Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 154
“Righteousness as a mere tributary, feeding the immense stream of human interests, is easily exhausted and more easily abused. But righteousness is not a trickle, it is God’s power in the world, a torrent, an impetuous drive, full of grandeur and majesty. The surge is choked, the sweep is blocked, yet the mighty stream will break all dikes.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 99-100)
Sitting here at my computer in the early morning hours each day, reading, immersing myself in and allowing a wave of Rabbi Heschel’s spirit to wash over me is both exhilarating and exhausting. It is uplifting and disturbing, it is an experience that is both ridiculous and sublime. The words above, as do most of what Rabbi Heschel writes, to me, is the quintessential example of living in the tension of the polarities of life, the both/and rather than the either/or.
When We the People become more intent on “feeding the immense stream of human interests”, we are in danger of losing our humanity, our freedom, our ability to “Choose LIFE”, as Moses exhorts us to in Deuteronomy. Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdoaf, is not a suggestion, it is a call to action, a describer of how we are to live our lives in the “pursuit of righteousness”, not in the pursuit of satisfying our every ‘need’ or desire. Yet, as we are witnessing and have learned from our history books, human beings seem to believe that every itch needs to be scratched, every desire needs to be fulfilled, every opportunity to ‘get mine’ needs to be taken-even when to do so is detrimental to themselves and/or another human being! 100 years ago, we watched and did nothing as the lies of the National Socialist Party in Germany were being spread and we know the outcome of that inaction. Today, as the MAGA and TRUMPISM lies are spread by the PAGANS in Churches and Temples, in Congress and on Fox NOT-news, in social media, etc it seems to overwhelming and exhausting to combat them all. When Mike Lee, a Senator from Utah makes fun of Democrats being killed, when Stephen Miller spews his hatred and is lauded by the ‘right-wing’, when Trump’s tariffs are hurting everyone and his ‘big, beautiful bill’ is going to harm even more people, we witness the truth of the words above: “righteousness…is easily exhausted and more easily abused.” This is the challenge and the dilemma we are facing, once again. We faced it with WWII and the German Bund, Father Coughin, Charles Lindbergh, we faced it with the House committed on UnAmerican Activities and Joe McCarthy, we faced it in the 50’s and 60’s in the Civil Rights Movement, in the 60’s and 70’s with the Vietnam war protest movement and “righteousness” prevailed precisely because both the faithful and the unfaithful knew it has a power greater than the words and actions themselves.
We the People are being called upon to stand for our principles and beliefs, stand against the onslaught of lies and schemes, tricks and magic of mendacity, of willful blindness, of “accusing others of that which you are guilty of”. We the People are bing asked to let go of our old ideas of trying to persuade people who have ‘drank the kool-aid’, people who are under the ether of believing the demagogue, the autocrat, the wannabe Mafia don, and just stand against them, without hatred, without malice, with compassion that comes from the pursuing of “righteousness”. We the People are being counted on to pry the fingers that are choking “the surge” and unblock “the sweep” so that, as Amos prophesies, the “mighty stream” of “righteousness” will flow freely and powerfully over those sad unfortunates. History has shown this to be true, it was true in Germany, in Japan, in Italy, and it can be true here, in the Middle East, and across the globe. It will take, however, a concerted and consistent effort by We the People!
Abraham, Isaac, Moses, the Prophets, the Judges, the Psalms, Proverbs, the Books of Ruth, Song of Songs, and throughout the Bible all are examples of “righteousness” coming to save the day. Mount Sinai was an experience of pursuit of “righteousness” when We the People said “Na’Aseh V’Nishmah”, we will do and we will understand.” Our judicial system in the Bible, it is the foundation for English Canon Law and the U.S. Judicial system, in my opinion, with the main difference being that “righteousness” is not necessarily ingrained in our system. In Deuteronomy, 16:18, we are told to ‘judge with “Mishpat Tzedek”, “justice and righteousness”, we are told in the next verse to not be partial to one side because of money, prestige, knowing them, being of the same tribe, etc because doing so would “upset the plea of the just”. Sound Familiar, folks?? This is exactly what is happening today, John Roberts and his Court of Clowns have trashed the esteem and the “righteousness” of the Supreme Court by their myriad of decisions that have “upset the plea of the just” because they are deciding based on their ‘conservative’ (aka prosperity gospel ‘good christian folk’ bullshit), and not on the law, not with “righteous justice”, they are not pursuing righteousness nor justice, they are pursuing their money, their popularity amongst a certain set and they are paying back the favors that got them to the Court in the first place. Hence, the need for We the People to demand, to protest, to keep the pressure on Congress, the Courts, so we can defeat the Fascists in the White House, the Ass-Kissing Weak Sucks in Congress, and the bullies like Joe Rogan, Steve Bannon, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, et al. This is not for ourselves we are doing this, it is for our neighbors, for our descendants, for the stranger and the needy, the poor and the orphan here now and will be here later. Just as people left Egypt for their children to have a better life, just as people came to America for the same reason and still are coming to America for this reason, We the People have to ensure that “righteousness, righteousness” is pursued and elevated a little more each day.
I have been pursuing “righteousness” because it is a “torrent, an impetuous drive”. It overwhelms me and I become so focused on it, on doing the next right thing, on giving people the opportunity for a ‘do-over’ as people have given me. I know the “grandeur and majesty” of living in “righteousness”, of pursuing it, of using it to connect to “God’s power in the world” and to connect to the force of the cosmos that keeps me alive. I continue to pry the hands that want to “choke” my voice off my throat, I continue to clean the “sweep” so I don’t confuse my will for what is good and right. It ain’t easy and it is exhilarating and exciting, uplifting and energizing. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark