Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 246
“In a sense, the calling of the prophet may be described as that of an advocate or champion, speaking for those who are too weak to plead their own cause. Indeed, the major activity of the prophets was interference, remonstrating about wrongs inflicted on other people, meddling in affairs which were seemingly neither their concern nor responsibility.” (Thunder in the Soul pg.45)
The prophets have captured my attention forever, when I was a youth, I believed we could ‘change the world’ once and for all, because of the words of the prophets, because in the Bible was the path to change, the path of justice, the path of mercy, etc. Yet, it was not to be and the more I was laughed at, the more jaded I became and I joined the wrong revolution, I joined the rebels who were also in it for themselves-what could I get from you and make it mine. This is the difference between a prophet, a person of the Bible, a person of real faith, person who believes being humane is the most important action one can take and everyone else: having “the calling of a prophet”, being “an advocate or champion”.
It is an interesting description: “the major activity of the prophets was interference” because the Rabbis have been afraid of the prophetic strain in our tradition, fearful that they would be the ones being interfered with, fearing the passion and the possible destruction of the Jewish people if the prophetic spirit moved them to stage another revolt like the Bar Kochba one, which was a dismal failure. While the Rabbis quote the prophets in the Talmud, they take the words out of context often, just as they do with the Torah and this leads to a bastardization of the prophets words, a weakening of their message and a lessening of their “interference”.
Here we are today, in 2025, and the questions some people are asking is: Where are the prophets today, who are the prophets of today? For some, they are the MAGA crowd of haters and bible-thumpers(Jewish and Christian) and this belief is bewildering because none of the ‘prophets’ of the MAGA crowd do anything for another human being that is not their concern and they take no responsibility in anything that doesn’t work, they take no responsibility for speaking truth to power, nor do they care about the poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger. Yet, the clergy who promote a Christianity that has nothing to do with Christ, a Judaism that has nothing to do with Moses and the God of Abraham, fervently believe they are the true ‘prophets’ of today, and are doing what they can to promote the untruths of their ‘biblical’ message-which is really anti-biblical. I call them untruths because anytime something is ‘half-true’, it is all untrue. Truth is, there is no half, no quarter, this is a case of either/or-something is true or it is not true.
For the rest of We the People, we are left asking ourselves-who are the prophets of today as well. While there are some leaders like Bishop William Barber, some activists like Ezra Klein, no one has stepped forward to truly lead the resistance, no one is stepping up to be the “advocate or champion” that speaks to the souls of all of us, that speaks to the actions we must take in our own inner lives. Yes, there are many on the ‘progressive’ end of the spectrum like AOC and Bernie who advocate for the poor by denigrating the people who have money, and they are correct-it is just that their agenda is not favoring the middle of the road people, their agenda is as radical as the MAGA, so, there is no one speaking out for God except for people like Bishop Barber, Rabbi Sharon Brous, and others.
Hence, as We the People immerse ourselves in the words above, we, hopefully, come to realize the prophetic mantle has been given to us, we are all descendants of the prophets, we are all capable and being called to be “an advocate or champion”, we are being called to speak “for those who are too weak to plead their own cause”. We are being reminded that running “interference” against the status quo, “remonstrating about the wrongs inflicted on other people”, “meddling in affairs” which some believe are not our concerns is the only way to live in the world and be a person of faith, a person who lives as decent human beings-no matter what one is a person of faith or not. The words above remind us, cajole us, demand of us to get off our asses, stop worrying about what ‘the neighbors think’, end our incessant need to please everyone and be thought of as ‘a nice person’ and “remonstrate”, “champion”, “advocate” for what is right and true, what is just and loving, what is serving another and being more selfless than selfish. These words call us to stand up for our freedom and the freedom of another(s), knowing that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prophet for his time and ours, taught. This way of being is one of the highest forms of serving the Ineffable One.
I know the life of the prophet is not easy, it is difficult because no one wants to hear, listen and understand (Shema) their errors, their wrongs, their injustices because most people enjoy the ill-gotten gains these errors, wrongs, injustices have brought them! I did in my days before recovery and I was jealous of those who had what I wanted. Recognizing my prophetic voice, eyesight has brought me to a place of loneliness and joy, truth and scorn, enveloped and exiled. I know that, as my friend and teacher Rabbi Ed Feinstein says, people do not want to hear what I have to say because it makes them uncomfortable, which is what I am trying to do. I am uncomfortable every time I see injustice and I am compelled to do something about it. It is what my Rabbinate was all about, it is what I am all about. God Bless and Stay safe, Happy Sukkot, Rabbi Mark