Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 143
“This is the day Adonai has made, I will rejoice in it”. This verse from Psalms which I have adopted as the opening line of my blog is a continual challenge for me and for all of We the People. I was watching MS Now last night and listened to Abdul El-Sayed speak so eloquently about the issues facing all of us today; health care, economy, dark money in politics, the ones with the gold who believe they should rule, prejudice because he is muslim, etc and he spoke well. My problem is that he also speaks derogatory about Jews, about Israel, and doesn’t see any responsibility on the part of Hamas, the Palestinians who support Hamas, Qatar and the Arab States that have supported and given safe haven to the leaders of Hamas, nor does he see his prejudice as anything bad! WTF? And, I don’t want the Republican candidate in Michigan to win either-talk about a conundrum-when does one go against one’s self-interest to enhance the interests of the greater good? As a Jew, this is not a theoretical question, it is a very real one. Are the Socialist Democrats any different than any other group seeking power by defaming one group over another? Are they any different than the current leadership in Israel who are doing the same thing to the Palestinians under their control? What will it take for all of WE THE PEOPLE to end our “accuse others of that which you are guilty of”? What will it take for We the People to stop needing a bad guy to feel good? What will it take for we the people to stop treating one another as objects, as commodities to use and abuse for our betterment?
“This is the day Adonai has made, I will rejoice in it” demands we the people ask ourselves these questions. It demands we acknowledge the truth that Bret Stephens articulates in his op-ed in today’s NY Times: Israel is suffering from an internal division between “the spirit of entitlement and the spirit of service”. He calls out Netanyahu and the Ultra-right wing Orthodox who want welfare for their people, no military service and believe they have a “divine right” to the West Bank and Gaza, ergo they should suffer no consequences for their illegal actions of terrorizing and destroying their neighbors in the West Bank. They are led by the supreme Entitled One-Benjamin Netanyahu! Opposing them are the people who continue to serve as reservists, continue to fight for what is right, continue to oppose the immoral policies of the entitled ones, who have lost loved ones in this war, who have been the backbone of Israeli society since it’s coming into existence. Mr. Stephens also talks of the immense anti-semitism hiding under the guise of anti-zionism that permeates the world. Even the defenders of Israel here, like Donald Trump, have within them a great deal of Jew-Hatred, it is just more convenient politically to ‘support’ the Entitled Ones, not the State of Israel. Like in America, too many of we the people have confused a temporary government with the Country they are dis-serving and this leads to all sorts of imaginary crimes that convince people like El-Sayed, AOC, et al that only the Palestinians are good, especially the ones who support Hamas, who believe Oct. 7th was a ‘freedom fighters revolt’. BULLSHIT!
To “rejoice in it, We the People have to face the mirror and stop lying to “the man in the glass” as the poem says. We the People have to earnestly deal with the contradictions within every human being, the side which wants dominion and control and the side which needs communion and community. While they seem like opposites, they are not. When We the People seriously immerse ourselves in “rejoice in it”, the realization that the dominion and control, while the Bible says over all the earth has NOTHING to do with human beings, no where is control and dominion over another human being promoted in the Bible.
In looking inward, I know I have to be responsible for my actions, I have to take the time, the energy, go through the angst of realization of my errors, of my entitlements, and bring these two sides of me together. I have been working on this project all my life and in the past 39+ years I have been making pretty good progress. I do not need to control you, I can’t even control my thoughts, my desires, I can control my actions, my response to thoughts, desires, to the conflicting emotions, conflicting pulls within me. I do this by rejoicing in what is, not what I want nor what I need what is to be. This freedom to be in the moment brings me to accept what is and not be bound by societal norms, to accept what is and work hard to change what is so I and We are more inline with the Divine. This is the ACTION STEP/challenge I put to you as well! Rejoice in bringing your two sides together and changing what is to be inline with God’s will.
God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark