Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 188
“The seductiveness of vice is excelled by the joys of the mitsvah. “Ye shall be men of holiness unto Me” (Exodus 22:30). How do we receive that quality, that power? “With every new mitsvah which God issues to Israel, He adds holiness to them.(Mehilta)”(God in Search of Man pg. 376)
The first sentence above is true and it is not believed by many people! The Biblical person knew this to be true and, as we witness in the stories of the Bible and throughout history, found it difficult to always know and live this truth. This truth has eluded humankind throughout the millennia as it does for many of us in this time. Society has, instead, practiced the opposite, believing “the seductiveness of vice” is so overpowering, so rewarding and the mitsvah is a burden, a yoke, an obligation that only ties us down and enslaves us. Because dogma has become so important in every faith, in every nation, it seems as if “vice” is the only way to break free. It has been called “teen-age rebellion”, getting ahead, Caveat Emptor, etc as ways to cloak giving into “the seductiveness of vice” into something ‘normal’ and, in many cases, ‘good’. This is how far we have sunk into the quicksand of mendacity, into the grips of deception, into being enslaved by our ‘rational minds’ and forgetting “to not scout out after the desires of our hearts and our eyes because we whore after them”(Numbers 15:39.
Instead of heeding this call, instead of immersing ourselves in the last paragraph of the Shema, many Jews ignore it and this is a tragedy that has been with us for the millennia as well. The Temples were destroyed because we did not heed this command, this truth and, instead, believed “the seductiveness of vice” was actually the next right thing to do! We see it happening today as well, both in Israel and in the U.S. with Jews in power spouting words and doing deeds that are reminiscent of the Pharaoh, of other despots and calling it holy!! This is the tragedy of our time, this is the denial of the truth of Rabbi Heschel’s first sentence above, it is a denial of all that is Holy in the Bible and a denial of the word of God to all of us from Sinai. Yet, these PAGANS keep saying how ‘this is fulfilling the word of god’! Have you ever noticed how people of God never need to ‘prove’ the truth of their words or deeds, they only quote the Bible and speak about how to care for the poor, how to live free, how to be a mensch?
Of course, this type of behavior is not limited to Jews, the ‘good old boy christian nationalist’ like Mike Johnson continually engages in “the seductiveness of vice” and calls it holy. The ‘fine prosperity gospel preachers’ like Paula White-Cain preach hate, preach how fine grifters are, how holy it is to take advantage of the poor, etc and say ‘I heard it from the lord jesus’! We are not witnessing a revolution of faith, we are witnessing a revolution of idolatry, of paganism, of the worship of power and money. This is antithetical to what the Bible teaches, preaches and to what Jesus said and did. Any society that doesn’t welcome and love the stranger, forgetting they were strangers in the land of America, as Jews “were strangers in the land of Egypt”, doesn’t care for the poor, the needy, the widow and orphan, cannot claim any kinship to God-full stop! Yet, we keep hearing how ‘holy’ these liars are, how ‘godly’ it is to kill people in the West Bank and Gaza, how ‘those people’ are poisoning the blood of our people, how we have to throw out the constitution that our elected officials swore to “serve and defend from enemies foreign and domestic”. It is ironic that, like in all dictatorships, the people who swear to “defend and protect” are the very ones to shit all over the very ideals and ways that made it possible for them to be free to screw the rest of us over!
We the People are being called by the words above and the times we are in to “return to God” who “will heal our backsliding” and “take us back in love”! We the People need to return to the ways of our ancestors who fought to make Israel a nation in ancient times, who fought to bring into being the Magna Carta, who fought in the Revolutionary War, who fought against slavery in the Civil War, who fought for the freedom of people in World War II, who fought for the Civil Rights of all people in the 50’s, 60’s up till today. We the People are necessary to be part of the fight against “the seductiveness of vice”. We the People have to fight “vice” with the only thing more powerful, “the mitsvah”. At every juncture, We the People have to ask the question: “what is the next right action to take here?” It will differ in each experience and we have to continue to fight for what is right and good, we have to engage in going against what our neighbors are saying, we have to discern truth from lies, fact from fiction and live into the dictate: “You shall be Holy” with each and every action we take, knowing we will stumble, knowing we will fall short of perfection, setting our sights on being 51% decent in every interaction so “the mitsvah” overtakes “the seductiveness of vice”.
I am well aware of “the seductiveness of vice” and I know that it begins with the lies I tell myself. I know the power of these lies, I know the power of the deception by another(s) that leads to whoring after my heart and my eyes. I know the power of being led by a pied piper of “vice” who makes so much ‘sense’ that I became overwhelmed with the lies I told myself and the lies I was being told and “vice” became “holy”. This is “the seductiveness of vice” that overtook my life for 20 years and being at my family reunion has brought up how much time, joy, and love I missed out on and took from my family! We are all good now and this is due to the “joys of the mitsvah” that I have engaged in with them and they have lived for so long. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark