Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 262
“The prophets tried to overcome the isolationism of religion. It is the prophets who teach us that the problem of living does not arise with the question of how to take care of the rascals, of how to prevent delinquency or hideous crimes. The problem of living begins with the realization of how we all blunder in dealing with our fellow men. The silent atrocities, the secret scandals, which no law can prevent, are the true seat of moral infection.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 50)
The first sentence above is, to some, blasphemy! How can Rabbi Heschel, a man of deep faith and commitment to the mitzvot, accuse religion of isolationism? Precisely because of his credentials, his background, his ability to see what is and know what should be. Rev Mark Luther King Jr., Bobby, Kennedy, Rabbi Heschel and many more people saw what is and did not ask why, they saw what isn’t/what could be and asked why not. This is what comes to me when I read the first sentence above, the prophets showing us the way to asking the questions, demanding we see what isn’t and what should/could be and ask why not.
Given the world we live in and, truthfully, the way the world has always been, these statements about the prophets show us exactly why they are read and not absorbed, heard and not listened to, quoted and not understood. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s we heard all about “the rascals”, the “delinquency”, the “hideous crimes” of ‘those people’. These issues were used to win elections, put in draconian laws, be racist under the guise of law and order, and blame the ‘little guy’, the ‘other’ so as to keep whiteness supreme. This is true of both Republicans and Democrats, with the Republicans taking this way of being to an extreme level with great success. We the People and the leaders we elect have been unable, unwilling to see clearly “the problem of living” as Rabbi Heschel describes it above. This is how we have reached this point in our history as a nation and how we have reached this bottom as individuals. While I would love to believe this is our bottom and we are having a “spiritual awakening” that will bring us to recovery, to recovering our truth, our “realization”, I firmly believe We the People and the current administration, Congress, Supreme Court will continue to dig the grave of Freedom, of Democracy deeper and deeper.
When one looks at life today, we see a definite split between the people who know they owe a debt to something greater than themselves and those who believe they are entitled to whatever they can get by any means with which they get it. Trump and Netanyahu are no different that the person who decides they want to be estranged from their parents because they are ‘toxic’ and they are forgetting all the good, all the help, all the life-giving aid they received from them, like RFK Jr. Miller and Lutnick are no different than the people who, having achieved some measure of success, forget the people who helped them along the way, believing they were rungs on the ladder of their success that could and should be stepped on. Johnson and the Republicans, Ben G’Vir and the Israeli far fight are no different than the people who were saved believing they have the right and the duty to step on the legacy of those who saved them, who believe they have the obligation to obliterate their memory, likening them to Amalek. Ebenezer Baptist Church knows and lives into the debt they owe because they were blessed to have Martin Luther King Jr. as their Pastor. B’Nai Jeshurun Congregation in New York knows and lives into the teachings of Rabbi Heschel because he so influenced the Rabbi Marshall Meyer, the leader of a new path for BJ, and Rabbi Roly Matalon. Bishop Barber know he owes a great debt to MLK Jr and he is repaying it, I could name so many others as well.
It is way past time for We the People to come to “the realization of how we all blunder in dealing with our fellow men.” It is way past time for We the People to come to grips with the debt we owe to God and the universe for the gift of life, the debt we, who live in democracies as fragile as they are, owe to our ancestors for them making the arduous trek so their children, grandchildren can have a better life. It is way past time for We the People to stop blaming everyone else for our troubles, admit our blunders, acknowledging the “silent atrocities” that are being done in our name as well as those we are committing ourselves, stop hiding from the “secret scandals” of ‘our side’, ‘our people’ ourselves and bring into the open what we are so intent on hiding so the light can heal our scandals and our secrets. It is way past time for We the People to live into the spirit of the law as well as the letter, to heal the “moral infection” that has plagued society from the beginning. The message of the prophets, the message of the Bible, the message of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, et al is We the People can heal the moral infection that has grown and festered, that is mutating and becoming more infectious.
I know this message to be true, the moral infection, the secret scandals, the silent atrocities, being a rascal and a delinquent, committing the most hideous of crimes-abandoning the principles my father taught me and abandoning my daughter to go off to jail and prison can be healed. I am no longer that person, I have dedicated my life to healing rather than hurting, to repaying the debt rather than being entitled, to experiencing the betrayal by another(s) rather than betray them, admitting my errors upon realization of them, knowing the reciprocity of generosity principle is how I live and not expecting another to live that way. Loyalty to the people who have helped me and to the principles we share. Knowing that my moral infection is like Shingles, it lives inside of me and only through the spiritual maintenance I do each day do I keep it in it’s place. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark