Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 239
“It is also deplorable when a spiritual movement deteriorates into bustling and pretense. It is unclean when a holy desire is misused by the selfishness of the clever.” (Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity pg. 70)
On this 4th day of Tishri, this 4th of the 10 days of TShuvah, the 10 days of Awe, I picked these sentences from Rabbi Heschel to follow up on yesterday’s writing. We the People have to be responsible as a community to do the next right action! We the People are being called to account for ourselves, not to some punishing God, rather we are being called to account for ourselves to ourselves and to community. I am suggesting that in this moment, in this time, as we get ready to go to Synagogue, to shul, on the holiest day of the Jewish Year, this year we go prepared to meet ourselves in the Confessionals, we sit in the pews and, instead of being bored, we ask ourselves during the beautiful Kol Nidre Prayer, “which vows, oaths, promises, did I not fulfill this past year, which ones do I need to make amends for, to whom do I still need to repair damages with?” Then, when we hear “I forgive as you have spoken”, we no longer have to be in fear that someone will find out, that we have to keep a secret, and we can unburden ourselves of the deceptions and lies, the hiding and the fears that keep us stuck in “bustling and pretense”.
We the Jews have fallen into the “deplorable” situation described in the first sentence precisely because we are afraid to confront ourselves, individually and collectively. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the current Matzav, situation, in Gaza, in Jerusalem, in Washington DC, in America in general. When so-called religious people can applaud the killing of people because of the color of their skin, because of the religion they practice, because-like the Israelite people who were stuck in Egypt-they “yearn to breathe free”, we are witnessing and experiencing “the selfishness of the clever”. Bibi, Donny, Howie, Stevie, Stevie, and the rest of their minions and thugs, all are “unclean”, all are practice “selfishness of the clever” and We the Jews go along with these lies and then we go to Kol Nidre and ask some Deity to forgive us? PLEASE!! I am ready to throw up at their gall and their “deplorable” ways of taking a beautiful “spiritual movement” and making it “deteriorate into bustling and pretense.”
What has happened since Rabbi Heschel wrote these words on Kol Nidre in 1936 is horrific! We the Jews have not only not heeded his words, we are in the process of denouncing them, of reviling them and of doing the exact opposite of what Repentance/TShuvah call for. Rather than hear the call of Rabbi Eliezer on Shabbat 153(a) of the Talmud, today’s so-called religious leaders are extolling a part of the Bible that Ezra added, that is not in keeping with Yud Hey Vav Hey that teaches us to “love the stranger, love your neighbor, rebuke your friend and bear no guilt because of them, remember you were strangers in the land of Egypt, if your enemy is thirsty-give them drink, etc” As my friend and teacher, Rabbi Danny Maseng has pointed out to me the additions and subtractions that are in the text and it is a fascinating way to read the Bible. Should you want to validate your cruelty-you can find it in the Bible, if you want to live into the laws of Moses, it is much harder to do this. I believe the Ramban’s commentary on Lev. 19:2-“one can be a scoundrel within the bounds of the Bible” is so appropriate for this moment, for all moments.
I suggest this is our challenge and the question we need to be asking ourselves as we continue to prepare for the great assembly, for the Day of At-One-Ment, where we come face to face with ourselves and one another, with no pretense, with no bullshit, and we cry, we laugh, we see one another in a new light with compassion and kindness, and we embrace the essence of who we are, who we are created to be and the unique talent we possess, making the commitment to live into who we are more, live into who we are created to be more, live into our unique talents more in the coming year, in 5786 so we can make our corner of the world more better!
I suggest this is our calling and the question we need to be asking our community. Isn’t it time for We the Jews to stop extolling the big donors, stop extolling the strong men in charge, stop extolling the “politically correct” and hear the call of the Prophets, hear Isaiah’s words, listen to Amos’ call for justice and righteousness, truly understand Hosea’s likening of us to whores? Isn’t it time for our Clergy to begin the Yom Kippur Services with Atonement for their sins, for their missing of the mark? Isn’t it time for all of us to as a community to participate with the Clergy in admitting our sins as a community such as xenophobia, unreasonable loathing of another human being, generalizing about an entire group based on the actions of a few? We have experienced this type of behavior for the millennia and We the Jews are prohibited to doing what is hateful to us to another human being! Yet, we are and we do-Will you hold your community responsible and call them to account? When the grandeur of forgiveness, the audacity of facing oneself is reduced to how much you give, We the Jews are truly lost.
I know how difficult it is to lead a community of Jews!! I know how hard it is to be accountable to oneself let alone to an entire community. I also know my confessions on Yom Kippur led another(s) to speak theirs and this took on a life of its own and people healed themselves by no longer hiding from themselves and the community grew stronger and stronger so it no longer needs me, it leads itself and I consider this to be among the best of my achievements! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark