Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 292
“Man is not only an image of God; he is a perpetual concern of God. The idea of pathos adds a new dimension to human existence. Whatever man does affects not only his own life, but also the life of God insofar as it is directed to man. The import of man raises him beyond the level of mere creature. He is a consort, a partner, a factor in the life of God.” (Thunder in the Soul pg 38)
Once again, I am trembling at the insights I get from these words. It isn’t as if I haven’t read this sentiment before, it isn’t as if I am just realizing the place that I and every other human being is being called to report to, The trembling awe comes from the re-awareness of God’s concern for me, for you. It is an awareness that too many of We the People seem to ignore, that too many of the ‘prosperity gospel’ preachers, the ‘I have to study all day so I am not responsible’ ultra-orthodox rabbis, the ‘don’t you know who I think I am’ liars and cheats that are running the US Government, the Israeli government, WILLFULLY and GLEEFULLY IGNORE! I am outraged and cannot understand why more of We the People are not outraged! WTF, PEOPLE!!
I am aghast at the ways We the People are either acting or allowing our governments to act in our name! How in the HELL can any of us celebrate the wanton killing without proof going on in the Caribbean Ocean right now? What the FUCK is wrong with some of We the People who want to believe Pete Hegseth, a drunk, womanizing, thieving liar?? How can these ‘good religious folks’ continue to disrespect the “god” they claim to love and are serving? They serve this ‘god’ by having no concern for another human being while God in the Bible is concerned with all of humanity??!! They serve this ‘god’ by hating the stranger, scapegoating the stranger while God in the Bible tells us 36 times to love, welcome, care for the stranger??!! The ‘god’ of Trump, Vance, Kushner, Lutnick, Vought, Bondi, et al, is the ‘god’ that humans make up when they “scout after their hearts and their eyes and WHORE after them”(Numbers 15:39). God as experienced in the Bible, in our daily lives, is concerned with human beings, with our actions, with our decisions, with every aspect of our living. What a gift, what a responsibility, what an enormous burden and what an amazing gift of freedom!
God’s concern is a call to action for We the People and each day, when we awake, when we see the sunrise, when we see a rainbow, when we breathe the air, when we go to the bathroom, we experience God’s concern, we experience the “import of man” because all of these experiences, these gifts and necessities, are God-given, they are not because of anything we did, nothing that we merit, they are experiences of love, of concern, of hope, all gifts from God for We the People AND We the People keep squandering the gifts, keep “worshipping the servant” as Einstein says, and are willing to go along with the liars who tell us that “only I can fix this” “only I and my small group have been anointed by god to be a partner with him”, and other such BULLSHIT! I AM ENRAGED THAT THESE LIES ARE BEING PERPETRATED BY RABBIS AND PRIESTS, MINISTERS AND IMAMS-ALL PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER AND ARE THE FALSE PROPHETS THE BIBLE WARNS US ABOUT!.
I know I am yelling, I know that I am preaching to the choir, I know that maybe my voice is no longer heard anywhere in the ways it was 5+ years ago, AND it doesn’t matter, because I have to continue to speak truth, I have to continue to be “a consort” “in the life of God”. It is imperative for We the People to find our unique niche, the purpose we are created for, the passion that our souls are crying out to us to engage in because this is the antidote to the LIARS, this is the only way that, like the Maccabees, We the People can proclaim: “All who are for ADONAI, FOLLOW US”. Only when we accept the responsibility of being “a partner” with God, can we find the clarity, the serenity, the turning down of the volume of K-FUCK radio that is constantly telling us lies, constantly wanting us to be less than, better than, and all the other shit. “Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today” says Dr. Paul in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Living in the acceptance of the words above, changes everything about the way We the People will live today, tomorrow, forever. Not change it permanently, not a one and done change, rather it is a transformation of our understanding of our place in this world, a transformation of our understanding of the place each and every other human being has in this world, a transformation of how we treat one another, a transformation of our experience of God, Godliness, Mitzvot, etc. This can only happen when We the People take our rightful place as “a factor in the life of God”!
This is not easy!! And it is exhilarating, exciting, filling me with trembling awe, with deep remorse when I fuck it up, making the stakes of life so much more knowing that God is concerned with me, that God’s concern is for me to do the next right thing-NO MATTER WHAT I feel or think. The “yoke” of free will that is calling me to serve God instead of my “heart and eyes” is so fragile at times and I know I have to keep it on, because slipping out of it, breaking it will lead me back to the days when I would use “god’s concern” to get me out of trouble, lead me to more and more irresponsibility, like Trump, Jared, Bibi, et al. Living as a “consort, a partner, a factor in the life of God” is more than just trembling awe, it is the purest and most complete experience of FREEDOM I have ever had. I truly have experienced a “new freedom”, I do proclaim FREEDOM from the rooftops to everyone who will hear me and, alas, most people can’t, won’t and this is sad. I do believe in continuing to do my part, however, and continue to show some ways to FREEDOM. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark