Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 122
“Tragic is the role of religion in contemporary society. The world is waiting to hear the Voice, and those who are called upon to utter the word are confused and weak in faith. “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty” (Psalm 29:4). Where is its power? Where is its majesty?” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 21)
“The Voice” is calling out from Mt. Sinai every hour of every day. We know this, not because it is part of the Midrash of Judaism, we know this because those of us who are attuned to the frequency of “the Voice” hear it daily. There is a lot of static at times because we humans have to be empty of our false egos, our self-deceptions to hear “the Voice” clearly, and even though it is static at times, we know it is “the Voice” that spoke to our ancestors at Sinai. The issue raised above is with the Clergy, once again. Since the days of the Talmud, of the Rabbis, the prophets have been used to prove the points they wanted to make, they have not been studied for the words and warnings they offered. The prophets heard “the Voice” and relayed it to the people, the royalty, the priests and the wealthy and guess what? They did not want to hear them nor did they heed them and Israel was lost and wandering for almost 1900 years. Jews have been persecuted and discriminated against for these 1900 years and scapegoated for all of the ills of the times since the times of Jesus till today. Yet, the Rabbis were more worried about their position, about the Judaism they were re-inventing, and felt the prophets would cause people to revolt against Rome and make Judaism disappear altogether. BULLSHIT!
Just as the Rabbis were “confused and weak in faith”, so too have the Clergy of all faiths been. In the Bible, we are told how to live together, each group keeping their own ways and not treading on the ways of another, making Biblical paths so attractive that more and more people would adopt an ethical and moral foundation for living within their own community and with other peoples. Yet, because of competition, because of the need for power and the greediness of human beings, even the Priests, the Ministers, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the Rabbis, the Imams became seduced by the power of royalty and riches and confused their agendas and the agendas of their ‘benefactors’ with the agenda of God, the agenda of the Bible. This has caused “confusion” since the beginning and this “confusion” has made the Clergy of all faiths “weak in faith” until today!
We the People have to stop telling our Priests, Rabbis, and Imams what we want and demand of them to teach us all how to “hear the Voice” and how to put into action We the People demanding to know the logic behind the commandment, the action, it is time for our Clergy to stand up and remind us of the words We the People spoke at Mount Sinai: Na’Aseh V’Nishma, we will do and then we will understand. We the People have to demand of our clergy to stop listening to us, to stop worrying about keeping their job and call out to us and demand from us what “the Voice” tells us all each day from the top of Mount Sinai: “Love your Neighbor as Yourself”, “humanity is created in the Image of God, male and female both were created at the same time”, Love the stranger because you were strangers in the Land of Egypt”, “care for the needy, the poor, the widow and the orphan”, “do justly, love mercy, walk in the ways of God”, etc. Yet, the Clergy today are too interested in lining their own pockets like Paula Cain-White, Joel Osteen and the rest of the “prosperity gospels” LIARS and PAGANS!
Of course “the voice of the Lord is powerful”, “the voice of the Lord is full of majesty”, the questions Rabbi Heschel is asking is not because he doesn’t know it is because We the People have forgotten to hear the power and the majesty that “the voice of the Lord” bestows upon us. “The word is very near to you, in your mouth, in your heart that you may do it…I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, CHOOSE LIFE.” (Deut. 30:11,19). It is the JOB of the Clergy to help us clear out the shmutz in our brains, the chatter of K-Fuck radio that is constantly playing in our heads and the confusion of our immature souls and inner life so We the People will hear what is truly in our mouth and in our souls, in our hearts and take the actions that promote our lives and the lives of those around us. It is incumbent on the Clergy to impart Good Orderly Direction to all of us, as we say in Alcoholics Anonymous. Yet, the PAGANS running some of the biggest Churches in the land are doing the opposite, some of the best-meaning Rabbis, Priests, Imams, are too afraid given the power-mad lay people who run some of the religious institutions in our country and across the globe. Even worse are the Rabbis and Jews like Ben G’vir, Smotrich, Netanyahu, who know better and bastardize the Bible for their own power, greed, wealth and narcissistic endeavors. The Rabbis who give Trump, Israel, Putin, Orban cover are the worst PAGANS of all because We the Jewish People were given the job of promoting “the majesty”, “the power” of “the VOICE” to the entire world and instead assholes like those mentioned above are promoting their voices and selling us on following in their idolatrous footsteps instead of listening to “the Voice” that is “in our mouths, in our hearts”.
I know “the Voice” when I hear it precisely because I ignored it for so many years during my ‘run’ of alcoholism, criminality, and loneliness. Because I felt so abandoned and alone, because I “wanted mine”, I wanted to “get even” for what I perceived society had done to me and my family with the death of my father, I blotted out “the Voice” and, at the same time, I kept being a part of the Shul I was raised at, I was the President of the Youth Group, I went to services, etc, so part of me knew “the Voice” was calling me and I, like Jonah, ran away. Once I had my “spiritual awakening” and began to study, I couldn’t stop hearing “the Voice” and the “power” and the “majesty” of it is too overwhelming for me to ignore and too motivating for me not to follow. This is the crux of my strength and my vulnerability; I can’t not hear “the Voice”, I can’t not share “the Voice”, I can’t stay silent and do the ‘expected’ and ‘expedient’ thing, I can’t listen to the people who believe the golden rule is: “the one with the gold rules”, and I have never been ‘politically correct’ in my life. As soon as I hear “the Voice”, I have to follow it, I have to share it, I have to stand in it, on it and wave it like a banner. I am compelled and, as a descendant of the prophets like we all are, I have little patience for the bullshit of those who want to promote LIES, alternative facts, and their own bullshit-calling it ‘god’s word’. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark