Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 34
The prophet Hosea speaks to the “harlotry” of the People Israel, telling us, in the beginning chapters of his book, that because ‘she’/Israel, the Northern Kingdom, will not “put away her harlotry” and will be stripped “naked”. This is the kingdom that was made up of a majority of tribes, it is a kingdom that is ‘run’ by the descendants of Joseph’s children, Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of the chosen of Jacob and, like Jacob-they could not ever truly believe in God’s love, they could not completely surrender themselves to the truth of God’s ways and they whored themselves all the time-seeking the ‘certainty of idolatry’, they were risk averse, and they found themselves overtaken, conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed so they could not come together to fight the Assyrians nor would they remember where they came from in a generation or two.
Twice each day, in the Shema and her paragraphs, we say “Lo Taturu”, “don’t scout after your heart and your eyes because you will whore after them”-this is a literal translation. The Rabbis, without giving attribution to Hosea because they were afraid of the prophets, the prophets hated the smallest injustice, the least amount of inauthenticity, the minute bastardization of God’s will/words, thought the lessons of the Northern Kingdom were important enough to include this warning in our prayers, saying it twice and following these words with “I am the Lord, God who brought you out of Egypt…” I am hearing the call this morning to STOP WHORING in the slightest way, to STOP running after the false idols of money, prestige, power, to STOP BASTARDIZING the word of God, the word of Christ for one’s own benefit and to STOP GIVING IN to the lies of the autocrat, the mendacity of these ‘fine christian, jewish, and muslim’ clergy who are telling us to kill the bastards who are ‘against us’, like those Black people and those Jews, those Christians and those Muslims, ie, anyone who is not like us!!
To speak to what is happening right now is to shudder at the criminality, the grift, the hating the stranger, the killing of innocent people, the grab for absolute power and the lack of resistance from We the People’s representatives on the Republican side and the idiotic resistance from We the People’s representatives on the “progressive” side. To not see the reflection of Hosea’s description of the Northern Kingdom in today’s world is to stay willfully blind, something Jews repent for each Yom Kippur and do a daily inventory (T’Shuvah) about each day. Yet, when Scott Bessent can proudly stand up and show off a counterfeit $250.00 bill with Trump’s picture on it, when Scott Bessent can loudly and proudly support everything the administration is doing to curtail the rights of We the People, when Scott Bessent can smile at the Supreme Court’s thinking about reviewing the Marriage Act that allows Same-Sex marriages throughout the land, he is the EXACT HARLOT that Hosea is speaking about and to! A gay married man kissing the ring, the ass, sucking up to and off the very people who think he is an ABOMINATION! What the FUCK??
Be it Bibi, Wytkoff, Kushner, Bessent, AIPAC, they myriad of Jews who are supporting this grift and graft, supporting the restriction of freedoms for ‘those people’, all of the people who are in the extremes are ignorant and/or ignoring the lessons of Hosea. I find it unbelievable that Rabbis, Cantors, Jews of any and all stripes could continue to be THE HARLOT that destroyed the Northern Kingdom that caused “the lost tribes” and, ultimately, destroyed both Temples. I am AGHAST that Jewish Education is so puny, so ridiculous that the Prophets are not studied, taught, emulated and imitated.
I believe it comes down to risk benefit. Too many people have shown throughout the millennia they are afraid to surrender to ADONAI, to live into a monotheistic way of life, to stop being the harlot and start being the faithful spouse, the loyal husband, the child that obeys because their experience and the experience of their ancestors has taught her/him the wisdom of God’s ways, the joy of wonder, the power of connection, and the need for curiosity. I know once I opened myself up to learning, once a became excited again each morning cause I knew/know I am going to learn something, everything changed-surrender became a joy, certainty was sent out of my ken, stupid risks didn’t control me as they had in the past and I risk everything to “save one soul” because, as Jewish Wisdom teaches, “it is as if you have saved an entire world”. I am grateful that I have been able to imbue the wisdom of the universe and show up when called and stand up when needed.
ACTION STEP: 1( How have you been the harlot overtly and covertly-what is the T’Shuvah you need to do to get back onto God’s path?
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark