Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 341
“With quiet sadness and rich with strenuous lessons of defeat, we learn today to understand that there are no extemporaneous solutions to perpetual problems; that the only safeguard against constant danger is constant vigilance, constant guidance. Such guidance, such vigilance is given to him who lives in the shadows of Sinai, whose weeks, days, hours are set in the rhythm of the Torah.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 75)
Yesterday, outside the gates of our Sun City Development, one with 5000 homes, there were a group of us protesting ICE, protesting the cruelty of Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, Tom Holman, Donald Trump, et al. It was interesting to me in that I canceled a bridge lesson to go to the protest, going to the protest is one of the ways I stay in “constant vigilance”, and there were so many us of ‘old folks’ remembering other protests we engaged in when we were in college and since then. At issue for We the People is our willful blindness to the “constant danger” that is around us, our ignorance of the truth of what is happening, the foolishness of “hyperindividualism” as David Brooks calls the ‘policies’ of the past 40+ years which “expanded individual choice but weakened the bonds between people.” Rather than seek the “constant guidance we all are in need of, our societal norm of believing we are the ‘smartest person in the room’ or need to act as if we are, has caused us to retreat to old worn-out cliches, keep the fight for and against slavery alive and be such ignoramus’ that even those fighting against slavery have no idea of the enslavement they are trying to impose on another!
The “guidance” Rabbi Heschel is speaking of has nothing to do with the rational side, (left) side of the brain, it has everything to do with the creative (right) side of the brain. It is the “guidance” of a part of ourselves that has no real definition nor any place in the brain or body that one can point to and say ‘this is it’. Only through our creativity can we seek, find, hear, listen and understand the “constant guidance” as well as the warnings about the “constant danger” we face in this moment, in every moment.
This “constant danger” begins with our major disease of self-deception, as Rabbi Heschel warns us over and over again. It continues to grow and flourish in the idiotic rationales provided by the purveyors of cruelty and evil through our desire for and conditioning of logic and ‘proof’. It is a “constant danger” we learn about in Genesis when the “Elohim” start to fuck beautiful young girls and take their agency away, as well as the agency of parents, etc. The ‘taking of what isn’t mine, just because I can’ is the breeding ground for our “constant danger”! This is the challenge for We the People to get the “guidance” to stop this path of life.
We the People are witnessing the unleashing of immense cruelty so that a few liars, ego-maniacs, xenophobic, hateful in their hearts, fearful ‘little men’ can retain power and not be held accountable for their actions. This is not just about Trump or Netanyahu, Miller or Ben G’Vir, it is about the societal attitudes, the failure of faith traditions to imbue We the People with the strength of spiritual maturity to rely on the “guidance” that is “given to him who lives in the shadows of Sinai”. Judaism, hence Christianity and Islam, began at Sinai, the Voice from Sinai is always reverberating in our souls, in our higher consciousness, and We the People have allowed ourselves to give into the rationales of societal norms, the lies and deceptions of the grifters, the bastardization of the 10 Commandments by the Preachers and the Rabbis, the Imams, the ministers, the Priests, AGAIN-just like in the days of the prophets!! WTF?!?!
Living “in the shadows of Sinai” is implied in all of Jewish prayers, in all of Jewish learnings, in all of the words of the prophets-everything comes from Sinai and we have never been the same since. Being commanded to “not murder”, not whore ourselves, not steal, not bear false witness, not covet what our neighbor has and want what we have is being commanded to go against the impulses we the people have-as evidenced by the ways of the ‘good christian folk, good jewish examples’ in our government and the friends, relatives of the THIEF IN CHIEF. Knowing that we have to be on guard against these “constant dangers” is one of the hallmarks of spiritual maturity, the Dalai Lama once said he had to be on guard constantly to not allow his anger to overwhelm him!! The fact that Clergy of all faiths can stand up and support the cruelty of our time, the cruelty that has gone on forever, the cruelty of slavery, the cruelty of anti-semitism, the cruelty of xenophobia, is BEYOND MY COMPREHENSION!!
I live in the “shadows of Sinai” every day since my recovery began, somedays more and somedays less-yet I never leave these “shadows”. My life is based in and on the teachings of Moses, the prophets, the Talmud, and Rabbi Heschel, of course. Through all of these teachings, the Rabbis, guides I have attached myself to, I continue to seek and find the “constant guidance” to live a better life, to be one grain of sand better each day, to find the strength to stand up to the bullies on the Right and the bullies on the Left! Just because you are ‘on the right side of something’ doesn’t mean you can’t be a bully! My “vigilance” is constant and I miss things at times, I get lulled into a false sense of security, I believe when I should question and I question when I should believe at times, thankfully with the “constant guidance” I get from my inner life, my gut intuition, these times are less and less. Going to the protest was a response to the guidance I receive from Sinai, standing up for the poor and the needy, loving the stranger are three ways I continue to ACT ON THE GUIDANCE from the “shadows of Sinai”. How are you acting on the “constant guidance” the “shadows of Sinai” are giving you? God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark