Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 153
“No rock is so hard that water cannot pierce it. “But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; the waters wear away the stones”(Job 14:18f). Justice is not a mere norm, but a fighting challenge, a restless drive.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 99)
While the words above are absolutely true, as we have witnessed it takes a long time in some cases for the “water” to “pierce” the “rock”! Yet, as we see in Alaska, once the glacier begins to recede and humans keep pouring more and more water, carbon, screwing the climate up, the glacier recedes quicker and quicker. Were it only so true with human beings. As I immerse myself in these words and the times we are in, I reflect on what it took for the Pharaoh to be worn down, 400+years of enslaving a people, 10 plagues that ruined his country and the people he was ruling over, and even then he could not let go, he had to chase the slaves he freed to the Sea and watch as his chariots, drivers, horses were drowned, destroyed. This is the problem with humans who become like “a rock”, who believe they are “the mountain” that is so strong and ‘right’ that they are above everyone else, above God, above Christ, etc. Justice is what they determine it to be based on their whims, desires and hatreds.
We have seen this movie play out over the millennia, from Pharaoh to Putin, from the Assyrians to the Ayatollah, from Nero to Trump/Bibi and We the People do not seem to learn from the reflection and knowing of history. Maybe we should not put autocrats, wanna be dictators, unjust people as our leaders, maybe we should not be having this type of person running our government, making new laws, being justices because they allow themselves to be blinded by bribes, ‘party loyalty’, etc. Maybe, We the People should follow the ways of King David and look at our own foibles so we can make our amends, change our ways and, maybe then we will stop admiring the ‘strongman’, stop needing ‘daddy to take care of us’, no longer engage in ‘retribution’, senseless hatred, and allow the waters of spiritual health to wash away the stones in our hearts and the ones covering our souls. Maybe, just maybe, We the People will hasten the crumbling of the mountain of injustice that we have built because of our fears, our prejudices, our bias, our victimhood, our need ‘to get even’, etc. The world is a dangerous place now, it always has been and safety only comes when one is willing to surrender to their spiritual knowing; whether one follows the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, Eastern Spiritual disciplines, they all lead to the same place-justice, love, righteousness, compassion, truth as I heard the Dalai Lama say to a bunch of clergy people gathered to hear him.
“Justice is not a mere norm, but a fighting challenge, a restless drive” is the key to fighting the bullies, the path to ending our own need/desire/willful blindness for an autocrat. Just as Iran doesn’t need the Ayatollah, democracy doesn’t need Trump! Just as Russia doesn’t need Putin, America doesn’t need Stephen Miller. Just as Hungary doesn’t need Orban, Israel doesn’t need Netanyahu. What each of these entities need is: JUSTICE. When one allows an autocratic asshole to be ‘in charge’, they bring with them sycophants and evil people who truly believe they alone know what is good, right and just-not even Jesus’ words and deeds are examples for these ‘good christian folk’ nor are the teachings of the Bible-where King David has to repent for his sins, where he listens to the words of women and follows their advice-have any impact on those ‘good jewish folk’. All they care about is power and how to leverage power for their own gain, not for justice, not caring for the poor, the needy, the stranger as Jesus did, as Moses taught-just caring about themselves and how much can I get FOR ME!
While this is a global issue, especially with what is happening in the Middle East, all of a sudden Trump is trying to get the glory of Israel’s actions, it begins with each of us, as individuals, as families, as communities, and then our circles keep expanding, it just doesn’t begin with finger pointing. We the People, I believe, are being called to account, called to look at our own practice of injustice, our own indifference to the injustices around us, our unwillingness to meet the “fighting challenge” of Justice, complacent about what is passing for “Justice” right now in our Courts, Supreme Court, Congress, homes and places of work and worship.
Rabbi Heschel speaks about “indifference to wonder” being the “root of sin” and “indifference to evil” being worse than the evil itself. We saw this in the 1930’s with the worlds attitude towards the Nazis and their “Nuremberg Laws”, their propaganda, their military buildup, etc. The indifference to the evil of Nazism, the indifference to suffering, the indifference to the plight of the people on the ship the St. Louis, the indifference of the Immigration Department, the indifference to anti-semitism in our government agencies, the indifference to ….made World War II a necessity, because we could not, would not allow the “water” to “pierce” the “rock” that is our soul, nor would we allow “the rock” to be “removed from its place” covering over justice, righteousness, mercy, truth, love. This is the task before We the People. “Tear down that Wall Mr, Gorbachev” is a call that needs to be changed to ‘Tear down the mountain covering your soul, Mr. Human Being’, ‘Remove the Rock covering Justice, Truth, Love, Mercy and Righteousness, Mr. Jew, Christian, Muslim, etc’. We can only do this when we admit to the ways in which we have been indifferent. Only when we see where we have missed the mark can we get ourselves back on track to BE HUMAN, to “fight” for “justice”, to live into the “restless drive” that a life of being just, seeking justice causes us to live in.
I know the “rock” and the “mountain” that covers our hearts, our souls, our goodness and our sense of justice. They wear away, I am living proof of this truth, and the light of truth, spirit, “justice”, love and righteousness along with compassion flow out of us. While I am not “nice”, I know that I am kind because I believe in and practice “justice, justice, you shall pursue” in my daily affairs. I am loud and bombastic about injustice, a trait that I learned from my father, z”l, and one that I pray I will never lose again. Because the “rock” and “mountain” caused not only my indifference to evil, they allowed me to practice evil! Hence, whenever I get close to those ways, whenever I am in the presence of indifference, the deception by another, I react loud and strong because I refuse to be seduced by the likes of Netanyahu, Trump, et al. I refuse to go along with ‘those real jews’ or ‘those good christian folk’ who deny the teachings of Jesus, of the Bible. They are kryptonite to me! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark