Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 223
“Whatever our motive may have been prior to the act, the act itself demands undivided attention. Thus the desire for reward is not the driving force of the poet in his creative moments, and the pursuit of pleasure or profit are not the essence of a religious or moral act.” (God in Search of Man pg.405)
“FUCK YOUR FEELINGS, DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING” has been my motto, my call, to people since the beginning of my recovery-because, as Rabbi Heschel says above, the motives don’t matter once we are immersed in the action of a mitsvah. BTW, a mitsvah is not just a ritual act, in fact as the prophets screamed at the priests, it is very easy to make a ritual act into a sin when it is done with divided attention, when it is done routinely and by rote. A mitsvah is an act that helps raise the standard of living for both the doer and the recipient, the macro and the micro. A mitsvah is any act of kindness, truth, justice, authenticity, compassion, mercy-full stop! When we “fuck our feelings and take the next right action”, we are telling ourselves that serving something greater than our egocentric mind, letting our rational mind know it is no longer in charge, and we are greater than the sum of our parts, we can rise above selfishness, cruelty, pettiness and enmity. Rabbi Heschel’s words above are pointing us to a way of living that doesn’t make profit, reward, pleasure, and all other ego-pleasing results the essence of a mitsvah, of “creative moments”.
The pendulum has swung to the far right from the far left in America, in Israel, in much of the world and this swing, like the one to the far left, has left many injured in its wake. It is amazing to me, the same people who complained about the ‘progressives’ (who in my opinion were/are not very progressive with their anti-semitic ways, an old story), are doing the same actions ‘for their side’. Give me a break!! The driving force for both extremes, whether they will admit it or not, is “reward, pleasure, profit” along with power and prestige. Every “religious or ‘moral’ act”, every one of their “creative moments” are driven by these irreligious motives and, because of this, so many of what they do will never last, will never survive the next huge pendulum shift. The issue is not the swing of the pendulum, however, it is how to stop the back and forth from one extreme to another, how to stop these momentous shifts and backlashes. This is where the wisdom above comes to help us, to point us in a direction.
When We the People demand of ourselves truth and authenticity, we begin to filter out the wheat from the chaff, the bullshit from the truth, the self-deception from clear vision. When we give the mitsvah, the next right action, our “undivided attention”, we are unable to seek the results the ego demands, we are unable to put forward the lies and deceptions of a Donald Trump, a Robert Kennedy Jr., a Bibi Netanyahu. These ‘great men of faith’ continually dismiss the importance the mitsvah, of the “deed” by ignoring the harm, the death of body, mind and spirit, the shifting of the foundation of what it means to be human, and the truth of what the Bible, Jesus, say. Rather than acknowledging the call to care for the stranger, to be a healer of the sick, to hold people responsible and not do it cruelly, these idolators hate the stranger, screw over the sick and hold everyone but themselves and their cronies responsible for anything and everything that ‘goes wrong’ before, during, and after their “reign of terror”. Just as We the People are being called by the words above and this month of Elul to look at ourselves, hold ourselves accountable, We the People must hold the leaders we elected-whether we voted for them or not, whether we agreed with their appointments of not, We the People are responsible for them being in office- responsible to DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING NO MATTER HOW THEY FEEL!
We the People can only hold another responsible after we hold ourselves responsible! We the People are being called by Rabbi Heschel, by the universe, by this time of year and by the events that have and are continuing to unfold to STAND UP for what is right and good, for truth and kindness, for love and mercy. We the People have the opportunity to “shuvah L’ Adonai”, return to God, allow God to heal our backsliding, experience the love that God wants to give us, experience the love we want to give and receive to another. Our authentic nature, our “human nature” is to not be alone, to give and receive love, to honor and rest, to stop false images and false words, to support life, to choose life, to restore what has been taken from another, to rejoice in our portion and rejoice in what another has without comparisons nor competitions. We the People are being given ANOTHER opportunity to “get it right” through the “deed”, through taking the next right action, being immersed in the mitsvah, and eschewing profit, pleasure and reward for the sake of our soul and the soul of humanity.
This way of being is not the easiest, it is not the most profitable, it is, however, the most rewarding because We the People can live with ourselves without recriminations, without ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda, thoughts’, without worrying about ‘our backs’, without fear nor favor of another human being. I know this as I have, slowly and surely, grown in giving the mitsvah my “undivided attention”, it is hard, I am always seeking distractions and, this year, I am more committed to discipline and being deliberate, to not being engaged in organizations nor with people who don’t want me around, and knowing where I belong, what I bring and what I need from self, God, family, friends, community. It is a long journey to reach this place and, knowing me, I will fall back. The good news is the more “undivided attention” the mitsvah gets, the less the fall back! I am sorry to all those who have been put off over the years of believing I gave them divided attention, I am sorry to all those who felt slighted by me. I am forgiving those who used this vulnerability against me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark