Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 215
“Even the finest intention is not strong enough to fill all the corners of the soul which at all sides is open to intrusions of the ego. Judged by the severe, uncompromising standard of total purity of intention, who could stand? It is, indeed, the voice of moderation that has generally prevailed. Thus we are taught to believe that “alien thoughts” or even improper motives do not vitiate the value of a sacred deed.” (God in Search of Man pg. 403)
Being a witness at the joy of some and the sorrow of some at what is happening in the ICE State called the USA, reading the words above, one can see how the “weaponization” of “purity”, of religion, of the Bible, of Christianity, Judaism, Islam has taken place and, unfortunately, taken hold. The “intrusions of the ego” by the liars and grifters, by the PAGANS and idolators, are bombarding We the People daily, hourly, moment by moment. Waiting for some “purity of intention” to take action will, as Nicolle Wallace said, be like the “frog in the boiling water metaphor-if you put the frog in the water when it is boiling, it will jump out, if you put it in when the water is tepid and slowly raise the temperature to a boil, it will not feel the need to react until it is too late”!! We the People, have to realize the “severe uncompromising standard” that the MAGA crowd puts on us is one they do not even attempt to reach! The only “purity of intention” they have is their intention to and for cruelty, power, money, control. They are not living, practicing, even spouting true Christian Values-just ask Pope Leo. We the People cannot allow ourselves to be brow beaten by the far left nor the far right anymore because it is not just “Rome that is burning”, the founding vision, the very laws and culture that allows a Trump to fuck everyone to get to the top are being thrown away so that no one else can be free, the very culture that let the grandson of a PIMP, the son of a member of the KKK, a racist, misogynistic, scared cowardly bully become President is being crushed and dismantled by MAGA!
So, what are We the People to do? SIMPLE, folks, stop waiting for “purity of intention”, no longer allow ourselves to be questioned and bamboozled by the enemies of the Bible, by the foes of God, by the evil people purporting to be ‘good christian folk’ while, in fact, they are anti-christian, they took Goebbels play book and have put it on steroids, so We the People have to end our incessant need to show our “purity” as an antidote to their lying. We the People have to stop allowing someone other than God run the show, We the People have to end our need to prove something to people who are blind, people who turn a deaf ear to truth, to justice, to mercy, to love, to kindness.
This can only happen when We the People take this month of Elul seriously and look at what we have done well and where we have missed the mark. Seeing only our deeds not our intentions or thoughts. As stated above, “alien thoughts” will never leave us-they are impossible to stop. Allowing them to stop us from doing the next right thing, no matter how we feel or think is antithetical to Jewish living, as I am understanding Rabbi Heschel this morning. We the People are given the gift of this period of time to “get right” with ourselves and with the people around us. We the People are in a period of time where forgiveness, compassion, truth, love, mercy are most prevalent and available to us so we can face the truth of our actions, the repairs we need to make, the enhancements we can make and having new responses where necessary and uplifting responses where we can. Even this inventory, even our repairs and our enhancements, our new responses and uplifting ones will not be free of ““alien thoughts” or improper motives” and these do not vitiate the value of a sacred deed.
We the People have to get off our high horse, we have to come down to the reality of our actions as well as the actions of another, of ‘those people’. We the People have to have compassion and empathy for those sick, cruel, self-seeking, narcissistic assholes who are trying to be the “new Pharaoh arose who did not know” Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, George Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln, et al. We the People are being called upon to take “a leap of action” without worrying about faith, about “purity”, or anything else. We the People are being reminded and cajoled into being soldiers in the war for freedom, leading ourselves and the troops to fight for “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.” Nothing that moves this goal forward, no matter the “intrusion of the ego”, no matter the “alien thoughts”, the “improper motives” can “vitiate the value of a sacred deed”, the “sacred deed” being “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein”, just as it says on the Liberty Bell!
I know that my “alien thoughts”, my “improper motives” will never leave me, they are a part of me as much as any organ in my body is. I have never experienced anything like “purity of intention”, even when I was stealing, drinking, being a ne’er do well, I could not put all of me into it. Until my recovery began, I couldn’t be totally into anything, not fatherhood, not marriage, not family,…in those days I couldn’t tell if the negative thoughts and scams were “alien thoughts” or the good, holy, kind ones were “alien thoughts”! I was judged by my motives when I did something good, people were looking for the angle, and by my actions when I did something wrong. Since 1987, I have judged myself by what my actions are and I know that I have to act my way into right thinking and feeling-not the other way around. This is why Living Jewishly is so important and why I continue to “spread the word” that a mitsvah redeems us, redeems the world and I do it not matter what I think or feel! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark