Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 92
Why do I bring the political into the realm of spiritual, people ask me. “Leave the political to the politicians and you take care of the spiritual needs of the people, only”, I have been directed, told, ‘ordered’ to do when I was a Rabbi at an institution in Los Angeles, Ca. I did not listen, of course, partly because I am stubborn and mostly because, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, God was involved in the politics through the prophets, through the Torah, through the mitzvot. Everything political has a spiritual component, has a moral component, has to do with helping the poor and the needy, loving the stranger, practicing kindness, truth, compassion, love, justice, mercy in ALL OF OUR AFFAIRS!
Today, at this moment, I do not know the outcome of the Democratic Senate Race in Michigan. I do not know if the Anti-Semitic Socialist Democrat candidate won or not, I do not know if this hater of Israel, this human being who believes in Hamas, celebrates Oct 7th, thinks Israel should not exist, favors the underdog and is willfully blind to the fact that NO ARAB NATION has wanted to give comfort and shelter to the Palestinian People since they, the other ARAB NATIONS, told them to leave their homes while they, the other ARAB NATIONS, decimated Israel in 1948-AND THEN THEY DID NOT and gave nothing to their cousins will win in the general election. I do know that Bernie and his “Squad” want to see the ONLY democracy in the Middle East cease to exist. This, these ‘fine progressive folk’ who don’t believe in freedom for all, only freedom for ‘their people’ believe will make the world safer, democracy stronger as the Hamas continues to impose ridiculous fear on their ‘constituents’, the Palestinian Authority continues to be useless and weak, and the Koran or their interpretation of the Koran becomes the law of the land. This is deeply personal to God, this is deeply political to God, and so it should be to We the People.
Habakkuk 2:18 says: “What use is there in a carved idol whose maker has shaped it, a molten image, and a teacher of lies”. Both Bernie and his “Squad”, Trump and his thugs, fit this description in my opinion. AND, the News Media who fail to call out the anti-semitism because they are so appalled by Israel’s cruelty in Gaza and the West Bank, which is also true, also fit this description. The Carved Idol is ‘the poor Palestinians’ who turned down numerous opportunities to accept negotiations that gave them 95% of their requests-What say you about that El-Sayed, Bernie, AOC, et al? What do you know of the torment that Israelis have gone through for 78 years waiting for the next suicide bomber, the next bus stop bomb, the next …? AND Netanyahu, Smotrich, Ben G’Vir et al are WRONG and despicable, they are NOT acting in the ways of the Bible, they are not hearing, listening, understanding God’s way and words, they do not love mercy, they are not acting justly, etc. AND NEITHER ARE YOUR BELOVED HAMAS, Bernie and his Babies!
Between Trump and Bernie, those of We the People who are seeking an authentic relationship with a power greater than ourselves, who are wrestling each and every day to keep our “rational minds the servant” and use our “intuitive minds (as) a gift”, who are dealing with how to be one grain of sand better each day, have no home, have no advocates, have no party that gives a shit! This is true for both Republicans and Democrats who are just tired of the same old bullshit and do not want the ‘new way’ that Trump has brought nor the hatred, anti-semitism, revenge of Bernie and his babies.
It is WAY PAST TIME to leave these “teachers of lies”, these teachers of hate, these teachers of grift, these teachers of ‘purity’, these teachers of chaos in both camps. It is WAY PAST TIME for We the People to reassert the principles in the Declaration of Independence, to live into the Command to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and Rebuke your neighbor, and NOT HATE YOUR BROTHER IN YOUR HEART! Of course none of these ways of being get people riled up, none of these ways of being get people out to vote, the conventional thinking goes. BULLSHIT! This is path that God has given us, be it through the Bible, the words of Christ, the New Testament, etc and We the People are being called in this moment, from the Voice on Sinai, to leave EGYPT once again, to realize the subtle ways we have turned back to the narrowness of one-way thinking, the blindness of either/or thinking and “Lift up our eyes and SEE! See the truth that surrounds us instead of the mendacity and self-deception that tries to blind us. See the mercy that we can provide rather than the cruelty we seem to enjoy. See the Love that we spread, that is so sorely needed rather than the hatred that is being spewed from both camps. See that God’s Camp is the only one worth being in.
ACTION STEP: What are the idols you have created, are you a teacher of lies, a student of liars?
God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark