Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 147
“The concern for the Negro must be an explicit tenet of our creeds. He who offends a Negro, whether as a landowner or employer, whenever as a waiter or salesgirl, is guilty of offending the majesty of God. No minister or layman has a right to question the principle that reverence for God is shown in reverence for man, that the fear must feel lest we hurt or humiliate a human being be as unconditional as fear of God.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.98)
Remembering these words were written in January of 1963, at a time of unrest and concern about the “Negro situation” both for the Pharaohs who wanted to ‘keep blacks down’ and the people who believed in freedom for all, are a demand for us living in 2025! We are witnessing the destruction of Freedom of Assembly, the destruction of Freedom of the Press, the destruction of Due Process, the destruction of the Constitutional safeguards, the destruction of the Rule of Law, and, if the “christian nationalists” have their way, the destruction of Freedom of Religion! The concern for the Immigrant, legal or not, the concern for the people who disagree with the PAGAN, GRIFTER in the White House, is no longer “an explicit tenet of our creeds” according to Paula Cain-White, John Hagee, Joel Osteen and the rest of the PAGANS who have taken up residence in this administration. Joni Ernst’s “Jesus Christ is my personal savior” is not the Jesus found in the Gospels, not the Jesus as Pope Frances and now Pope Leo XIV. These ‘holy rollers’, these ‘good christian folk’, these ‘serious jews’, are “offending the majesty of God” on an hourly basis, their clerical idolators support them and We the People must stand up louder and stronger, if we are to live into the wisdom, the spirit, and the demand of the words above. These demands, these calls to action are not Rabbi Heschel’s, they are the calls and demands of the Bible, of the Torah, of the wisdom acquired throughout our history and reflect the lessons learned. “In a place where there are no humans, be human” is a teaching from Rabbi Hillel, (Avot 2:5) where he also says “a brute is not sin-fearing nor an ignorant person pious”. So, FOX NOT-NEWS, how do you explain your supposed ‘good christian values’ platform? So, Trump, Vance, Vought, how do validate your ‘good christian actions’? So, Lutnick, Wytkoff, how are you validating your ‘love of judaism’? All of it is LIES, they engage Mendacity at it’s highest levels. Yet, We the People moan, cry and DO NOTHING! Or We the People go along with them, are indifferent to their shenanigans and/or stay willfully blind! OY VEY! We have seen this movie over and over again and we refuse to believe our eyes, we refuse to understand the implications of these behaviors and we continue to engage in “offending the majesty of God” by our actions and inactions. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Watching National Guardsman in Los Angeles reminded me of Kent State, Ohio State in 1970 and other college Campus’ when they were called out to ‘quell the riotous students’ who had the temerity to stand up against the Vietnam War! The Protestors who burned a car, who threw bottles at Police are WRONG- Full Stop. Blocking the Freeway, not so much as a peaceful protest, remember the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama? Blocking traffic is not a violent protest, it is as non-violent as one can get and still make a point, Mayor Karen Bass! Seeing how the Police kept backing the people up into a corner and engendered the responses of bottle throwing, etc is another way of “offending the majesty of God”. Not seeing the immigrants as human beings, as deserving of dignity and common courtesy, not seeing people as infinitely worthy and honor their humanness, is another way of “offending the majesty of God”, and we continue to find new and more despicable ways of “offending the majesty of God” in the ways we treat our fellow human beings and the ways Trump, Cuomo, Musk, Vought, Miller, Holman, Bannon denigrate real victims by claiming they are the ones suffering! Rather than live with “reverence for God” by showing “reverence for man” we are witnessing, ONCE AGAIN, the desecration of God’s name, the rejection of God’s presence by these “good christian, good jewish folk” by their disrespect and disregard of human beings that are not ‘like them’, meaning rich white men and/or their wives.
We the People are being called again and again to live the “tenets of our creeds” instead of the tenets of idolatry, of PAGANISM. We the People are needed to stand up and stand with the downtrodden as the Bible reminds us. How important is reverence for God? It is so important that the Bible tells us to return our enemy’s lost ox or donkey(Ex 23:4-5), “if you enemy is hungry, give him food to eat and if thirsty, give him water to drink”(Proverbs 25:21), and “Love your neighbor like you”(Lev. 19:18). Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible are we told to hate our enemies, not even Amalek! Yet, We the People are being bombarded with Hate Messages from the government, from the PAGAN PRIESTS, MINISTERS, IMAMS, and RABBIS who are the lackeys for autocrats and other Freedom Deniers. Rather than “proclaim Freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein”(Lev: 25:10), We the People are witnessing Proclaim slavery throughout the land and to all the inhabitants I don’t like says MAGA! We the People need to march and protest this Shabbat at the NO KINGS PROTEST, we need to constantly call Congress and speak out against the ‘big beautiful bill’ that is “offending the majesty of God” and showing Irreverence for God and human beings. We the People are being called upon to fight like hell to protect the Freedom that our fathers, grandfathers, ancestors “gave their last full measure” to protect and defend. Rather than having a draft-dodger like Trump desecrate the memory of our fallen soldiers and the ones who have died since they served, rather than have Pete Hegseth deny the truth of the service that women, people of color, Jews have contributed, We the People have to stand up and say ENOUGH! We need a NO MORE LIES protest as well as a NO KINGS protest!
I am worked up about the happenings and I have hope after watching Good Night and Good Luck” the play starring George Clooney. Being reminded that We the People have been here before and returned to our basic goodness of being gives me hope, of course, the Republican Senate had some balls against McCarthy which this one seems to not have. Yet, I believe “we shall overcome someday”, I am praying that day is soon. I am enraged that Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, defames people who protest against Israel’s action in the Gaza War as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations! What a sellout, he decided to suck up to the Republicans?!? I cannot support them anymore. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.