Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 305
“The fear you must feel of offending or hurting a human being must be as ultimate as your fear of God. An act of violence is an act of desecration. To be arrogant toward man is to be blasphemous toward God….” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 42-43)
Since I first chose these sentences on Friday, I have had a nagging, an unsettling experience and I know the reason. These last two sentences are upsetting, unsettling, causing me to have a bad conscience, and hitting me right between the eyes. Why, you may ask and my response is I am a citizen of a country that celebrates violence, that suborns violence against their friends and enemies, uses violence to justify their own cruelty, bloodlust, and martyrdom of people, like Charlie Kirk, for their own benefit. Even Clergy people in “My Country Tis of Thee, Sweet land of Liberty” join in the justifications, approvals, and cheerleading of an “act of violence” if it serves their own ends.
Another response of mine to “why are these sentences bothering you so much” is that I am a member of a way of life, a blueprint for living a whole, holy, full life: Judaism which is also celebrating the violence it can impose on “those less than human” people, ie people who live in the West Bank who are not Jewish and people who live in Gaza. Make no mistake about my beliefs-Oct. 7, 2023 was HORRIFIC and meant to bring about the destruction of Gaza that has happened-full stop. Hamas knew exactly what they were doing and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc all knew the plans, in my opinion. Responding to such an attack was more than necessary, it just has had to go on so long, it has had to have been met with such jubilation by Jews, by Rabbis and other Clergy. It is not ok to say “it is written in the Bible” because the opposite of what these xenophobic, power-mad, cruelty loving Clergy, politicians, far right people are saying “it is written” is also in the Bible! In fact, in the Book of Samuel, he tells the people they cannot go into the land of the Philistines (now Gaza)-it is not ours according to the man who anointed Kings Saul and David!!
Using violence as an act of creation is, as I read the words above, BULLSHIT! It is “a desecration” of God’s Name, of God’s spirit, of God’s representative, reminder, messenger-a HUMAN BEING. Isn’t it way past time for We the People to come to the realization that, as Rabbi Heschel says: the deepest wisdom man can attain is to know that his destiny is to aid, to serve”(Man is Not Alone pg.296)? Isn’t it way past time for We the People to acknowledge the innate holiness of every human being, the infinite dignity and value of every human being, the uniqueness of every human being, and the equality of dignity, value, uniqueness each one of us deserves and God demands from us? Yet, we the people have made ourselves so small (hence the non-capital letters:)) that we have forgotten we are “created in the image and likeness of God”, that we are given a task to be a ‘partner with God’ in completing the world, that we are to live a life that is compatible with being a ‘child’ of God.
In Deuteronomy we learn that even if one is hung because of taking the life of another, that person’s body should not be left overnight, that as soon as death occurs from the hanging the body is taken down and buried-otherwise it is an affront to God! This didn’t seem to register with those ‘good christian’ KKK Klansmen when they would hang black people and leave the body up so all could see and be afraid, nor did it bother their preachers! None of the ‘good christian, good jewish, good muslim’ clergy who are supporting the violence, the hatred, the cruelty going on today-and there are quite a few- realize the truth of the last sentence above, realize the importance of not being so arrogant as to say I can tell God to go Fuck GodSelf and make up what the Voice from Sinai is saying, refute the 36 times we are told to love the stranger, care for the poor and the needy, rescue the captive, remember we were strangers in the Land of Egypt. Instead, they are the arrogant ones, they are the ones who follow the Goebbels play book-accuse others of that which you are guilty of- and too many of we the people, in our smallness, in our weakness, in our lack of faith, lack of courage, lack of spiritual maturity, believe the lies or at least are unwilling to confront them, unwilling to call them out. Otherwise, the revolution begun 3500 years ago in the desert of Sinai would be mature enough to respond and repulse this vicious attack on human freedom, this “blasphemous” way of being “toward God”.
I am calling for a new “Leaving Egypt”. Just as I left the Egypt of addiction 37+ years ago, just as I left the Egypt of criminality some 38+years ago, I am constantly looking at the day I am in to make sure I am not turning back towards any Egypt, any narrow place that traps me in mendacity and obliviousness. It is time for WE THE PEOPLE to band together, to make the commitment to follow the words of the prophets and accept the “new heart of flesh”, the “new covenant” that is being given-not the New Testament but rather the renewal of the Covenant of Truth, of Goodness, of Service, of Holiness, of Wholeness that of non-violence, of love for one another, that has been bastardized by the Clergy, the wealthy, the ruling class and brought about the destruction of the Kingdoms of Judea, of Israel, and has become the way of America under Trump and his thugs and Bibi and his gang of thieves. I am asking, cajoling, demanding that WE THE PEOPLE revolt again, just as so many of us in recovery from addiction have revolted against the societal belief of “a leopard doesn’t change its spots”, just as so many Jews and Christians are standing with our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted by ICE, etc. We the People are being asked to join together to say NO to cruelty, to blasphemy in the name of YES to God. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark