Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 225
“Left alone, the soul is subject to caprice. Yet there is power in the deed that purifies desires. It is the act, life itself, that educates the will. The good motive comes into being while doing the good.” (God in Search of Man pg. 405)
“There is power in the deed that purifies desires”, what a radical statement and one that is amazingly clear and true. “The deed” is the key to this sentence, as we can see throughout history and especially in the present, many people have decided that their deeds, the ones that serve only them, are the standard of purity. After all, we have a person in the White House who truly believes everything he does is “beautiful” and “perfect”, he is aided and abetted by his Vice President, his staff, his thugs, etc. They are using their power to ascertain that their deeds and God’s commands are one in the same! They even have the cover of a Franklin Graham and other Evangelical leaders who have made cruelty in line with Christ’s teachings! WTF???
As I am hearing and experiencing Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above, “the deed” refers to the mitzvahs, the ways of being more human each day, of respecting the dignity of every soul, of finding ways to learn and live with one another. “The deed” is the action we take whether we ‘want to’ or not, whether it makes sense to us or not, whether anyone else is doing it or not. “The deed” is the mitsvah of welcoming the stranger, of remembering what it is like to be a stranger-whether we are the immigrants or our ancestors were, whether we were the one who moved to a new city, state, new school, or not, and we all have experienced being/feeling like a stranger in our own inner life, experiencing the chaos of not knowing, the fear of being ostracized because we speak our truth, of not being ‘cool enough’, etc. We are called to remember what it was like being a stranger in the land of Egypt, being welcomed and thriving for a while and then having TRUMP and his THUGS take the throne and the Israelites became slaves. Does anyone think this incarnation of Pharaoh is going to be any different? Does anyone really believe that this incarnation of Pharaoh is going to open his heart to mercy, justice, truth, kindness and compassion? REALLY??
I keep getting stuck on sentences and I believe it is because we are in the last two weeks prior to Rosh Hashanah, we are in the last stretch of the month of Elul and We the People desperately need to get our houses in order. The only way to do this is by using the “power in the deed that purifies”, engaging in an authentic inventory and process of TShuvah. This means that We the People have to look at our part in every interaction, especially the ones where we feel aggrieved and wounded by another. It is imperative to remember and to live into the truth that “it takes two to tango”. We the People have a part in “the deed” that we are aggrieved by and the betrayals we have experienced. The betrayals I have felt have melted away because I participated in the betrayal because I “left alone” my “soul” and was lured by ego, by desires, etc. When I am engaged in “the deed that purifies” I will still be betrayed, I will still feel the pain, I just won’t be a party to the wrong, to the harm. My suggestion does our part does not mitigate the responsibility of whomever harmed us to do their own TShuvah, it only gives us clarity and vision on how to make amends to ourselves, how to change our ways so we allow “the deed” to purify “desires”. We the People are being called to do the work of the moment, to educate, grow and mature our souls so we can help the younger generation do the same much earlier than we have and give the third generation the tools, the power, the spiritual health to make their corner of the world better than what we are leaving to them.
Another powerful experience from this sentence is that we are not being asked to not have desires, we are not being told that aestheticism is the ‘proper way’ nor are we being asked jettison personal goals and achievements. Rather, we are being given a path to adjust our desires so they are in proper measure for our authentic needs, so they do not impinge on the freedoms, the rights, the authentic desires of another and they serve to improve our way of living, improve our journey towards wholeness, improve our spiritual, emotional, physical health. This is the reason that doing our TShuvah in this moment, doing the best we can to make our amends, repair the damage to our souls, to our psyche, and finding a new way of responding to the same triggers that will be present in the year to come. We the People are being counted on by so many, We the People are needed by God, We the People are being called to suit up and show up with our best, most authentic selves this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and it will not happen if we do the same thing we did last year, come for Yizkor, show up late, leave early, sit there like a stone, etc. It is not important what you wear, it is important that We the People engage in the JOY OF TSHUVAH now so we can CELEBRATE THE RENEWED CONNECTION with our souls and another(s) soul this High Holiday Season.
“The deed” has changed me over and over again. I know that I am a “wandering Jew” and because of the “power in the deed that purifies” I am joyous about it! I don’t need a pulpit, I have this, I have my writing, I have my study, I have my friends, I have you, and I have my Harriet, Heather, siblings, family. It don’t get any better than this. Thanks TShuvah for changing me. Thanks God for giving me “the deed”. Thanks Rabbi Heschel for always speaking to my soul, to touching my fears and giving me strength to move forward. Thanks to the teachers and study partners over the years. Thanks to the learners I have been privileged to learn with. Thanks to the people who have exiled me, and thanks to those who have not. Blessings abound and I love being wrapped in them! God Bless, stay safe, Rabbi Mark