Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 289
“PROPHETIC REFLECTION BEGINS, we might say, with the abuse and consequent failure of freedom, with the irrationality of human conduct, and it points to God who stands above history.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 36)
WOW!! What a statement, what a bold, outrageous, truthful description of the emergence of “prophetic reflection” that has been with us forever, since the time of Abraham. Between the ‘conversations’ between God and Abram/Abraham, the declaration of Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, (i.e. wholeness), the way of being declared by Moses in the name of God, up till today-there has always been “prophetic reflection” and We the People have bought the lies of the Rabbis and Priests, Popes and Muftis that the age of prophecy is over as if they are saying, ‘the study of the prophets is okay, just don’t put too much energy in them, we will tell you the important things they say and how/what to understand their words’. BULLSHIT, as I am understanding Rabbi Heschel’s words today-while he believed in the teachings of the Rabbis, he believed the lack of understanding, knowing, studying of the prophets led to the horrible ways Blacks were being treated in America, the inane and senseless killing of “innocent Vietnamese” and American soldiers. When called a prophet, he wanted only to be known as a “descendant of the prophets”.
We the People, as I have said often, are descendants of the prophets. We the People are in the midst of “the abuse” of freedom by the wannabe autocrats, the FASCISTS in our midst, the ‘good religious folk’ of all faiths who deny every principle of freedom, dignity, decency found in the Bible, who, in their fervor to serve their own image and idols, bastardize the “prophetic reflection” found in the Bible, revere and utilize the rhetoric of Josef Goebbels, and deny truth, goodness, kindness, and caring to all except the few they deem their ‘allies’. We the People are in the midst of a “failure of freedom” by our courts, our ‘so-called free’ press, and by We the People who seem to have lost our ability to discern truth from fiction, good from evil, right from wrong, faith in God from worshipping idols.
While many of us compare today to 100 years ago in Germany, We the People could also compare today to 2500 years ago in Jerusalem, to 2700 years ago in Samaria(Northern Kingdom of Israel), to 2000 years ago, again in Jerusalem. What today cannot be compared to is 250 years ago, when “Let Freedom Ring” became true in America, what today cannot be compared to is 3500 years ago when Moses led the slaves out of Egypt and the Torah was ‘given’ and accepted. There is no ‘golden age’ of freedom happening now, there is no spiritual revolution, no caring for the widow and orphan, no welcoming the stranger because We the People “were strangers in the land of Egypt” and in the land of America!! There is no love of one’s neighbor unless the neighbor agrees with der fuhrer, Donald Trump or his henchmen, Stephen Miller, Howard Lutnick, Steve Wytkoff, Jared Kushner, Russell Vought, J D Vance, Pam Bondi, et al. The fact that so many people who call themselves Jews, and in some cases claim to be ‘orthodox’ is appalling to me, it is an affront to the prophets, to “prophetic reflection”, an bastardization of most everything the Bible teaches. Yet, here we are.
Netanyahu asking for a pardon while admitting no guilt nor responsibility, Trump pardoning Drug Lords while wantonly killing people in boats he and his prop Hegseth claim to be bringing drugs into the U.S., Miller decrying immigrants and locking them up in ‘camps’ while being the descendant of Holocaust survivors, Vought claiming to be a ‘devoted follower of our lord and savior Jesus Christ’ while doing everything that JESUS RAILED AGAINST, while BEING THE MONEY-CHANGER IN THE TEMPLE that Jesus preached against, while being the Pontius Pilate of our days!! We the People desperately need to re-evaluate ourselves, look in the mirror, do our T’Shuvah and return from “the irrationality of human conduct”. We the People have to call BULLSHIT and MENDACITY on the lies that are being spoken, spread on the internet, over the airwaves of Fox News and the ‘right-wing nut’ media. We the People are being called to recall the “prophetic reflections” of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, etc and act our ways back into right thinking, exit our addiction to lies, our addiction to bastardizing goodness, our addiction to hatred, power, money, blame and shame! Only then will We the People be able to mitigate the “irrationality of human conduct”, only then will We the People be able to hear, listen, understand (Shema) the essence of the 10 Sayings from Mount Sinai, the laws of decent living found in the Bible right after receiving the 10 Sayings, the wisdom and plans the prophets give to us and how to carry them out.
It is not too tall an order! Those of us in recovery are living into the ways of the prophets each day, many believe Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson were prophets of a sort, just like many believe Martin Luther King Jr. was a prophet, Rabbi Heschel was a prophet. At issue is our willingness to hear the “prophetic reflection” that is within us, that is being spoken to us and stand up for this rather than the lies and power-grab, the money seeking mendacity of people. I know both sides of this coin, I was an asshole who screwed anyone and everyone over to ‘get mine’. In recovery, I have done the opposite, I read and study the prophets, I read and study the Bible, I am committed to doing the next right thing and make my amends when I don’t. I am far from perfect and one grain of sand better each day. I do not tolerate the lies and bullshit of clergy, the powerful, the stranger, the poor and the needy. I seek to live in truth and demand people help me and themselves to do the same. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark