Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 300
“The symbol of God is man, every man. God created man in His image (tselem), in His likeness(demuth). How significant is the fact that the term tselem, which is frequently uses in a damnatory sense for a man-made image of God, as well as the term demuth - of which Isaiah claims (40:18), no demuth or likeness can be applied to God - are employed in denoting man as an image and likeness of God.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 41)
While both tselem and demuth are also used to deny human making images of God, the thrust of the words above makes anyone who has a sense of something greater than themselves tremble and shudder. How can We the People claim to be ‘godly people’ when we treat one another with such disdain, such hatred, such jealousy, such violence, such greed?
The shootings at Brown University, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, all senseless violence, all caused by some senseless hatred, resentment, the stoking of anger and need to “get them”, antisemitism, homophobia, xenophobia, all the other phobias are ridiculous societal ideas in the face of the words above, in the face of the words of Genesis Chapters 1 and 2!
And, here we are, again. 80 years after the end of WWII, 80 years after Dwight D. Eisenhower had the Army film what had happened at Aushwitz because he knew people would ‘forget’, ‘deny’ that this ever happened, pretty prescient wasn’t he. 30+ years after the Rwandan horrors, 30+ years after Bosnia, we are back again with a Putin, a Xi, an Orban, a Netanyahu, a Trump, promoting senseless hatred, xenophobic fears and images, a call to ‘return to the good old days’, when Trump’s own grandfather, the PIMP, would not be allowed in under the rules of today! I hold my greatest contempt for those ‘men and women of god’ who claim to be the true keepers of the flame of Torah, of Christ, of Islam, while demeaning God through their demeaning, hateful speech about another human being with whom they disagree. Mike Johnson claims he is governing by the Bible, by the word of Christ-where does Christ say be cruel to the poor, deny the stranger, let the needy beg and still give them, maybe scraps? It certainly doesn’t say this in the Hebrew Bible!
These idolators who pass themselves off as ‘holy people’, as people ‘doing god’s will’ are the real perpetrators of creating “a man-made image of God”. I hear about Rabbis who claim the only division in Judaism, especially since Oct. 7, 2024, is for Israel, not for Israel. Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc are no longer important- only Israel. These Rabbis forget to hold power accountable to God’s laws, they ignore the demeaning of people by Israel, they are living in a world that is black and white while being representatives of the FAITH OF BOTH/AND! Everything in the Bible is inclusive of both ‘sides’ of an argument, we are taught there is ONE LAW for the STRANGER AND CITIZEN ALIKE- except in Israel, the United States, etc under Trump and Netanyahu.
There is no excuse for the Anti-Semitism that propelled the massacre at Bondi Beach-FULL STOP. People joining together to celebrate Chanukah are not a threat to anyone, they had no guns, no bombs, the perpetrator was fueled by the senseless hatred being spewed across the globe by the UN, by the Arab world(Jared Kushner’s friends the Saudis, the Qataries, people from the Arab Emirates, etc), by the MAGA crowd of White Christian Nationalists and people of Color who have decided Jews are the enemy.
The failure of the Rabbis, the Priests, the Ministers, the Imams to teach that “the symbol of God is man, every man” has, throughout the millennia, been the root cause of this senseless hatred. We the People need to have a Spiritual Revolution, a Spiritual Renewal, a Spiritual Awakening and We the People have to demand that our children be raised in this manner as well. It is no longer, never has been really, for hatred to be forced upon, spewed upon our children whether at home, in school, in Church, Synagogue, Mosque! It is not okay for We the People to continue to live in our resentments and our ignoring of the human being next to us. It is time, way past time, for We the People to be responsible for being an image of God, for being a divine reminder, for filling the divine need we are created for, for acknowledging the divinity, the dignity of the person next to us, across the globe from us. It is time for We the People to do our own inventory, our own accounting of when we live our divine image and when we don’t, when we see the divine image of another human being and when we treat another human being as an object for our own use-desecrating the God-image of another! We are in the last 16 days of 2025-maybe NOW is the time so 2026 can be different!
I think about the ways in which I missed the divine image of another because I was too focused on what I wanted. I am horrified by this action and commit to do much better. The words above got me thinking about the ways I have been ignored, now that I don’t have a big platform and it makes me sad. I realize that people are too busy with their own selves and this is the tragedy that our lack of spiritual awakening, spiritual maturity cause. I am blessed that I have a solution, I wave to people, I smile and say hello to people, I recognize the divine in people because this is how I respect, honor the dignity of the divine, by honoring the dignity of human beings. It ain’t easy, I am far from perfect AND I am more than 51%! This is the shift from being part of a society that only values what you do to a society that values who you are. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark