Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 338
“The quest for right living, the question of what is to be done right now, right here, is the authentic core of Jewish religion. It has been the main theme of Jewish literature, from the time of the prophets till the times of the Hasidim, and it has been explored with a sense of urgency, as if life were a continuous state of emergency.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 75)
These words from Rabbi Heschel’s book Man is Not Alone published in 1951 cut right to the heart of what it means to be human! In this moment, when so many people who are elected officials, usurpers, dictators, royalty are disengaged from “right living” that their only quest is for power, for wealth, for cruelty, for their own fame, etc. It is not these people that bother me, as we can tell from the sentence that there has always been people who do not have “the quest for right living”. At issue for me, for us, the people is: are we the people engaged in “the quest for right living”, for “what is to be done right now, right here”?
We the People of Minnesota are in this “quest”, they are answering “the question” above with their feet, with their voices, and they are receiving help and support from all over the country! What is more pressing, at this moment, is what “quest” are the Congressman and Senators we the people elect to do the next right thing for their constituents-WE THE PEOPLE- are on. Is their “quest” to serve whichever identity group they belong to, is their “quest” to serve Donny, Der Fuhrer, the Don, Trump and his band of thieves, liars, and idolators? Is their “quest”, like the “quest” of many institutions these days, to just keep themselves in office, somewhat relevant, but mainly to serve themselves, their families, keep their paper house afloat? While Rabbi Heschel writes that this “quest” “is the authentic core of Jewish religion”, it is also, I believe at the “core” of every faith, in the soul of every human being.
What is soooooooo infuriating to me, of course, is the fact that there are WAY TOO MANY JEWS who disregard this truth, who’s only “quest” is their selfish, self-centered needs, their belief in their own self-aggrandizement, their buying of their own bullshit, their own press, and all of this leads us to a Howard Lutnick who thinks it is immoral to complain about, point out, sue over getting fucked by the Government; leads us to a Steve Wytkoff who believes that fucking over our ally, Ukraine, in order to build hotels in Russia, to build hotels in Gaza, is a Jewish Value; leads us to Stephen Miller who is a true believer in Hating the Stranger, going against the command to love, care for, remember what it was like being a stranger in Egypt which is mentioned 36 times in the Torah; leads to Bibi Netanyahu who is so self-centered and selfish he is selling Israel out as a democracy, as a place where the rule of law prevails in order to save his skin, to make his graft okay, to NOT take responsibility for Oct. 7, 2023, to blame and shame anyone and everyone else so he can keep his power and not go to jail where he belongs!
Again, this is not a finger-pointing expedition, it is, as the prophets teach us, a moment to see what is and what are We the People doing about it. It is going to take a massive effort to change the tide here in the U.S.A. and in Israel. The forces of darkness are very powerful, the forces of prejudice, of fear, of lies enforce the power of darkness and it is up to WE THE PEOPLE to say HELL NO LUTNICK, HELL NO KUSHNER, HELL NO WYTKOFF, HELL NO MILLER, HELL NO NETANYAHU, HELL NO TRUMP, VANCE, PUTIN, ORBAN and the rest of the Anti-Semites, Anti-Gay, Anti everything but white ‘christian’ men! Using what is going on in Minnesota, what happened in Chicago, the turning of the tide throughout the country is necessary to build on their amazing efforts and results-AND IT IS NOT ENOUGH!
We the People must engage in the “quest for right living” by asking the question: “What is the question this experience is the answer for?” Rather than see this moment as the problem, lets see it as the solution to the unasked question, the questions we are afraid to ask because they lead to taking uncomfortable actions, they lead to possibly being ostracized from ‘polite society’, from ‘our identity group’. TOO FUCKING BAD! Now is the moment We the People are being called to action, called to take the actions the Bible teaches us, follow the lead of Christ, and LOVE THE STRANGER, the one next to us and the one inside of us. This moment is a moment where We the People can take a breath and reacquaint ourselves with our inner life, with our soul’s knowing, with our spiritual life and do what our SOUL tells us is the next right thing to do, do what our “gut instinct” is screaming at us to do and do what the Bible teaches: “We will do and then we will understand”!
I have been on this quest forever, even during my alcoholism and criminality. In fact, because I knew this “quest”, because my father had placed within me “the questions” listed above, I was never fully committed to a life of crime, to just being a drunk. In my recovery, this “quest” fills every waking hour and even invades my sleep. I have asked myself the questions Rabbi Heschel asks, the ones Judaism asks, and I keep making progress on my “quest” and I keep screwing it up. I also know that living this “quest” is not a normative Jewish way of being in this world. Rather than be like the prophets, too many of our Jewish institutions are like the powerful the prophets railed against! I write each day to keep the right questions fresh in my mind, I live into “the duty to obey and the duty to disobey” as Rabbi Harold Shulweis taught me. I still fight the assholes, I still keep opening my mouth and I keep being rebuffed by the Jewish community and embraced by Jews-go figure! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark