebtedness, rather they have a sense of entitlement. We are witnessing the logical continuance of such entitlement with the lies and deceptions of Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump and his boys, these MAGA people who are running in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, etc. They may or may not believe their rhetoric, they only want to win, in winning they receive pleasure and they return harming the stranger, taking advantage of the needy and criminalizing the poor. Not exactly the prayer Rabbi Heschel has in mind in his wisdom above.
Yet, why shouldn’t people do this, why not have men make more than women for the same job, why not have white people earn more than people of color, why not hate the Jews for not acknowledging Christ as the Messiah and Redeemer, why not lie, cheat, steal to get ahead, we are entitled to it if we can make it happen goes this type of thinking. Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above rejects the entitlement of humanity, it rejects and refutes the deceptions and bastardizations of the “religious right”, the religious left, either extreme-politically, emotionally, spiritually. Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom is that God gives us the gift of pleasure, as I am understanding him today. God gives us the ability to “receive pleasure” and the honor to “return a prayer”. Notice that he uses the word “must” in this phrase, giving us the sense of imperative, the experience of a commandment, the joy of an obligation.
Immersing oneself in the words above, over and over again has allowed me to realize the multi-faceted view of living Rabbi Heschel is giving us; to see life as indebtedness, to realize that reciprocity is the pathway to making meaning in our being, and pleasure and prayer are so closely linked point us to the uniqueness, love, care, kindness, and truth of God and the imperative to act Godly. Just as God receives and accepts our prayer, so too do we get to and must receive and accept the prayer of someone else. Just as God is our lender, so too do we have to lend to the poor, the needy, the stranger according to their need, not our wants. Just as God cares for the downtrodden and the voiceless, we too have to care for them and give them a lift up and be their voice until they can speak. Just as God condemns mendacity and deception, so too do we have to stop supporting the way of being that says looking good, having the ‘right’ words, the ‘right’ optics, the ‘right’ politics makes you a ‘right’ person. Religious, social behaviorism and the plagiarism of the spirit, of the words of God are antithetical to everything that Rabbi Heschel is saying above. Lets change the ‘game’ and instead lets get serious about living, about life. More on this tomorrow!
In recovery, we are always offering a prayer of gratitude and a prayer of thanksgiving. We wake up grateful for this day, we are thankful for our opportunity to serve, to overcome whatever obstacles we may face today by not engaging in old ways and behaviors that brought us down. We are eager to reciprocate and to act Godly, we seek out ways to serve rather than be entitled as we were before. In recovery, we are well aware of our need to live in the tension of indebtedness and reciprocity in order to experience the true meaning of our being, our existence-what we are here for and how to carry it out.
I have found reciprocity of generosity to be one of God’s great gifts to me and to thee. While the people I have helped may not reciprocate, I get a gift from an unknown, unlikely source and I realize that the Universe is truly benign and good. Mercy is abundant and I have to remember to pay down my indebtedness, reciprocate with joy and whatever another human being needs (rather than what I want to give) and serve with pleasure, receive al that life gives me with pleasure and then offer a prayer to God of thanks, of help, of awareness or needing to be made aware. Since I have staying power, I am always blessed to receive the message God is sending even if I act hastily. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark