Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 206
“There is great merit in knowing our subtle hypocrisies, in our having no absolute faith in our faith, in our sense of shame and contrition. The sting of shame is the only pain the ego cannot bear and the only blow that may causes its forces to shrink and to retort, and contrition is the saving heart of our soul. Remorse stands higher than sacrifice.” (God in Search of Man pg.400)
The first sentence above is crucial if we are to find our authentic self and not continue on in the societal norm of hiding from one’s “acorn” as James Hillman writes. When we are engaged in the societal norms and cliches, in the “winning” that society “rewards”, we are living false scripts and not engaged in becoming “aware of our inner enslavements” nor are we willing to look at, much less, acknowledge “our subtle hypocrisies”. Listening to Trump and his cronies, Bibi and his gang of thugs, Putin and his sycophants, it would seem as if We the People have given up on “the great merit in knowing our subtle hypocrisies” and joined in the self-deception and mendacity that seems so prevalent in this moment. This way of being is anathema to all three Western Faiths as well as to the Eastern Spiritual disciplines as well. Yet, those ‘good christian, jewish, muslim folk’ who spout hatred and blame upon everyone else, never being responsible for their actions, seem to not have learned this truth and this practice in their churches, mosques, temples, synagogues!
They seem to be practitioners of the most “subtle of hypocrisies”; the inability to practice what one preaches, the bastardization of the basic spiritual principles, a denial of what Godliness/Holiness entails, and a deliberate decision to march to the beat of their Yetzer HaRa, their evil inclination. While Rabbi Heschel uses the word ego, he is speaking in the vernacular of his times and in a way most people can understand. The word “ego” is, I believe, meant to convey the parts of us that are more interested in self promotion than in promoting Godliness/Holiness; the parts of us that run to deceive another, that roll around in mendacity like pigs in shit, etc. When this is the determining factor of our living, one is blind to the “subtle hypocrisies” and defames anyone who points them out. Like the prophets, We the People who are standing up to the tyranny of Trump, the deceptions of Bibi, the lies of Putin, we are lambasted by their sycophantic followers, their cult guardians and it is not an easy way to live. Trump sues anyone and everyone who doesn’t ‘kiss the ring’, ‘bend the knee’ and suck his … These lawsuits, if the Courts are true to justice, are frivolous and still expensive to defend. Plus, Trump has convinced some Law Firms, including the one Doug Emhoff works at, to deny representation to ‘those people’ who seek to defy the autocrat, ‘der Fuhrer’, the Capo d’ Capo. That these cult followers, leaders, guardians include Jews, Muslims, Christians, Catholics, is an abomination!
While it is true to speak out and point out the lies and deceptions of the people in power, it is, after all, a very Jewish way of living when one reads the Prophets in the Bible, it is more important that We the People seek to know “our subtle hypocrisies” as well. Without seeing the ones we practice each and every day, without seeing how we can have solidarity with the Palestinian plight and not Condemn October 7, and Hamas’ terrorism is a “subtle hypocrisy”. When we are more interested in the rights of one group, ie, identity politics, than we are with another, “one law for the citizen and stranger alike” no longer applies. When we can call one group of people “not human” we deny the commandment: “love your neighbor like you love yourself”. When we seek to “rid the country of the vermin who are infecting the blood of our people” as Trump copied from Hitler, we are denying: “love the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt”. When we seek to enrich the rich at the expense of the poor, when we seek to criminalize the plight of people who are homeless, we are denying: “the infinite dignity and worth of every human being because we all come from Adam”(Rabbi Yitz Greenberg). For those of We the People who are followers of ‘der Fuhrer’, I would ask you to look at your “subtle hypocrisies and those of your fellow people as well as the ones that Trump, Vought, Miller, Lutnick, Vance, et all have as well. For those of us who are in the “opposition”, I would ask us to look at “our subtle hypocrisies” as well and stop having the ‘holier than thou’ attitude of those “progressives” like AOC, Bernie, etc.
When the left and the right are in agreement as to their purity, when neither one can admit their flaws, their failures and seek to learn and grow, then we are witnessing “absolute faith in our faith” which is another fatal flaw! When neither the left nor the right can see the “shame”-which is defined as: “a feeling of distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior”-in their actions, they will never engage in “knowing the subtle hypocrisies” they engage in. When We the People deny our need for contrition-“the state of being remorseful” for the wrongs and foolish behaviors we have engaged in-we deny the truth of our actions, we are so deep in self-deception, we are so addicted to our mendacity, we are risking our future, the future of our children and the freedom so many of our ancestors died for. Isn’t it time for us to do our inventories, isn’t it time for us to let go of our armor and realize we are not so fragile that we are unable to admit our errors and repair them?
I have been in this process for the past 38 years, I was saved by being locked up and I spread the GOSPEL of “subtle hypocrisies” not being the answer and “contrition” being good for the soul, returning us to our natural state of grace and covenantal love between one another and God. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark