Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 5 Day 26
“Man’s power of action is less vague than his power of intention. And an action has intrinsic meaning; its value to the world is independent of what it means to the person performing it. The act of giving food to a helpless child is meaningful regardless of whether or not the moral intention is present. God asks for the heart, and we must spell our answer in terms of deeds” (Thunder in the Soul pg. 88)
These sentences lay out a great conundrum humanity has wrestled with forever. What one does says much more than what one intends, what one says, what one believes. Yet, society continues to want to listen to what they say and be surprised by their actions. Case in point: Trump was a liar, a cheat, a thief, a grifter his ENTIRE LIFE, yet, a majority of we the people believed his words, his bullshit, over what they saw with their own eyes; CRUELTY, HATRED, PREJUDICE, GREED, LUST, etc. Hence, we are in a war of Trump’s choice, a war that is dangerous for the American Soldiers, a war that is costing We the People over a billion dollars a day, a war depleting our weaponry, a war that 62% of America DOES NOT WANT, a war that is costing all of us our savings, our affordability,… Yet, Trump keeps saying his lies, his cabinet keeps Kissing His Ass, and many of the people who voted for him are suffering and/or going to suffer the most! WTF People??
I begin with this diatribe because while Rabbi Heschel gives an example of something good, feeding “a helpless child”, I believe We the People have to see, hear, understand what our negative actions do as well. When people with disabilities are mocked and derided, the cruelty shown affects the person being made fun of, it also affects the people witnessing this spiritual crime, it affects the family members of the person with the disability, it affects all the families of people with challenges, as well as the people themselves. YET, good old boy, Lindsey Graham don’t care, that paragon of virtue, Tom Holman don’t care, Kristi Noem don’t care, Howard Lutnick don’t care, their motto, like Trump’s, is FUCK EVERYONE YOU CAN as often as you can.
The intrinsic meaning of the actions taken by Gingrich, the Tea Party, Trump and his MAGA crowd is to deny the foundation of what America was created to be: a democratic state where people argued, people fought, and, with the exception of the Civil War, it was, is, and, please God, will be: We the People, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.!
THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED BY WE THE PEOPLE! We did it with King George, with England when they were so powerful and We the People can certainly do it with Trump and his buffoons-as powerful as they are, We the People Shall Overcome!
“God asks for the heart, and we must spell our answer in terms of deeds” is crucial for change, for T’Shuvah which is what We the People of America and Israel must engage in RIGHT FUCKING NOW. Bibi and Donny do not represent what God asks for nor what God wants, Iranian leadership and Hamas do not represent what God asks for nor what God wants, Putin and Orban, et al do not represent what God asks for nor what God wants! We the People have to rise above our pettiness, pride, fear and self-deception to BE LIBERATED this Passover. We the People are being called to account for what our “deeds” say, for the ramifications of our negative, indifferent actions and the ledger is NOT in the BLACK!! We the People can change the accounting right now, using this Passover to, like the Rabbis in B’nei Brak, plot our liberation from the negativity that has poisoned our souls, overtaken our minds and closed our hearts. We the People are in need of circumcising our hearts once again and continue to monitor the openness and welcoming of the stranger, of God into our hearts. This is the path I have been on for the past 39+ years and while it gets narrower, it also gets bigger, more rewarding and joyous.
ACTION STEPS:
Separate your intentions from your actions
End your incessant need to explain your bad actions away because of intentions, thinking, etc
Stand up and fight for the hard-fought liberation our ancestors provided us with
DO NOT SURRENDER to the self-deception and the lies of another.
Be part of a group that plots ACTION STEPS for liberation from indifference, etc
GOD BLESS and STAY SAFE, Rabbi Mark