Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 360
“The world is torn by conflicts, by folly, by hatred. Our task is to cleanse, to illumine, to repair. Every deed is either a clash or an aid in the effort of redemption. Man is not one with God, not even with his true self. Our task is to bring eternity into time, to clear in the wilderness a way to make plain the desert a highway for God.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 80)
These words were written some 70+ years ago, during ‘the good old days’ as some people like to call the mid-1950’s. After Korea, after WWII, before Vietnam, Jim Crow laws still in effect, quotas on how many Jews could get into different colleges, grad schools, and this is what the “good christian nationalist folk” call ‘the good old days’?? Immersing ourselves in the words above, it is imperative for we the people to raise up our self-image to meet the world that is in this moment, not some utopian vision or euphoric recalling. Our world today “is torn by conflicts, by folly, by hatred” and We the People are being called by this moment, by today’s “folly”, by the senseless “hatred” being spewed by the top echelon of government, business people like Jeff Bezos, clergy like Doug Wilson, and supported actively and/or passively by the Republican Party, the Republican Congress, and Jews, Blacks, Latinos, among them! WTF PEOPLE??!!!
What is the call, one might ask; the call is, as Rabbi Heschel says: “to cleanse, to illumine, to repair”. And while there are many who proclaim this to be their passion, their mission, it seems as if We the People don’t believe them and I wonder what the reason is that Bishop Barber, John Pavlovitz, Josh Shapiro, Katherine Clark, haven’t gotten more support, there are not more demands for change, “to cleanse”, etc. Unlike the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s of last century when MLK was believed and followed, joined by Rabbi Heschel and so many clergy of different sects, by a groundswell of We the People, when Bobby Kennedy was seen as someone who would Keep Hope Alive, when Johnson, Nixon were held accountable for their misdeeds, their lies, We the People are not in the same space. I believe the reason is personal, spiritual, moral, societal. Before we the people can “cleanse, illumine, repair” the outside world, we have to do the same in our inner lives. Buying into societal lies, believing that “if only they would/wouldn’t do… and we would be happy”, rejecting the faith traditions of our parents, grandparents because they were not passed down with meaning and congruent behaviors, has led to the spiritual, moral, societal bankruptcy that Trump, Lutnick, Netanyahu, Ben G’Vir, et al have capitalized upon. These grifters are not the problem!
It is We the People that is the problem, we elected them, we empower them. we buy their lies or are so overwhelmed at the amount of lies and subterfuge we feel fatigued. Unlike the prophets whom we are descended from, unlike John Lewis who continued to get into “good trouble” until the day he died, unlike Rabbi Heschel, Rabbi Prinz, the Berrigan Brothers, MLK, Bobby, who continued to fight for truth, for justice, who sought “to cleanse, to illumine, to repair” until their deaths, we the people have made ourselves so small, we have forgotten that we the people are all created in the image of God, all have infinite dignity, worth, unique gifts to bring and so we the people find ourselves in the predicaments listed above, some 70+ years after being warned, being educated, being cajoled, being cautioned. Whether it is the racist in the White House, the Goebbels devotee Stephen Miller, the lying money-grabbing Lutnick, the murdering settlers in the West Bank, the terrorist Hamas’ in Gaza, Putin in Moscow, Orban in Hungary, MBS in Riyadh, all of these bankrupt souls, these thieves do not have the power to resist when We the People “cleanse, illumine, repair” ourselves and then set out “to repair” the world through T’Shuvah, “to cleanse” the world through our amends and forgiveness, “to illumine” the world because we are to be “a light unto the nations” and, after repairing, cleaning up our shit and the pile of shit that another(s) have made, our vision gets clearer, our sight gets sharper, and We the People find our place, our passion, our purpose and our similarities which far outweigh our differences, in fact, our differences bring joy to another(s) for they make up for what is missing in their path and vice versa.
The more I write, the more I re-read Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom, the more I experience, the more I am able “to cleanse” myself of the lies, the false ego that I have lived from at times in the past 38+ years, the more I am able “to illumine” for myself and another(s), the more I can “repair” and pay it forward. I also am acutely aware of the ways in which I operate which seem so foreign to another(s), the knowing I have which seems outlandish to many, the ‘seemingly inappropriate’ ways I have of expressing myself, ie I am politically incorrect:). I also have illumined a path for many and the reciprocity of generosity has not always come back from these people and I know that is okay-I do what I do because it is the next right thing and this is what the cleaning, the repairing of my inner life has illuminated for me.
ACTION STEPS:
Ask yourself what the balance in your spiritual, moral bank accounts are and if they need some deposits.
Make a list of the things you need “to cleanse” in order to begin to see what truly is and not the lies you tell yourself and/or the deceptions of another(s) you have bought into
Make TShuvah a daily practice so you can repair the damage you have caused and get clean enough “to illumine” the path of right living for you and those around you.
GOD BLESS and STAY SAFE, Rabbi Mark