Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 166
“Religion, therefore, with its demands and visions, is not a luxury but a matter of life and death. True, its message is often diluted and distorted by pedantry, externalization, ceremonialism, and superstition. But this precisely is our task: to recall the urgencies, the perpetual emergencies of human existence, the rare cravings of the spirit, the eternal voice of God, to which the demands of religion are an answer.” (God in Search of Man pg.372)
The words in bold above are the words that should be haunting all of us! We the People have been and still are willfully blind that “this is precisely our task”. We the People have, instead, made our task: selfishness, narcissism, cruelty. In listening to Thom Tillis, the Senator from North Carolina decry the ‘big ugly bill’ and then announce he is not running for re-election because of angering ‘der fuhrer’, ‘the don’, is what happens in modern-day America when one goes against the grain “to recall the urgencies, the perpetual emergencies of human existence” and does not follow lock-step and goose-step with those ‘fine christian-nationalism folks’. For this to be happening under the guise of ‘religion’, with the ‘blessings’ of Jesus Imposters, the ‘kosher stamp’ of Moses Imposters, is revolting, disgusting, and makes those of us who truly believe in the love, goodness, justice, truth, mercy, and kindness the Bible teaches, want to vomit. Trump and his acolytes have truly succeeded in dressing a PAGAN in the clothing of a Saint and fooled many of We the People for a while-we will see how many feel the pain of this ‘big, ugly bill’ when it passes.
The questions that reverberate within people of faith-not the PAGANS who fake their religious faith- is: How do I stop this onslaught of deceptions and lies? What can I do to reawaken “the rare cravings of the spirit”? When am I hearing the “eternal voice of God” and what are the ways I respond to “the demands of religion”? These questions haunt us daily, before Trumpism, during Trumpism, and after Trumpism they will haunt us. Yet, it seems as if we are slow to respond, we are afraid of the backlash from Paula White-Cain, Joel Osteen, John Hagee, et al. We the People have become afraid to express the “rare cravings of the spirit” for fear of reprisals and becoming targets. Yes, there are protests daily about a myriad of issues, yes, Indivisible is a rallying center for these protests, and it is not enough! Until We the People realize and respond to “the urgencies” of our times as we learn in the Bible our ancestors responded to “the urgencies” of their times, we will continue to flounder and flap our jaws while Freedom, Justice, Mercy, Love, Truth, Kindness (the foundations of every spiritual tradition, according to the Dalai Lama) will not survive and the autocrats will win! This is the challenge, the call, the demand of “religion”, this is “a matter of life and death”. We are told in Deuteronomy: “CHOOSE LIFE” and our times ask the question: Will we choose to be a blessing and choose life or will we continue to go along with the cursers and choose death?
We the People have to take off our blinders, remove the cataracts in our vision, “circumcise the foreskin of our hearts” in order to live into the faith, the call, the demands, the actions of the Bible. We the People need to stop arguing about who is right, who is the ‘most religious’, who is the ‘real Jew’, the ‘authentic disciple of Christ’, and join together to “recall the urgencies” and respond to “the perpetual emergencies of human existence”. It is not enough to go to Temple, to Church and pray for God to intervene, this is a cop-out! Rather, like the Israelites at the Red Sea, we have to take the next right action and step into the waters. We the People have to “Lech L’Cha”, like Abraham we have to Go to Yourself/Go for Yourself to the place where we belong and cease and desist from our endless search to “fit in”. The prophets did not “fit in” because they knew they did not want to “fit in” with any group that excluded anyone else. The idea of an exclusive ‘club’ was anathema to the prophets, to Abraham because they knew they belonged to God, hence they belonged in every place they were in. They knew this truth because of the promise God made to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt-you will have a place to call your own.
One reason belonging is so crucial to living our faith is when we belong we are unafraid to live our lives out loud, we are not worried about whose ass we have to kiss so we can get some crumbs of the pie, we no longer settle for the table scraps like dogs. Belonging gives us the knowing in our souls that we can respond to “the urgencies, the perpetual emergencies of human existence” without fear or favor. We the People, when we belong know these “urgencies” and “emergencies” will always be with us, as the Bible teaches, and what is important is whether we react selfishly or respond with love and solutions. Belonging gives us the courage to immerse ourselves in the “cravings of the spirit” that surrounds us and is within us so they are no longer “rare”. When “cravings of the spirit” become more acknowledged and known, our way of being transforms from selfishness, cruelty, narcissism, to Joy, Love, Truth, Just, Merciful, Kind; we welcome the stranger and love one another. Hence the reason the Charlatans, the PAGANS don’t want us to know what “religion” really teaches.
I have been preaching belonging, responsibility, change, doing the best I could/can to respond to the “urgencies” and “emergencies” of self and another(s). I also am able to know and respond to the “cravings of the spirit” within me and another(s) much better. I believe in the triumph of the Spirit and that evil will be defeated each time it raises its head. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark