Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 293
“Our embarrassment in reading the harsh expressions of divine wrath is also due to the general disposition of modern man. We have no sense for spiritual grandeur. Spiritual to us means ethereal, calm, moderate, slight, imperceptible. We respond to beauty; grandeur is unbearable. We are moved by a soft religiosity, and would like to think that God is lovely, tender, and familiar, as if faith were a source of comfort, but not readiness for martyrdom.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 38-39)
The issue that begins today’s quote is one I hear often, regarding the prophets, the Bible, people have told me I am too loud, too brash, too sensitive, all of which are true. The prophets, the Bible, and I are very sensitive to evil, to the beginnings of evil, to the lies we tell ourselves and the ones another(s) tries to sell to us, to ‘the masses’. While people keep wanting to have religion be “a source of comfort”, the Bible’s only comfort comes when We the People find our connection to something greater than ourselves, when We the People make the decision to seek to do the next right thing, when We the People engage with one another and see the similarities, celebrate the differences and join together to move our corner of the world a little closer to being complete.
Rabbi Heschel’s use of the word “grandeur” here, I believe, is to describe a way of being that is so beyond whatever we think, an experience with our higher self, with the Ineffable One, with the divine, that lifts in holiness, in consciousness, in vision to places we never even dreamed of. It is not to a ‘grand’ place-I believe-it is to a place and sense of Oneness of the universe, a knowing of our being part of the Oneness of the Universe (as the Shema says), and a call to action that we are unable to not hear. While one may choose to ignore the call to action that being in grandeur sends out, it is impossible to not hear the call, if and when one is living in spiritual grandeur. Granted, for most of We the People spiritual grandeur is a place we may visit or be visited upon us and We the People may or may not be aware of the spiritual grandeur that is to be experienced in this moment, yet it is undeniably true that spiritual grandeur exists and is the ‘place’ when human beings and the divine meet, where higher consciousness explodes and changes us with or without our desire, approval, maybe even against our will.
“Grandeur is unbearable” because of the light that is shone upon us, because of the yoke of action that is placed on us, and because we are obligated to fulfill the mitzvot-not do as we please. “Grandeur is unbearable” because it forces us to give up the lies we have been telling ourselves and/or buying from another(s): “God doesn’t care”; “My God is loving and approving of me”; “My God is not like yours”, “Praying to My God comforts me and rocks me to sleep”; and other such ridiculous statements. “Grandeur is unbearable” because the awe, the beauty, the radical amazement is so powerful, we have to look away after a few seconds otherwise it feels like we will burn up. AND, We the People are being called to visit spiritual grandeur more often. The words above, the words of the prophets demand that We the People end our love affair with the idolatry of a calm, moderate, ethereal way of living and get into the mud, wrestle with the lies and the evil being perpetrated against God, against another(s) human being(s), against the very nature of our souls. We the People are desperately needed in this moment to stand with God, to stand in the Grandeur that is being provided for us and to us each day, each hour by the prophets, by the Bible, by the universe.
We the People have, throughout history, found ways to reach the “grandeur” that gives us the courage, the strength, the will to fight off the evil of that time period. Whether it was the Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, Jesus, King David, the Maccabees, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, Oliver Cromwell, Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry, Lincoln, Churchill, Niebuhr, King, RFK, Rabin, Pelosi, up until now We the People have had a leader to bring us into the light and power of “spiritual grandeur”. Who is our leader today? We the People have to stop depending on someone else to save us. It is WAY PAST TIME for We the People to save ourselves and save one another. Each of us has a Moses and a Pharaoh within us, each of us has fear and awe within us. We the People are being called to let go of our hiding our heads in the sand, release ourselves from the cult of autocracy and the need for certainty-as Harriet Rossetto told me yesterday. We the People, following the direction of the prophets, can turn back to a way of life that utilizes our fears to stop us from buying the lies and bullshit of ‘der fuhrer’, of Trampy Trump, of barbarous Bibi. We the People have within us the ability to come out from under and help another(s) come out from under the inner burdens of our self-deceptions, the knowing of freedom, the knowing of the path to Sinai and the ability to rise up to the higher consciousness this moment calls for. WILL YOU??
This is the question that has dogged me forever. I have risen up and fallen back, “spiritual grandeur is unbearable” because I can’t stay there, something brings me back down-the call of my false ego, the need to care for another person, the co-dependency I have for my family, my wife-not bad things, just daily living so I relish the moments of “spiritual grandeur” because they give me new insights, new ways to serve, and new ideas to write about. The moments of “spiritual grandeur” make me more accountable, bring me comfort in that I am able to see where I missed the mark and where I hit the mark, what I need to do today and never ‘rest on my laurels’ or ‘believe my own press’. “Spiritual grandeur” makes writing each day a call and a joy. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark