Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 142
“The greatest heresy is despair, despair of men’s power for goodness, men’s power for love. It is not enough to exhort the Government. What we must do is set an example, not merely to acknowledge the Negro but to welcome him, not grudgingly but joyously, to take delight in enabling him to enjoy what is due him. We are all Pharaohs or slaves of Pharaoh. It is sad to be a slave of Pharaoh. It is horrible to be a Pharaoh. (Insecurity of Freedom pg.98)
I shake my head every morning reading these words of Rabbi Heschel, spoken and written some 60+ years ago as well as those written 50+ years ago. According to the Rabbis, prophecy ended with Malachi mid 500’s BCE and I disagree with them - imagine that. I believe we have had many prophets since then and the Rabbis were afraid of the prophets, they were afraid of losing control as the Tanor Shel Achni story in the Talmud portrays and they were afraid to have their own foibles brought out into the open, possibly. Yet, the words above are the words of the prophets, they are the words of the Torah, of the Bible. They are the words that define one of Judaism’s revolutionary characteristics; loving the stranger, loving the person whom you want to be afraid of, loving the person whom you want to enslave so you can be ‘master’. We are witnessing the opposite of the first sentence in bold above; we are seeing our Government trash this foundational principle of the Bible and of the Constitution/Declaration of Independence of our country. Rather than “welcome” the stranger, the Black, Brown, Jewish person, we are unwelcoming them all in subtle and not subtle ways. When it comes to the stranger, we see the masked ‘deportation gestapo’ of Homeland Security who are approaching their task as if they are in a war zone-which is exactly what the FASCIST PAGANS want to promote as their idea of practicing ‘good christian values’!!
Ben Zoma, in Pirke Avot(Chapters of the Fathers) says: “Who is rich, one who rejoices in his portion, aka-wants what one has, Who is honored, one who honors others, Who is wise, one who learns from everyone, who is strong, one who controls his inclinations.” In dealing with our prejudices and biases, these words are, I believe, paramount to being able to follow the Will of God, not the will of PAGANS, not the will of our narcissistic inclinations, not the will of our rational minds. When one is able to want what one has, we are able to rejoice in the portions that others have as well. This doesn’t mean we don’t keep striving, au contraire, it means we are no longer defined by what we have, how much we have, rather we define ourselves by our spiritual condition, by our humanness, by “loving the stranger”, by helping someone become self-sufficient as Maimonidies teaches in his levels of Tzedakah.
An interesting facet of the racism of the South is how many people were raised by their Black nanny’s, hired help. It was fascinating to watch the interaction between whites and blacks on a personal basis and the interaction on an institutional basis. One cannot treat another with prejudice and malice when one lives “who is honored, one who honors everyone”. Honoring everyone, at its basic level is to recognize the infinite worth and dignity of another human being who is, by definition, created in the same Image of God which you are! Honoring everyone is to acknowledge the need we, as individuals and as a community, have for the uniqueness of another human being’s talents and gifts. Honoring everyone also includes appreciating, welcoming and enjoying the wonders produced by another human being. Honoring everyone is making sure they have a seat at the table, they are not denigrated for their ideas and thoughts, and, as the Talmud shows us, incorporating the vision, wisdom, ideas and thoughts of everyone gives us a more robust and wider perspective of what is!
When We the People choose to “learn from everyone” we acknowledge our need to learn, we acknowledge our own foibles and insufficiencies, we acknowledge our need to “welcome” “joyously” the fruits of the Black, Brown, Jewish, Muslim human beings and help them “enjoy their due” from the products of their labors. We saw the reverse of this in the 50’s and 60’s when white musicians used to “cover” the music of Black artists and get paid more. Learning from everyone is not a put down of ourselves, rather it is another way of living the Bible’s lessons and teachings. Learning from everyone is a way of “loving our Neighbor” and “loving the stranger”. Learning from everyone is a pathway to leaving our prejudices at the trash heap of bad ideas, which grows larger and larger as we age:). Learning from everyone allows us to learn to respect and engage with people we thought we would never have anything to do with and inspires gratitude and respect for another human being.
Finally, when We the People are strong, it is not in the ways the current President describes strength. Anyone can be a bully, anyone can flex their muscles and try and scare people, confuse them with insane ideas and actions that are here today and gone tomorrow, it takes a person of true strength to “control one’s inclinations”. “Control one’s inclinations” allows us to see the value and kindness of another human being, it allows us to welcome the aid and assistance another can offer, it engenders cooperation and collaboration, it tamps down our oversized egos and helps us live in proper measure. “Control one’s inclinations” is the pathway to being heard and clearer when one is communicating difficult information, revolutionary news, and when one is standing up for God’s Will in the face of the PAGANS and charlatans who are desecrating God’s Name. Being “strong” is not a physical trait, although we have made it so, rather it is the trait of living into the Torah we accepted on Sunday evening and yesterday, it is realizing the contradictions and hearing the prophets’ words so we can continue to discern when the authors/scribes of the Bible let their ego’s go unchecked, when they were unable to be “strong, wise, honoring, or rich”. We the People have, each and every day, the opportunity to do a Tikkun, a reconciliation, a repair, of the the scribes/authors of the Bible’s missing the marks in their xenophobic manner. In turn, this will allow the fanatics to no longer have a “leg to stand on”!
I have worked hard to rejoice in another person’s joy, I have not always done so good with controlling my inclinations nor emotions. I still hate mendacity and am working on doing a better job of communicating this. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.