Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 112
“Faith in God cannot be forced upon man. The issue is not only lack of faith but the vulgarization of faith, the misunderstanding and abuse of freedom. Our effort must involve a total reorientation about the nature of man and the world. And our hope lies in the certainty that all men are capable of sensing the wonder and mystery of existence and that all men have a capacity for reverence.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 20)
In the Haggadah we read from on Passover there is the terrible ‘story’ of the four sons, wherein both the “wise” son and the “evil” son ask the same question and, for some unknown reason, the Rabbis decided to make one of the son’s “evil”. They seem to be going against the first sentence above, “faith in God cannot be forced upon man”. Yet, it is not only the Rabbis of antiquity who go against the first sentence above, we see this phenomenon in every faith where fundamentalists rule and, truth be told, in every spiritual discipline that has a fundamentalist sect to it! This “forced” belief in God and “faith” in God has never worked so well, the Church tried it, and we ended up with the Spanish Inquisition which led to the downfall of Spain. While one could say there was success, what really happened was a sense of enslavement by the people for whom “faith in God” was being “forced” upon them and, in many instances, beautiful spiritual traditions were lost and the unique identities of tribes, peoples were eradicated, which made them and all of us poorer! We are seeing another incarnation of this terrible evil being perpetrated upon people in the U.S.A. by the ‘christian nationalists’, the people behind and implementing “project 2025”, the Trump White House Office of Faith, even the great Grifter-In-Chief, the consummate Mendacious Master, Donald Trump is calling for “christian values” to be taught in schools, to be the basis of ‘governance’. This asshole doesn’t even know what a true “Christian Value” is nor do the ‘religious’ fanatics around him! Yet, they are trying very hard to do to everyone what Rabbi Heschel is railing against and this is not good for people who authentically practice their faith, for whom “faith in God” is what keeps our engine running and ensures we always return to doing the “next right thing”!
The second sentence above is so important to roll around in, to immerse ourselves in. We do not have a “lack of faith”, we have the “vulgarization of faith, the misunderstand and abuse of freedom” happening, and I believe this is the greatest issue facing us and has always faced humanity. People have “faith” in themselves, “faith” in their beliefs, “faith” in their idols, “faith” in the lies they tell themselves, “faith” in their limited vision and eyesight about living, “faith” in their biases and prejudices, their judgmental attitudes, etc. Human beings do not suffer from a “lack of faith”, in my humble opinion, we suffer from misguided faith, from “vulgarization of faith”. Vulgar comes from the Latin meaning “common people” and is defined as “lacking sophistication, unrefined”. “Faith in God” can never become commonplace, we have seen what happens when it does, God is used as a weapon, as a punisher, as a threat, as a rewarder, as all things the human being(who isn’t being human) ‘makes’ God into-going against the 2nd Commandment of not making “false Images”, yet these ‘holy rollers’ who are trying to remake America, reduce Democracy, destroy the Constitution, continue to violate so many of the commandments, so many of the tenets of Christ, in their “vulgarization of faith”! The ‘holy rollers’ are not only believers, leaders, and followers of ‘christian nationalism’, they are being joined by fundamentalist Jews, Muslims, etc because, in some parallel universe, the Jews think these ‘friends of Israel’ who adhere to the KKK tenets, who are racists, and hate Jews while wanting Israel to start the war to end all wars and the Rapture come about, are their allies!! The ‘holy rollers’ want their freedom while denying the same to everyone else who is not in the upper echelons of their movement. They have no regard for the widow, the stranger, the poor, the needy, the orphan as Christ and the Bible exhort us to. They could care less about redeeming the captive and caring for one’s kinsmen, as we are commanded to do. Rather than build their tent large enough for all to enter, these ‘holy rollers’ deny entrance to anyone who is not pure in their beliefs, not a ‘good aryan’ in terms of dedication to their efforts and certainly not people of color or ‘those liberal jews’. “There shall be one law for the stranger and citizen alike”, “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” are anathema to the current administration and their ‘holy roller’ fan club. They are relishing their “abuse of freedom”, they revel in their cruelty, they admire their ability to make the ‘masses’ misunderstand what freedom is and should be.
WE THE PEOPLE have to stop this madness! We the People have to take to the streets, we have to march and pressure Congress to DO THEIR FUCKING JOB! We the People are being called upon to tear down the curtain on today’s version of “The Wizard of Oz/America”. We the People have to use our joy and love of God to promote the TRUTH about faith, it is a gift that every human being possess and We the People must fight against this “misunderstanding and abuse of freedom” that is being perpetrated upon the nation and the world. We the People have the examples of other periods in our history when standing UP for what is right and true and how our doing so changed the course of the country. These assholes in charge have been with us for a long time and We the People ignored them at our own peril and NOW is the TIME for We the People to take back our country from the fundamentalist ‘christian nationalists, take back Israel from the right-wing ‘fundamentalist jewish nationalists’, take back the “vulgarization of faith” that is so prevalent right now and end the “misunderstanding and abuse of freedom”! We the People must begin with ourselves, ridding ourselves of our own false gods, our own idolatry, and re-covenant with God, with our higher consciousness and take the next right action.
I have never been good with anything that is ‘forced’ upon me. I couldn’t believe the Bible as everything in it happened and is accurate, I couldn’t believe that good always triumphs over evil, I couldn’t believe in a god who would ‘take’ my father from me in my early teens. I see all of these “couldn’t’s” as “vulgarizations of faith”, as “misunderstandings” of freedom. I am beyond grateful that I found a path back to the truth of living, to the honoring and engaging in “faith in God”. I work hard every day to rid myself of my “misunderstandings and abuse of freedom” so I can better serve community, family, friends, and myself. I don’t go along to get along and I no longer need to know the why’s of being cut off from some people, I no longer need to be right and I no longer need to be all wrong. This is the greatest freedom “faith in God” has brought to me! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark