Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 318
“Our proud Western Civilization has not withstood the stream of cruelty and crime that burst forth out of the undercurrents in the human soul.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 61)
Rabbi Heschel is speaking in the shadows of the Second World War, in the memory of the Shoah, in the vision of Germanic cruelty, Russian Cruelty, Polish Cruelty, and American Cruelty. He is, in his own unique manner, issuing an indictment of “Western Civilization” that he is a part of and, at the same time, apart from. It must have been difficult for Rabbi Heschel, for Rev. King, and so many others who lived in the moment they were in, were a part of the civilization and era they were part of AND living in and being a part of Biblical civilization, living into and being immersed in the prophets, the words and deeds of our ancestors from Abraham through Jesus, the Buddha and Confucius.
Their ability to live in both worlds, to be a part of today and yesterday with an eye on tomorrow, is the path for we the people to rise above the “stream of cruelty and crime that burst forth” out of Putin’s takeover of Russia, the rise from the ashes of Netanyahu, the celebration, originally, of Orban’s takeover of Hungary, and, of course, the Trump takeover of our democracy. All of this done right in front of our eyes, all of these cruel criminals did it without firing a shot, without any blood because we the people allowed them to. Because, we the people have “not withstood the stream of cruelty and crime that burst forth out of the undercurrents in the human soul”!
This is, needs to be, the focus of our existence; how to deal with the “cruelty and crime” that is so ever-present, so just beneath the surface in people, waiting to come out, seeking a rationale for expressing itself by ‘the good people’ on both ends of the spectrum. I am realizing the issue for those of us in the middle, we are too afraid of the “cruelty and crime” in our souls to engage in the same practices; “fight fire with fire” doesn’t work out well because the one fighting the fire with fire cannot just turn off the “cruelty and crime” any more than the dictators, wannabe dictators, can-hence the German defeat that was so devastating and complete, the stain of shame heaped upon the U.S. after Vietnam, Afghanistan. We were not able to tame the “cruelty and crime” in the souls of our leaders so many of our young people were sent to their death with reckless abandon.
Today, in the wake of Trump’s takeover of Venezuela, it is for Trump and his oil buddies, his Wall Street buddies, that this happened-he could care less if people are dying from OD’s, we see the unleashing of “cruelty and crime” once again, actually continuing since 1/20/2025. What is the worst about this latest overreach, this latest breaking of our Constitutional law, is we the people seem to be celebrating a military state with joy and happiness, we the people seem to be incapable of realizing Trump PARDONED the former President of Honduras who was responsible for bringing 500 Million pounds of Cocaine into the United States-how much does he care about drug trafficking??!!
There is only one way for We the People to take back our power, to rise above this onslaught of “cruelty and crime”: A Spiritual Awakening and a Spiritual Revolution! It is time for all of us to “groan” as the Children of Israel did after the death of one Pharaoh and the rise of another one who was more cruel, more criminal, more despicable. Trump is crueler, more grifting, more despicable, more reckless, more criminal than in his first term, he and his gang are raping our country of resources, of our good name, of our leadership of the Free World and making us into another fascist country with a megalomaniac at the helm.
This is the moment we the people are most in need of a reconnection with the Ineffable One, a power greater than ourselves, our higher consciousness. Not only a reconnection, a rededication to the principles of the Bible, to the words from Mount Sinai, from the commands to love, to care for, to uphold, to be just, to not take bribes because bribes blind the eyes of the righteous. “Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country” and themselves. Now is the moment for We the People to stop our erroneous belief we are powerless to effect change, to end our incessant lying to ourselves, to see the reflection of the divine in the mirror, in the face of another human being, to know the danger and face it with a plan, to be a witness to the “cruelty and crime” and not get seduced by it. This is the challenge of this moment, this is the challenge the prophets called out to us and their solution is still the best solution: “Do T’Shuvah, return to God” and our backsliding will be healed, we are loved, we can be and will be forgiven.
I am a product of this solution! I know how cruel I was to the people who loved me and I am forever regretful for this stain, this wound I inflicted. I also know no amount of money, things, therapy saved me from myself, because, like Western civilization, my immature soul could not “withstand the cruelty and crime”. Only with the ‘help’ of God, with the reconnection to the power within me, to my spirit and to the souls/spirits of so many people over these years have I been able to rise above the urge to “fight fire with fire”, the impulse to “get even and get mine”. I have made and continue to err in my quest from spiritual maturity and, as Harriet was relating to a couple yesterday: “we have never used the vulnerabilities of our partner against them.” This is the definition of evil, cruel by M.Scott Peck and it is what passes for using all the weapons at our disposal to “Win at all costs” in “Western civilization”. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark