Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 344
“Only free men, those who are not prone to canonize every caprice, do not equate self-restraint with self-surrender, knowing that no man is free who is not a master of himself, that the more liberties we enjoy, the more discipline we need.” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 76)
Rabbi Heschel’s definition of “free men” is very interesting and informative. “Caprice” is defined as “a sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior” and comes from the Italian word “capriccio” meaning “standing with your hair on fire”. “Canonize” comes from the Latin meaning “admit as authoritative”. Hence, as I read, listen, hear and understand Rabbi Heschel this morning, today, in the times we are living in; a free person is one who is not “prone”, meaning not likely or as the Latin definition means, not leaning forward to make authoritative every sudden, unaccountable, “hair on fire” idea, mood that one experiences in a moment, in an hour, in a day. This is a fascinating concept when one thinks about the common usage, the common understanding of being free to mean “I can do what I want”, within boundaries, within the law and still, there is nothing holding me back from believing I am right, I am the end all/be all, I have the permission to ‘do as I choose’, and then, not pay the price for my behaviors.
We are in a moment in history where the rules have been trashed, where the Bible’s guidance, the WAY as Judaism believes in, the teachings of Christ, have been so discarded, so bastardized that to “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to ALL it’s inhabitants therein” or “love the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt”, and most of the rest of the path to choosing life, to being holy have become unrecognizable. Rather, the warning of the Ramban, Moses Nachmonidies, has been jettisoned and has come to fruition: one can be a scoundrel within the bounds of the Torah, the law, the path”! This is his reasoning as to why we are commanded to BE HOLY! The easy way to continue to to vilify the far right for their contempt of the laws of the United States, their disdain for the Constitution, their breaking of faith with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, their total and complete turning the Bible against the very people God has promised to help, the very people Jesus hung out with and loved. The truth is much deeper than this, however.
Immersing oneself in the first phrase above, realizing in 1958 Rabbi Heschel said this: “needs are looked upon today as if they were holy,… suppression of a desire is considered a sacrilege that must inevitable avenge itself in the form of some mental disorder…(we) have come to look upon moral and spiritual norms as nothing but personal desires in disguise”. Ergo, the far left, the ‘good liberal folk’ are as guilty of being “prone to canonize every caprice” as the far right and those of We the People who can see and do the best we can to live in the “both/and” that our faith traditions teach us to live in. We the People who have enough humility to know we are not the holders of the whole picture, the seers who see the whole picture, who do not have to have every desire fulfilled in the moment we think of them, who do not have to blame everyone else for our actions, who are not worshipping at the altar of capriciousness, are the “free men” Rabbi Heschel is talking about.
M.Scott Peck begins his seminal book The Road Less Travelled with the words “Life is difficult” and those of us who strive to be “free men” in the definition of Rabbi Heschel above, know this to be true and this truth makes our efforts all the more worthwhile, all the more holy, all the more desperately needed, especially in this moment. Looking at the different ‘cults’ that spring up in these United States is an interesting insight into the soul of Americans, there were the slave owners, there was Andrew Jackson who thought being President was the same as being king, there was the reconstruction era “carpetbaggers”, there was the “gilded age” of businessmen who believed they were above the law and the only thing to worship was money, there was the German Bund who wanted America to be fascist, there was/is the KKK, the radical left of SLA, the weathermen, etc, and, now we have MAGA. NO CULT SEEKS TRUTH, ALL CULTS ARE PRONE TO CANONIZE EVERY CAPRICE OF THE LEADER-FULL STOP!!!
I have watched this movie before, I have seen the opposite as well, where leaders of the revolution know it is NOT ABOUT THEM, it is about God, it is about the dignity of every human being. The whole point of T’Shuvah, of rebuking someone who is doing wrong, is to respect and honor the infinite dignity and worth of a human being, embrace their soul and unlock the prison it is being kept in. I know this because people did this for me, both in their rebukes and in accepting my T’Shuvah. I have done the same for many people and even though my words, my ways are not always accepted by ‘mainstreamer society’, I am a “FREE MAN”!
Action Steps:
make a list of the capricious actions you take each day, how you arrive at it
Make a list of the lies you tell yourself each day so you are not responsible for the results of your capricious actions and the thought out ones
Look into your inner life and see whom you blame for your actions, who you are angry with for stopping you from enjoying ‘your heart’s desires’
Make a list of the ways you are being holy each day!
God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark