Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 299
“It was not the lack of religion but the perversion of it that the prophets of Israel denounced…The greater the man, the more his is exposed to sin. Piety is at times evil in disguise, an instrument in the pursuit of power.” ( Thunder in the Soul pg. 41)
Happy Chanukah! Tonight is the first night of Chanukah and, as I heard from a Rabbi yesterday, whether one is celebrating the impossible victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks, the myth of the oil, lighting the Chanukiah is important and special. AND, I pray that We the People do not use Chanukah as an excuse for “evil in disguise” as some of the ultra-orthodox in Israel and in America do. The fight of the Maccabees is, in many ways, our fight today. “All who are for God come with me” Mattathias is supposed to have said and today, We the People are being called to be “for God” and the confusing, the “evil in disguise” is what ‘god’ are people standing for and with? Is it Adonai who calls out to us on Mount Sinai to not lie, cheat, steal, whore ourselves, covet what someone else has, honor parents, love the stranger, care for the needy and poor, love one another, etc or the God who says kill them all, women and children along with the men, who is xenophobic and narcissistic? The later is the God that Smotrich and Ben G’Vir, Cain-White, Osteen, Hagee, et al worship and are spewing the hatred of one another out like lava flowing from a volcano.
Yet, the Maccabees fought for Adonai, to not have the Temple defiled with Greek philosophy, Greek mythology and, then, when in power, they succumbed to the Hellenistic influence, succumbed to the lies of Rome, and eventually were partners, unwittingly, in the destruction of the 2nd Temple. This is how subtle “piety is … an instrument in the pursuit of power.” So, reading these words, listening to Rabbis proclaim that the only “separation” in Judaism today is “are you for Israel or are you against Israel”, denominations mean nothing and it is only Israel that matters, makes me, and I pray many of We the People yearn for a deeper study of the prophets, a more spiritually aware group of Rabbis and a T’Shuvah, a Return to following Adonai, who wants us to be decent, who calls for us to make our corner of the world a little better, who demands truth, justice, mercy, and walking in/on the path towards wholeness/holiness.
It is inconceivable to me that the prophets are so ignored by today’s clergy (truth be told by clergy throughout the modern era) and, when used, their words are taken out of context, to prove a specious argument of the Rabbis, the Priests, Ministers-not to hear “The Word” from Sinai, from Jerusalem, from Samaria! Like the Kings of the Northern Kingdom and of Judea, the people in power today, Trump, Bibi, Putin, Xi, have been exposed to so much sin they are bathing in it and, unfortunately, too spiritually immature, too spiritually and morally bankrupt to get out of the tub of sin they are in. In fact, to our great dismay and the dismantling of the values found in the 10 Sayings and in the Bible, they are luxuriating in the tub of sin they are in. While one can point to reasons these leaders are so corrupt, so full of shit, the real point of the words above are for We the People! WTF, People? How have We allowed our holy books to be so bastardized, what has propelled us to draw the bath water of sin these leaders, their minions and, by extension, We the People are swimming in? Is this really the call of our your souls? Is this really the path of holiness/wholeness that We the People believe in? NOT ME, NOT MANY OTHER PEOPLE, SO what are we to do?
The solution to this issue which has plagued us FOREVER, is to go back to the Prophets, Immerse ourselves in their wisdom, in their words, in their messages, Take the action of RETURNING to God, as the prayer we say when return the Torah to the Ark, Return us to You, Adonai and we will Return, our days will be like they used to be-when we were in living the covenantal relationship, doing our part as we promised at Sinai. This is what this moment, every moment calls for. It is especially crucial right now when there are a critical mass of people who are “running after a majority(actually a plurality) to do evil”. We the People have to throw the LYING RABBIS, PRIESTS, MINISTERS who claim God hates the poor, God wants the annihilation of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, God wants the wanton killing of boats in the Caribbean, God wants to upend the drug cartel led by Maduro in Venezuela while praising and giving a pardon to Honduran ex-President Hernandez, etc. If this isn’t “piety is at times evil in disguise”, I do not know what is. Change will only come when We the People demand it, when We the People make spiritual progress, spiritual maturity, spiritual education a priority, rather than believing the lies of those ‘pious’ people who want to destroy the moral foundation of God, who want to destroy the beating for freedom, for democracy found in every soul. We the People have to stand against these liars, these charlatans, and do it NOW.
I have railed against this bullshit behavior forever, even as a kid. The difference between then and now is that I could be and was co-opted by the shiny pot of gold that was promised and I went down a horrific path to spiritual bankruptcy. Only through Chapter 11 as the prophets demanded I go through, have I been able to replenish the spiritual bank account and add much to it which is my both my/our birthright and obligation. I cannot be co-opted today, I can’t put up with the lies and the bullshit anymore. My voice has to speak, whether it is heard or not, is not up to me, it is up to you and We the People. I pray I speak in ways that can be heard, I pray that my repeating the messages of the prophets is helpful and I cannot stop calling out the evil that so many people are bathing in. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark