Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 351
“Worship and living are not two separate realms. Unless living is a form of worship, our worship has no life. Religion is not a reservation, a tract of time reserved for solemn celebrations on festive days.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 78)
These words, this thought is so obvious, so ridiculous to have to write, to say, yet 70 years ago when God in Search of Man was published, Rabbi Heschel found the need to say them! In a Binary world, in an either/or world everything is separate, physical and spiritual, “worship and living”, observance and actions, etc. Forever, it seems, humanity has needed a “scapegoat to put their sins on it’s head” just as described in Leviticus. Being able to make “them” the enemy, “them” the cause of all evil around us, “them” the reason you are unhappy, poor, etc has given power to the white man-in this country at least and to the far right throughout Europe, the Middle East, Russia, etc. It hasn’t mattered who the “them” is, in fact throughout the history of America Black people are the “them”, Jews are the “them”, Italians, Irish, Chinese have also taken their turns in the bucket of “them”, and, of course, the Hispanics are the current and past “them” everyone seems to be fucking with. In this Binary way of being, it is WAY PAST REAL that white people are suing for discrimination!! They are the injured party-just ask Donald J. Trump how he has been persecuted by “them”. The ways in which he, Vance, Miller, Noem, et al speak about, treat people who look like Marco Rubio is abhorrent and they justify it by saying “we are saving America and Americans from the vermin who are infecting our country”. If this sounds familiar, it is the same rhetoric of Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf being the only book Trump has ever read, according to his late first wife, Ivana. Yet, they are all “good book” quoters!
Listening to Mike Johnson and other Republicans who proclaim their ‘love of Jesus’ while hating the stranger instead of loving her/him, while injuring the poor instead of helping them, hating “them” in their hearts instead of loving them, never admitting they make any errors-blaming “them” instead, throwing a lot of stones while they are NOT without SIN themselves! AND they say “if you want to know what I think, how I govern, just read the Bible”. WHAT BIBLE IS HE/THEY talking about? Not the Hebrew Bible, not the “Old Testament”, not the New Testament, not the Gospels, so what the fuck is going on? How do We the People buy into the bullshit and mendacity that is being heaped upon us?
The reason is We the People have adapted to and adopted the Binary world view and way of being also! Even though, in our guts, in our soul we know the world is “both/and”, even though we know that our “living” has to reflect, be impacted by, be improved by our “worship”, we seem to be able to deny and deflect the truth long enough to partake and ‘be a part of’ the people who are not “them” in this moment. Rather than living the Mitzvot; Miller, Lutnick, Bessent, and all the Jews who are supporting these Fascists, these autocrats want to “be in the IN Crowd”, have a “seat” at the “Power Table”. Rather than loving the stranger, they hate everyone who is not like the power people, these idiots are so far in the ether, they think they are white and will not be seen as “them Jews”! Rather than do T’Shuvah every day, they glorify their cruelty, they wear as a badge of honor their ability to hate their brother/their neighbor in their heart. They cover up their crimes, they make fun of their supporters who buy their bullshit, they are mendacious, they steal, they whore themselves, they murder the souls of another(s), they covet everything someone else has, believing no one but they are entitled to anything worthwhile that “them” has. AND they will tell you how much they love Judaism, how they go to Synagogue on the High Holy Days, celebrate Passover, etc.
My friend and teacher, Rabbi Ed Feinstein, teaches that the most important day is the “day after”, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shabbat, Shavuot, Passover, and, of course TODAY! Has going to Synagogue moved the needle inside of you enough to change your behaviors, change your actions, get you to honor the commitment of our ancestors at Sinai: Na’Aseh V’Nishmah- we will DO then we will understand? Has the prayer you said this morning moved you to be more kind, more compassionate, more truthful, more loving, more decent? Has the experience of Shabbat made you more open to immersing yourself in being one grain of sand better today than yesterday? Has your worship impacted your living at all? This is the issue Rabbi Heschel saw 70 years ago and it is ON STEROIDS today. It is up to We the People to bring these “two separate realms” back together! This is the work I do to recover my integrity, my soul, my sense of true self, my purpose since prison and up to, including today and tomorrow. It is the work that has helped 1000’s of people recover their passion and discover their soul, it is the path Harriet Rossetto laid out for people to follow with founding Beit T’Shuvah and not going for the Binary thinking of her peers-being the outcast because she KNEW what would help, living her worship!
ACTION STEPS:
Find a prayer that helps you live better, read it each day aloud and see how you can live it.
Choose a Text you believe will help your spirit grow and read it each day/study it with another person maybe
Each day, at the end of the day, write down how you lived your prayer, your study that day
Create, join a community of people who “walk their talk” and share your experience, strength and hope and imbue theirs.
God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark