Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 212
“Should we, then, despair because of our being unable to retain perfect purity? We should, if perfection were our goal. However, we are not obliged to be perfect once and for all, but only to rise again and asian beyond the level of the self. (God in Search of Man pg. 402)
Since today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, it seems fitting and proper to think about, write about and engage in the work of cleaning our souls of the schmutz we have laden them with and the lies, self-deceptions we have allowed to enter, grow and flourish in our minds. This is the month the Rabbis dedicated to getting ready for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the month to prepare ourselves for the gift and grace of forgiveness, and begin the new year ‘clean’ for at least 30 seconds:)
“Despair” is not a feeling/emotion/state of being that is congruent with living Jewishly. Certainly feeling dejected, upset, at “being unable to retain perfect purity” is “normal”, “despair, however is not a part of the covenant we made at Sinai, it is not an address for anyone who recognizes and lives into their spiritual self, their mature self to live at. “Despair” is defined as “the complete loss of hope” and comes from the Latin meaning “down from hope”. As a descendant of Adam, as a descendant of Abraham, as a descendant of Judah, of the prophets, of King David, there is way for any of us to rationally nor spiritually live in “a complete loss of hope”. Hence the phrase: “hope springs eternal” because as long as there is breath in We the People, we have the opportunity to do T’Shuvah, to repair, to amend, and to have a new plan moving forward.
We cannot do this as long as we buy society’s lie about “perfection”! There is no such thing, because as human beings, we continue to grow and learn as we see in the Bible. Because we are human, not divine, we, sometimes, have to learn and re-learn the same lessons over and over again. Isn’t it time for We the People to stop buying into this lie? Isn’t it time for We the People to cease our relentless and futile ‘race to the top’, our insane obsession with “perfection”? Yet, we seem incapable of living in “radical amazement”, we seem to prefer “adjustment to societal notions and ideas” rather than see the world through “a new pair of glasses” each day. No two moments are the same, no experience in the Bible is repeated exactly the same, isn’t it time for We the People to live into the newness and the beauty, the challenge and demand of this moment rather than continue to try and re-capture some euphoric recall of ‘the way it used to be’? Isn’t it time for We the People to end our obsession with “Make America Great Again” and admit that while America has done great things, We the People still have a ways to go in our maturity, our growth as individuals and as a nation?
What is being shown to us, in this moment both in Israel and in America, is when “perfection” is “our goal”, leaders, autocrats, fascists will continue to seek to deceive us, to make We the People believe that “only I can save you”, “I am your retribution”, “those foreigners are poisoning the blood of our people” and other such lies and mendacities. When leaders continue to bellow out their “perfect” actions, their “beautiful bills”, their “I can solve this conflict”, etc. What We the People have to recognize and realize is the true nature and consequences of the myth of “perfection”.
As We the People begin this month of Elul, let us begin with letting go of the myth of “perfection”. Let’s look in the Bible and acknowledge-no matter what the Rabbis and commentators mendacious comments are- that NO ONE IS PERFECT, none of the ‘heroes’, none of the people in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, etc approach “perfection”. Since the Bible is a guidebook, a road map for how to live well, maybe We the People should follow the examples of King David who, upon being told of his errors and/or recognizing them himself, did T’Shuvah, made amends, changed his way, his thinking, maybe We the People should see ourselves as descendants of Judah who could not only admit his guilt and error, he could proclaim that a woman is “more righteous than me”! Yet, We the People buy into the lie of the Greeks and the Romans, the Rabbis and the Priests, that somehow, we are ‘supposed to be pure and perfect’. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we are, this is a man-made myth so “the leader” could control the people, so that Pharaoh could sit on his throne without worry because he is “the son of Ra”, that Christian Nationalism is the proper way to govern because “Christ ordained it” even though the proponents of this way of being do nothing that Christ did and they are only using the Name of the Lord in Vain. We the People must stand up against this bullshit, this idolatry, these PAGANS right here, right now!
Only through doing the “work” of Elul, doing the inventory of my life, can I get clean enough to truly experience the joy and relief of Yom Kippur. I have to go back and see the things I have forgotten, the people I did not realize I harmed and make my amends, see the changes I need to make and those I have already made. I am engaged in this work this year as much as any other year because my imperfections are relentless and never ending. I make the amends I need to whether there is any acknowledgment by the other person of their part-this is not my business and I have no expectation that anyone else will reciprocate with their own TShuvah. When they do, it is pure joy and re-connection. I continue to let go of the myth of “perfection” and it is hard when I am playing bridge, golf, etc. This year, I commit to be less harsh with myself and with you re: our imperfections and more loving of them, of you and of myself. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark