Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 197
“In stressing the fundamental importance of the mitsvah, Judaism assumes that man is endowed with the ability to fulfill what God demands, at least to some degree. This may, indeed, be an article of prophetic faith: the belief in our ability to do His will. “For this commandment (mitzvah) which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off… But the word is nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thous mayest do it” (Deut. 30:11-14).” (God in Search of Man pg. 378)
These words above are at the core of Jewish survival throughout the millennia, no matter what we have been subjected to as a people, no matter the hatred, the slavery, the being regulated to certain work, to certain ghettos, to certain annihilation, we have prevailed because Jews, religious or not, have accepted this “article of prophetic faith” and, to the best of our ability, when the chips were down, returned to our core vale of seeking “to fulfill what God demands”. Without this “article of prophetic faith” why else would we not have succumbed to the call to join Christianity? Why else would we have not ‘gone along to get along’? Why else would we have, to this day, believed in our ability to fulfill our unique task of “being a light unto the nations” (Isaiah 49:6)? Without this fundamental “belief in our ability to do His will” and hearing the call from Sinai, Judaism would have ceased to be. And we are still here! At least for this moment. Reading this, hearing Bibi and Donny cry like little babies over their lack of popularity among the populace they are leading because of their lack of wanting “to fulfill the what God demands” and instead want to make God to fit their image, ie Idolatry, should make us all take a beat and ask ourselves this question: “is what is happening really “what God demands”? Is taking over Gaza, is quashing democracy, really showing “our ability to do His will”? OF COURSE NOT!! So how did We the People get here?
We the People arrived at this moment because we have not taken seriously what it means to be “endowed with the ability to fulfill what God demands”. We the People have sought out shrinks, pills, protests, higher education in order to avoid the questions that are within our inner life. We the People have engaged in the promulgation of ‘rational thinking’ to the utter death of spiritual knowing, We the People have not headed Einstein’s teachings about the intuitive mind and only applaud those who use their intuitive mind to create big things, big business, make a lot of money, etc. We the People have not nor are we today seeking “to do His will”, no matter how much we wrap ourselves in the false narratives of the Bible we are spewing, no matter how much lipstick we put on the PIG of our Idolatry! That Israel, a nation of people who have been subjected to the worst of societal hatred, would say that Arabs are not human, would believe they have the right to destroy an entire area and take over people’s homes, deny a homeland to another people is INSANE and Disgusting.
The Rabbis and those ‘good jews’ who study all day and are on the dole while the People of Israel go to war for them, pay taxes for their benefit, can send these same people to be killed in Gaza, to be maimed in the West Bank, to suffer moral injuries beyond repair in some cases, is a CRIME! These criminals have to be put on trial and sentenced to prison so they can no longer infect the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Why, you may ask? The reason is these “people who should know better” have not circumcised their hearts so “the word” is no longer “nigh unto thee”. The reason is they have used their “mouth” to spew lies and have, like the priests in the Temple in Ancient Israel and Judea, turned to idolatry, doing rituals and hurting people, God doesn’t want their “checklist of mitzvahs”, God wants their hearts and their minds, God wants us to fulfill God’s demands, not the ones people make up and proclaim our ‘in the name of god’.
We the People are the last hope of Jewish thought, living in “the Jewish way”. “It is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off”, rather it is within us at all times. This is the greatest inner war we wage, knowing what is right, knowing what “God demands”, having a desire to fulfill it and being talked out of it by societal pressure, by the lies and hatred of Trump, et al in the USA and Bibi, Smotrich, et al in Israel. We the People have to “girdle up our loins” and, like David, go out an battle Goliath, the giant in front of us that is demanding we surrender/give up to the negativity in the world, hence denying the power of God, the existence of Adonai. We the People are being called to do what we are created to do, make Justice, Mercy, Love, Kindness, Holiness, TRUTH, the foundation of our living. We the People are being asked to repay the debt of being freed from Egypt by ensuring that no one else has to suffer at the hands of modern day Pharaohs like Trump and Bibi. We the People are the last bastion of hope that human beings will always know they have “certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness” and We the People are being called to ensure these rights never “perish from this earth”!
It took being arrested AGAIN, in December 1986 for me to “circumcise my heart” and learn that “the word is nigh unto thee”. Since I began this journey with Rabbi Mel Silverman in early 1987, since I began to immerse myself in the Bible and prayer book my brother sent me while in prison, I have made it a point to hear what is being said to me each day a little better, a little clearer, a little stronger. Each day I do the best I can to “fulfill what God demands” and my life is so much better for it. Love, Justice, Truth, Kindness, Mercy, Holiness are the bedrock of my living and I have more joy than I could ever have imagined. This is why I continue to rail against injustice and idolatry and will never stop! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark