Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 356
“The highest peak of spiritual living is not necessarily reached in rare moments of ecstasy; the highest peak lies wherever we are and may be ascended in a common deed. There can be as sublime a holiness in performing friendship, in observing dietary laws day by say, as in uttering a prayer on the Day of Atonement.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 79)
There is no “highest peak of spiritual living” unless it is happening in this moment, in this “common deed” that is right in front of us, in my humble opinion! Humankind seems to need these “highest peaks” to satisfy their thirst for ecstasy, their need to ‘get high’ and whether it is in climbing the highest mountain, swimming the widest sea, sitting under the Bodhi Tree, achieving the wealth, fame, fortune that is so sought after or just getting high on substances/process’. We the People are addicted to attaining “the highest peak” and seem to be willfully blind to the truth that the “highest peak” is always changing, just like no two moments are the same, so too, there is no one “highest peak” and there is no living at that level for more than a moment or two. Just like the drunk or the addict who eventually have to “come down”, wake up with a hangover, those who continue to seek “the highest peak of spiritual living” through any of the means I delineated above, will find themselves always hungry, always thirsty, and always ignoring the “common deed” for their erroneous belief that the “next high is just around the corner”!
I am overwhelmed with the thought/realization that the cruelty being practiced in this moment by Trump et al and by Bibi and his cohorts is truly their seeking of “the highest peak of spiritual living” for them; selfish, bastardizations of what “holiness” is and they are surrounded by such sycophants who validate their ‘holy actions’ in the churches, the synagogues around this country and in Israel!! The insanity of an clergy celebrating cruelty as “the highest peak of spiritual living” is anathema to the teachings of Moses, the words of Christ, the actions of the Prophets, and the experiences of the Christians being fed to the lions and the anti-semitism that Jews have experienced for the millennia! Yet, here we are, with Jews who laughed with and hung out with a known pedophile like Jeffrey Epstein, with Jews who relish the cruelty of ICE and the cruelty of the “big beautiful bill”, the insane hatred of the stranger forgetting that We the Jews were strangers in the land of Egypt! Here we are with Christians who celebrate the separation of families, the inhumane conditions in these ‘camps’ (ala Albrecht Macht Frie of the 1930-40’s), who extol the actions of cruelty as wanted by Christ?!!
The popularity of Social Media, the Smartphone (which is helping to dumb down our children) has contributed to the state of moral decay, spiritual bankruptcy we find ourselves in. Rather than study the Bible, rather than learn mathematics, rather than learn the grammar of any language much less the “grammar of living”, we the people feel so small and so large at the same time that we say ‘let AI do it’. Rather than seek to “enoble the common”, we the people are seeking to constantly ‘find the high’, ‘make a killing/score’, have an orgastic moment over a deal, sex, shopping, winning. Rather than see the “highest peak lies where we are” we the people continue to look either up at the sky or down on the ground, thereby missing the moment of connection with what is, the moment of connection with another human being, the moment of “holiness” that is ascended in common deed. We the People are so addicted to the “highest peak” we have failed miserably to experience/see the “holiness in performing friendship”. Friendship is NOT “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, it is NOT one bad action, one disagreement and we are quits, it is NOT fair weather, it is not kissing the ass of another, it is NOT being a sycophant. Friendship IS speaking truth to one another, friendship IS wrestling with one another to find truth, to help one another grow along spiritual lines, to live a moral life, an obligated life, friendship IS making mistakes and being forgiven, laughing and crying together, Friendship IS helping one another engage in “the common deed” and experience the spiritual ecstasy that comes with this sublime action.
I know this because I have lived in both realms, I have been the asshole seeking a ‘high’ through theft, through booze, and it never lasted too long. I have some stories that are ‘funny’ and I can TESTIFY to the TRUTH that the “peaks of spirituality” I have achieved in these past 39+ years are higher and still are with me, each one leaving an imprint on my soul. I have not needed to “be the man” for a long time, it was slow to give it up at first and I no longer need the acknowledgment of another to know my worth, to know the “high” of the common deed, to continue to do ‘the next right thing’ without recognition. This is a complete TShuvah for me, as a kid I always wanted to be recognized, even in my recovery at times I find this to be true and it is not anymore. Living in the “common deed” of this moment is the “high”, is the joy, is the goal.
ACTION STEPS:
What are the false peaks you are trying to climb to “reach the high”
How are you engaging in cruelty, mendacity, towards self and/or another to reach this false “peak”
How do you stay present and aware in the moment and experience the holiness of it
What “common deeds” raise you up to “the highest peak”?
GOD BLESS AND STAY SAFE, Rabbi Mark