Weekly Parsha - VaYahel/Pekudei

Weekly Parsha

VaYahel/Pekudei

“So the whole community of the Israelites left Moses’ presence. Everyone who excelled in ability and everyone whose spirit moved him came, bringing his offering…”(Exodus 35:21,22).

This verse from our Parsha stands out to me this year because it speaks of the work that all of us have to do in our living well. It speaks to the acceptance of our T’Shuvah by God in that we were able to build the Mishkan, the portable sancutary/tent of meeting. God’s actions tell us that we were not banished from God’s presence because of our actions with the Golden Calf. 

This is an important lesson for all of us. We are so used to either being banished/thrown out of families, communities, society for our worst actions and God doesn’t do this to us. The Golden Calf was/is one of the worst actions the Israelites had taken up till now and God accepted our T’Shuvah through Moses. We, humans, forget this way of being. Yes, people have to be asked to leave a space, community, family because of our worst actions sometimes and we also have to be open to the T’Shuvah of the person as well. Forgiveness is a difficult action for many of us. We would rather hold on to the resentment and anger because it feels good and we don’t have to look at our part in the interaction. If I can make you bad, I can make myself good and living as the injured party gives me solace rather than being responsible. Whenever I forgive someone, I have to look at my part and the myriad of ways I have done the same thing to others. 

We also learn that we all have something to bring to build a sanctuary for ourselves, another(s) and our community. This speaks to those of us (all of us at some time) who feel less than, not important, etc. In the context of this Parsha, it tells us that all of us are important. We all have a skill to bring, a word of Torah to give and things that will help create a sacred space for ourselves and our community. It is crucial that we remember this for our inner well-being and the well-being of another(s). In today’s world we live in so much comparison and competition that many of us believe that what we have to offer isn’t enough. This week’s Parsha says NO, that is a lie we tell ourselves and we need to stop doing this. 

Living the life our spirit moves us to live is the path that these verses are telling us to do. We leave the presence of Moses in order to go inside ourselves and see what we have to bring and be willing to bring the best we have in the moment. Moses can’t do it for us nor do we have to be dependent on Moses to bring out our best. We are capable and commanded to be the best person we can be in the moment. When we take ourselves seriously enough to appreciate this truth and not so serious that we are narcissistic, we can live well and add our unique gifts to the world around us.

It is hard to live this way, I know. It is hard to be banished and not have our T’Shuvah accepted enough to be a part of a group, community, etc. It is even harder to forgive those who we have harmed and to forgive the people who don’t want us around anymore. Some of us, like me, have been blessed to be accepted back into our families and communities even after making grave errors. Some of us, like me, feel the pain of being banished from places we love and people we care about even after being responsible for the harm we did and made T’Shuvah for the harm.

Yet, this week’s Parsha tells me and us that we still have gifts to bring and bring them we must. When our old communities and/or families don’t want us, we have to find new places to bring our gifts to create new sacred spaces. The pain is real and the joy of new discoveries is also real. No matter where we are, we get to bring our gifts, our spirits and our matured inner life to the place we are, in this way we create and carry a Mishkan with us at all times. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 59

“In that day men shall turn to their Maker, their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel; they shall not turn to the altars that their own hands made, or look to the sacred posts and incense stands that their own fingers wrought. Truly you have forgotten God who saves you and have not remembered the Rock who shelters you.”(Isaiah 17:7,8, 10).

Unfortunately, “in that day” is the day that Israel, the northern kingdom, will be destroyed, according to Isaiah. “In that day” is a key phrase in Jewish and, I believe, Christian prayer and thought because it points to a messianic experience as I understand it. I just think that is not what the prophet is talking about.

I understand “in that day” as the day we all wake up and see the Truth of our existence.  “In that day” is the day we stop building our own altars and worshiping ourselves. It is the day that we accept the realness of God and the debt we owe God for our lives, our families, friends, community, etc. In Isaiah’s time, and unfortunately still today, we believe that our handiwork is greater than God’s creations, we believe that our worship of false gods are greater than worshipping God. Even worse, we believe the idolatry we practice is actually worshiping the One, True, Ineffable, God. Oh no!

“In that day”, to me is the day when we accept God’s Will for us and renew the covenant we made at Sinai, the covenant we make when we marry, the covenant we make when we have children. These covenants all share commitment to something greater than our own selves, acknowledgment of our need to be connected, and our statements of love, compassion, caring and kindness. 

Isaiah is speaking to Judah about what is happening in the Northern Kingdom as a warning, I believe. He is trying to tell us that we don’t have to wait to suffer the same fate. He is reminding them of their debt to God, I believe in the last two sentences above. God saved us from the Egyptians, God shelters us and brings us to our proper places and we forget. How sad and self-destructive! 

Rabbi Heschel says the prophets: “insists upon redemption. The way man acts is a disgrace… together with condemnation, the prophets offer a promise.”(The Prophets pg.181). The promise here being “in that day” the people will return to God and leave their idols and their idolatrous ways forever. Rabbi Heschel also teaches us:”To Isaiah, God is “a rock of refuge”. What a beautiful description of how God has been, is and will continue to be for us, a place of refuge, an experience of salvation, redemption and hope.

Our politicians, once again, missed an opportunity to unify behind what is good for We, The People. I will not get the stimulus check, I will not get any direct benefit from the legislation passed along party lines, yet I am rejoicing that the poor, the needy and the strangers in our midst will see some relief. I am in abject sorrow that the Republicans could not find it within themselves to turn to God and not turn to the altars that they made/make. It pains me that they would rather bring down destruction and ruin for all of us than reach out to the poor and the needy in order to serve themselves and the wealthy among them. Tax cuts-YES, healthcare, help for the needy and poor-NO. They are recreating the times of Israel and Judah and believe they will not suffer the same fate. We have to tell them to stop their evil ways and return to God’s Will. 

In recovery, we all have had this “in that day” experience. Being in recovery is directly linked to an experience of knowing the folly and the futility of worshiping at the altars of our own hands and believing that the sacred posts we built in our addiction/altered state are real and good. Being in recovery is remembering that God is our Rock and our shelter, God is our director and our redeemer. We turn to our “Maker” each and every day, through prayer, service and community. We are a diverse group of people from all ethnicities, colors, politics, economic levels AND we all bond together and see each other for who we all are: holy souls struggling with a disease that lies to us, that tries to kill us and our only solution is connection to another(s), God and our authentic self. 

I have had and continue to have many “in that day”. I forget at times that God is my shelter and my Rock. I am blessed that I come back to remembering this and return to God. Each and every day is “in that day” for me as I wake up a little more and become aware of the way I worship idols and the ways I worship God. Each and every day I am blessed to see the errors of my way and how I “buy my own press” and live as a caricature of myself. When I see the destruction I have brought through worshipping at the altars I have built, I am in pain and I am grateful that God shows me the errors of my ways so I can be redeemed by God. It is a blessing because I get to continue to refine my living, my soul and grow closer to God, to another(s), to Harriet, Heather, family and friends. “In that day” is every day that I am able to see life a little clearer and be a little cleaner in all my affairs. How are you worshiping your own altars? Have you made the decision that God is your shelter and your Rock yet? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- daily wisdom to enhance our living

Daily Prophets

Day 58

“Let My outcasts, the outcasts of Moab live with you; be a refuge to them from the face of the plunderer; for the extortioner is at an end, the plunderer ceases… And in mercy a throne was established; he sat upon it in truthfulness in the tent of David, judging, seeking judgement and quick to be righteous. We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is very proud, of his arrogance, and his pride and his anger; but his boasts are false.”(Isaiah 16:4-6).

Isaiah is, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, holding God and human in one moment, in one thought, I believe in these verses. He is calling out for Judah to be a safe harbor for refugees. Caring for the stranger is an integral part of Torah and being Jewish. It is God who is owning the outcast and I shudder to realize how often we forget this. I read the first verse above as a call for us/me to do God’s work, care for the outcast and the refugee.  These people need safe harbor and the evil that was heaped upon them will end and they need to know they belong in the world and haven’t been forgotten or shunned. 

The second verse is teaching me/us that a throne/government is established as an act of mercy by God. Not only is government a merciful action, the formula for real governance is truth, justice, continual learning, and righteousness. This was the formula that God gave us through King David and everyone who followed/follows is supposed to live this formula, alas it hasn’t happened, which is why the prophet has to instruct us to take in the outcasts and refuges>

The last verse above is reminding us where our arrogance, pride and anger will lead us, to destruction. Boasts are false because people of true accomplishment let their work speak for themselves. We live in a world that has always had braggarts and angry people who try to bully, extort, plunder, etc. Isaiah is telling us that this way only leads to destruction and 2000+ years later, we still haven’t learned. 

Rabbi Heschel uses these verses to demonstrate God being at One with God’s people. Rabbi Heschel’s experience of the prophets speaking for God and reminding us that we are never alone, God is calling demanding, cajoling and delivering justice, which at times means destruction. Here, God is saying to Judah, (all of us today) that justice, truth, righteousness, continually seeking all of these are the foundation of our living. This is how we are One with God, I am understanding Rabbi Heschel’s writing in The Prophets on pages 108-110 to remind us that our relationship is reciprocal, God calls to us, we listen and respond in kind.

We, the People, have to immerse ourselves in these verses and thoughts in order to choose our representative government wisely. Our politicians have forgotten that all of us “Real Americans” come from people seeking refuge here. Instead of welcoming the stranger, being a refuge for outcasts as the poem on the Statue of Liberty promises, we have become one of those places that is creating refugees and making outcasts of another(s) human beings. Instead of justice, righteousness, truth and seeking to learn more ways to help, our politicians and courts have promoted the interests of the wealthy, being intolerant of justice, laughing at righteousness and promoting the Big Lie as truth. They boast about their arrogance and pride.

In recovery, we know all about the hell we create through arrogance and pride. We know what promoting the Big Lie does to our soul and the souls and lives of the people around us. We are well aware of where our anger and false boasting got us, drunker, higher, gambling more, etc. In recovery, truth, justice and righteousness are foundational elements of life for us. We seek out and welcome the refugees from addictive behaviors and substances, as the 3rd tradition of AA says: “The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.” This, I believe, is Isaiah’s words above in action. In recovery, we know that we were given a safe harbor, people were righteous and kind, loving and forgiving towards us, so we must pay it forward to others and use our stories not as personal trophies, rather as proof that with God, loving people and willingness to engage in letting go of the Big Lies we have told ourselves, recovery is possible and joyous. 

I have, as usual, lived both sides of these verses. I have been boastful, arrogant and proud to a fault as well as in proper measure in my addictive years and in my recovery at times. I have spent much more of my years in recovery welcoming the outcast, helping the refugee and judging in truth, righteousness and kindness. I do this by welcoming the outcast and refugee in me. I know that I have worked very hard to let people know that I love them, they belong to our community and they belong in and are needed in the world. I am responsible for my errors and I have stood up and said so, changed at least one grain of sand and continue to learn, to live more justly, and to deepen my connection to God, family, my soul to soul relationships, community, world. How are you living justly and righteously today? How do you let the refugee and outcast know you are safe harbor for them? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 57

“In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. My heart cries out for Moab…”(Isaiah 15:3,5)

I chose these verses for today as they depict the choices the Moabites made, the consequences of their choices and the compassion of Isaiah. The Moabites were enemies of Israel they attacked them, etc. and, like with Nineveh in the Book of Jonah, they knew to “gird themselves with sackcloth” in order to stave off their destruction. Yet, did they really mean it? 

Here, one could make a case that the Moabites were merely trying to appease God and did not really mean the repentance that wearing sackcloth indicated in those times. I am thinking of how often, even today, we put on clothes that merely give the appearance of something, a facade if you will, without any real meaning behind our actions. The Moabites may have been trying to put up a facade to avoid being destroyed.

The crying and howling also seem a little disingenuous. I am sure that they were scared and upon seeing the destruction coming, their fear turned into the crying, howling, weeping. Yet, again for me, it is not the howling, weeping and crying of one who has seen what their actions wrought and is repentant for them. It is someone doing what it takes to look a certain way. 

And yet, through all of this, Isaiah still finds compassion for Moab. Not that he is arguing for them being saved, just the compassion and sadness that it has come to this. I hear God’s compassion, sadness and love in Isaiah’s words. This compassion and love is what the prophet is teaching all of us to practice, I believe. 

Rabbi Heschel’s teachings about mental make-up in his book Man is Not Alone, are stuck in my being after reading this chapter of Isaiah. He speaks about masks and how we hide behind our different facades throughout his writings and I hear the voice of our Prophets and God calling us out to be real, especially in the subchapter, Faith is a Blush, from Man is Not Alone, page 91.He speaks about Isaiah’s compassion not as mocking as some commentators do, rather as real and shows his oneness with the people and his oneness with God. After all, isn’t this what we all need to aspire to do, be one with ourselves, another(s) and God? This is the essence of the Shema, I believe. 

OY, if our leaders in statehouses and Washington DC would only Shema to the words of their faiths! If they would hear, listen and understand that we are all part of the Oneness of God, they would not work so hard to exclude so many people, they would stop seeing another as The Other. They could stop being so afraid of their own shadows and embrace the uniqueness of another(s). If they would only stop wearing the mental make-up and the masks that prevent them from serving We, The People, and stop them from serving White Power. They will wear sackcloth one day and they will look like they were repentant and on the side of the people come election season and it is our duty to point out their lies and their masks so we put people of principle into office, people who want to serve others rather than themselves. I pray that the Senate will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill and ensure the right to liberty and justice for all!

In recovery, we drop our masks and remove our mental make-up. When we put on our sackcloth and weep, it is true remorse, otherwise we can’t be in recovery! Recovery is about truth, justice, taking responsibility, having compassion and giving love. We reject our past falseness and our past falsehoods, we have a 4th step to rid ourselves of the lies and resentments, we follow this up with a 10th step every day to continue to root out the lies, errors and resentments that we accumulate each day. In recovery, we have compassion for those who still suffer and we understand that the consequences they experience are not “punishments” rather they are wake-up calls to return to God, to decency, to recovery.

In my life, I have been both Moab and Isaiah. I have made false claims of repentance and sorrow when I was drinking and doing crime. In fact, I lied to my daughter when she was only 5 saying I was done with that life and I would never leave her again. I have been living my repentance for that lie and so many others for the past 32+years of my recovery. I have not made any amends/T’Shuvah that I haven’t meant. Even if I had to be shown my part by someone else, I could own it-eventually. I have a lot of compassion and, like Isaiah, my heart aches for those who “cannot or will not follow this simple program” to follow God’s Will and path. I keep searching for the ways I am still hiding and I pray that everyone will. I keep searching for ways to serve another(s) and am grateful that God continues to show me the way.  What mental make-up and facades are you still wearing? When will you return to your essence and connect with God and life as your authentic self? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark 

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 56

“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will still choose Israel and set them up in their own land. That you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How has the oppressor ceased; the golden city ceased! God has broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. Who struck the people in anger with a continual stroke who ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.”(Isaiah 14:1, 4-6)

The prophet is reminding us that the remnant of Jacob/Israel will return and God’s mercy will prevail. I love that Isaiah mentions both Jacob, the trickster, and Israel, the wrestler. Israel is chosen to have their own land and carry the message of God throughout the world. Jacob, the one who tries to outmaneuver everyone, will be given mercy. The nightmare of exile will end! We get to return to God, which being held accountable does, we have to also show mercy to self and to another(s). This is what the first verse is telling me. 

Verses 4-6 foretell the fall of Babylon and what will happen, eventually, to all oppressors. These kings and rulers who turned wicked and used their power for their own self interest and were cruel and oppressive to their people, will fall. These words are so revealing in how oppressors work and yet, people still follow them! It is a wonder that people take the anger and persecution in stride. This seems to be the ultimate inner slavery that people fall into. 

Because of this propensity to fall into the inner slavery of accepting the anger and persecution of ‘the ones in power’, the first verse is crucial to our understanding of how to leave this inner slavery. We have to always remember that God will have mercy on us, show us grace and redeem us.

Rabbi Heschel writes that the first verse is about the sorrow in God’s anger. Even as God holds us accountable and is ‘angry’ at our breaking the covenant, “God’s affection for Israel rings even in the denunciations(The Prophets pg. 103). He goes on to say the anger  “is an instrument of purification and its exercise will not last forever”(The Prophets pg.104) Rabbi Heschel teaches us that Verses 4-6 above remind us that too often we worship might rather than God: “Why were so few voices raised in the ancient world in protest against the ruthlessness of man? Perhaps it is because they worship might…The prophets repudiated the work as well as the power of man as an object of supreme adoration(The Prophets pg.202). I am so disturbed by Rabbi Heschel’s words because they still apply, to all of us. In this moment of searching our souls and selves to find and root our own prejudices and “eye diseases”, being reminded of our inaction and worshiping of might causes me to shake and tremble at my core. 

Yet, our politicians still don’t shake and/or tremble at their core. They are still worshiping power and might. Some of them are supporters of the people who tried to make our ‘golden city’; Washington DC, cease to exist. Many of them are set on obstructing to ways of helping the needy and poor rather than offer realistic and caring alternative measures. Still more of them are interested in looking good for the camera and proposing measures that go too far. They are forgetting that the only true power is God and we are but servants of The Most High. These people are seeing themselves as kingmakers and rulers for their own interests rather than the interests of the people whom they serve and God who breathes life into all of us. We, The People, have to hold them accountable before they destroy the democratic way of being that has endured for over 244 years! 

In recovery, we are aware of God’s grace each and every day. The Serenity Prayer, as written by Reinhold Neibuhr begins with “God grant us the Grace…”, which many of us in recovery use as a mantra one-many times a day. We have worshiped power and might, in fact many of us thought we were the mighty in our rebellion and destruction. In recovery we acknowledge God’s power and our desire, intention and actions to carry out God’s will rather than our own. We know that we have been chosen as well to “carry the message” to other people who are in need of recovery. We get to be agents of God’s message of mercy and love. This is the gift of recovery and we honor it each and every day. 

In my life, the mercy that God has bestowed upon me has been/is endless. In my pre-recovery days I was like the rulers of Babylon, oppressing others with my cons and schemes and working to get everyone to dance to my tune out of their love and concern for me. In my recovery, I have also oppressed others at times with my ways of getting things done and my lack of intuiting how to speak to them in a way they could hear. I have also oppressed others with my anger and passion. God’s mercy, however restores me and reminds me of my worth, my uniqueness and the Divine need I was created for. I have to extend the same mercy and grace to another(s), rejoicing in their wins and helping them to fail forward. How are you oppressing yourself and/or another(s)? How are you showing mercy to yourself and another(s)? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 55

“I have commanded My Holy ones, I have also called My mighty ones to execute my anger on the haughty ones. Behold the day of the Lord comes…to destroy the sinners from it. I will hold accountable the world for it’s evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud and lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants.”(Isaiah 13:3,0,11). 

In this chapter, Isaiah is letting the people of Babylon know what is in store for them if they stay on their current path. In the first verse above, God is not destroying the entire world, God is sending the people who have remained true to their covenant and stayed strong in the actions and faithfulness to wage the war against haughtiness. This seems to be the major crime here, haughtiness and arrogance. 

It makes sense also. When people in power worship their power and believe it gives the “right/ok” to do whatever they want, they act with arrogance and with haughtiness. This way of being is what happened in Babylon, Greece, Rome, throughout antiquity and, I believe, why none of these civilizations remained intact till today. God’s holy ones and the strong ones will survive and carry the day, Isaiah is telling us. Not the immediate, maybe, yet they will carry the day in the end. 

Isaiah is also letting us know that God does hold us accountable. Accountability is an important part of our relationship with God. It is an important part of every relationship.“Evil flourishes when good people do nothing” is a truth that comes from seeing history through the “eyes” of God and the Prophets. Isaiah is castigating and accusing Babylon regarding the evil they did and that they allowed. Arrogance and haughtiness lead to evil actions and these evil actions destroy God’s world and, in turn, the world of these arrogant and haughty people gets destroyed. 

Rabbi Heschel sees these verses as both eschatological and hopeful, as I am reading him today. The hope is that: “Suffering does not redeem; it only makes one worthy of redemption; for the purpose of redemption is to initiate an age in which those who err in spirit will come to understand..”(The Prophets, pg. 119).  This is in a section called “A Remnant Will Return”. This suffering was the result of our arrogance and haughtiness and it was accountability rather than “punishment” in the usual way of understanding it . This is accountability and ‘punishment’ that is meant to help us see what we have been blind to;  suffer the consequences of our actions, and understand what we have to do to live in accordance with God and our Covenant. 

Our political leaders need to reread this chapter as they decide on the voting rights restrictions, ways to treat immigrants, people of color and white people who don’t agree with them. When I was in prison in the 80’s, a white person who associated with a person of color was castigated, hurt, shunned for “not being down for his race”. Isn’t this the same thing these voting restrictions are meant to do? No Sunday voting because the Black Churches would organize the congregants, give me a break. These haughty and arrogant politicians are doing untold evil to our system, evil that will reverberate for decades, if not lead to the destruction of our democracy. Khrushchev was correct, the enemy is within. We The People have to call a stop to this evil and to their arrogance right now, right here. This is what we should march against, this is whom we should be recalling, the arrogant and haughty that are going to cause our destruction as they have throughout the millennia. 

In Recovery, we are so aware of our arrogance and haughtiness. Accountability is an integral part of our 4th step inventory we cannot move forward without taking responsibility. We constantly are looking at our part in each and every situation in our life in order to suffer both the positive and negative consequences of our behaviors, ask for help, understand and accept instruction for amends and growth. We do this with God’s help and the help of others, sponsors, close connections, clergy, etc. We know that we have arrogant and haughty traits and we cry out to God and others to help us tame these traits and use them for good instead of for self. 

I have a lot of experience with arrogance! Prior to my recovery and even still at times now, my arrogance appears as “less than”. Whenever I am feeling “less than” and act out by trying to prove I am “more than”, it is arrogant. Low Self-Esteem is saying that God made Junk when God made me. Now, that is arrogant. It is also self-defeating and a violent act towards oneself. My arrogance has led me to very good places also, it has led me to believe that redemption is possible for everyone and I get to help others see their way to it. It has led to help build an amazing organization. It has hurt some people and I am sorry for this aspect of it. It has hurt me by blinding me to the betrayal of myself, my loved ones and God. It has hurt me by blinding me to the truth of who people are and the transactional nature of relationships that I thought were soul to soul. “Hi, my name is Mark and I am a recovering Arrogant and Haughty person” is my new motto after today. How is your arrogance and haughtiness helping/hurting you and others today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 54

“And on that day, you will say, O Lord, I praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comforted me. Behold God is my savior, I will trust and no be afraid; because my strength and song is Adonai and God is my salvation.”(Isaiah 12:1,2). 

The Hebrew phrase used in verse 1, “on that day or in that day” points to a future time and I believe that ‘future time’ could be anytime, even today. A different reading could be “On the day you say I thank You for turning away your anger and comforting me” which indicates to me that “that day” is the day we decide it to be. We get to choose when we will be grateful to God as a regular practice, for “returning my soul to me with compassion, great is Your faithfulness” as we say in the Modeh Ani prayer. This verse is reminding me/us that I/we have to power to choose the way I/we will live and the day I/we are  firmly rooted(51%) in gratitude, compassion, faithfulness, comfort, etc. 

Verse 2 is the confirmation of verse 1. Once I/we realize that God was angry at the way we used God’s gift of life to pervert justice, be unfaithful while trying to look good, crush the tablets of the covenant in a manner that made Moses’ breaking of them at the Golden Calf look meh, AND, God forgave/forgives me/us, welcomes me/us back and forgives us; I/we have to sing out in praise! This praise will come as the Song of the Sea came, spontaneous and with deep gratitude. The difference, to me, in this verse is that we realize the power of God to save us from ourselves whenever we turn back (return) to God. Unlike humans, who will ‘I told you so’ us to death or refuse to help because of anger, God is always wanting us/me back and when I/we understand this, we realize all the other things we believed would save us were “fools gold”. It is only God who will save me/us and for that I/we commit to trust in God. 

This trust means that the fear that is paralyzing and false, and leads to a lack of faith, will no longer control me/us. It is my/our fear, that sends us looking for the “fools gold” mentioned above. It is the paralyzing fear of scarcity, being blamed, shame, immaturity, not being in power/control; that leads us to idolatry, to pervert justice and to break the spirit of the covenant even while ‘keeping’ the letter of it. Once I/we let go of this paralyzing fear, my/our eyes are opened and I/we experience the strength, salvation and melody of my/our soul, of God and my/our partnership with God. 

Rabbi Heschel teaches us that these verses prove that God’s anger does not “obscure HIs love”. It is God’s love that redeems me/us, as I experience Rabbi Heschel’s teachings, and there has to be a reciprocity of that love by me/you. OY, this is where Rabbi Heschel is constantly irritating me, pushing me and believing in me. Rabbi Heschel channels the prophets’ belief in us, channels God’s belief in us that we can achieve, live the covenant and make “on that day” right here, right now, today! 

Our politicians are finding old, new, same and different ways to continue to worship power and mendacity. They are up to their old and new tricks that harm the poor, the needy, that pervert the principles of democracy with locked, foul, and false election laws. They are so blinded by their own self-importance that they refuse to even experience God’s anger. The god they claim to believe in is another of those “fools gold” experiences, yet they continue to flaunt God’s call and continue to believe that the strength is theirs, comes from them and they can use it anyway they want. How foolish and how sad. 

In recovery, we sing a song to God each and every day! For many of us, it is how we begin our days with a gratitude list. I know that the fears I have can only be overcome with trust, faith and surrender to God. I am powerless over people, places and things until I surrender, put my faith and trust in God and sing the song that God has put into my soul. Frank Sinatra sang: “Without a Song”, reminding us of Isaiah’s words, we all need to sing the song deep in our soul as Sinatra sings and Isaiah exhorts us to! This is the essence of the first three steps that many people in recovery say in the morning, I can’t, God can, please help. We “turn our will and lives over to the care of God…” each and every day in a show of trust, need and gratitude for our salvation.

I made this decision 34.33 years ago and, while I have tried to take power back at times, I have continued to be grateful and know that only God can save me. My trust in God has pushed me, pulled me and supported me through each fear I have faced. Knowing God is my strength has given me the courage to face injustice head-on, care for the needy in my midst and speak truth to power, whether they accepted it (and me) or not. I have sung a new song to God most every day. I am grateful each and every day for the gift of life and I do the best I can in the moment. I fall short, I get blamed and foibles used against me, I call on God for the strength to get up, do T’Shuvah and carry on- God has always answered me, helped me and saved me. How are you trusting in God and letting go of paralyzing fear? 

Weekly Parsha - Ki Tissa 5781

Weekly Parashah

Ki Tissa 5781

This week’s Parashah  I was studying this with Rabbi Tova Leibovic Douglas this week and we found an interesting phrase in regard to the Golden Calf.  Verses 32:30, 31 use the Hebrew word Hatat is used for sin. In my understanding, Hatat is the lesser category of sins, Aveiros is the greatest. Hatat is usually used to denote a ‘missing of the mark’ as it is a term used in archery as well. Hatat is also the word we use in the long confessional that we say on Yom Kippur, that we believe we can be forgiven for. 

Moses uses this term with the people saying: “You have sinned a great sin”, idolatry was a capital offense, yet Moses is calling it a great ‘missing the mark’! It indicates to me that this particular action of the people was not the same as the idolatry of the people  that they are called to account for in the time of the Prophets or even later on in their journey, ie, the story of the spies in Numbers. How come? 

I think that because the people were still fresh out of slavery and the inner slave was still strong within them all, Moses was being compassionate. Remember, Moses was never a slave and could not truly know that experience and what it does to a human being. I also think that Moses recognized their fears and their anxieties were so great and they believed he had died on the Mountain. Sinai, while a spiritual experience was also a traumatic one. Moses wanted the people to let go of the shame they were feeling as well, I hope.
I also believe that this wasn’t considered Idolatry to Moses or God. I believe that they saw this action as a human frailty and human failing, a missing the mark. I am imagining that they saw this action as an attempt to connect to God, they did call the calf a representative of Elohai (God) “who brought you out of the land of Egypt”.  Because of this way of seeing what happened, Moses also says he is willing to go to God to intercede for the people. He doesn’t let one mistake cause the destruction of the people. He doesn’t want one mistake to shame them for life. 

How much we need to realize this teaching! We are not the worst thing we have done. We are all ‘Hataters’, people who miss the mark, and we all are worthy of forgiveness and redemption. Many people live the lie that “1 Oh Shit wipes our 1000 Atta Boys” and this is dangerous and destructive to our connection to God and each other. If the Golden Calf could be considered a ‘Hatat’, why do we continue to keep grudges and forget all the good people do? This year, this Parashah is teaching me/us that we have to let go of our shame, give people a way back from their errors and no longer let one incident determine the value of a human being. Just as we ask for forgiveness on Yom Kippur and God grants it, so too should we ask for forgiveness and grant forgiveness to another(s) when they ask. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 53

“Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb… They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain for all the earth will be filled with knowledge of God..(Isaiah 11:5, 6, 9). 

Righteousness will gird our waist, our appetites will be both restricted and satisfied. We will no longer keep gobbling everything up just because we can, big business. We will no longer take advantage of another just because we can. Our impulse to devour everything will be restrained. Our desire to be decent human beings will be in control. What a vision and what an optimistic challenge/promise!

Faithfulness is used in conjunction with our loins-an interesting choice. We will no longer be johns looking for the next hooker, we will no longer be hookers looking for the next John. We will again and restrict our sexual desires and our desire to conquer everyone and everything. We will stop searching for the answer we want and we will be faithful to the answer we hear to our question: What am I getting out of life. We will respond to God’s question: What is life getting out of me as well as Where are you? We will stop chasing false gods and worshiping at the idolatrous altar of ‘need to be right’, money, power, prestige, less than, I deserve, etc.’. 

We will, at last, stop our hurting of another(s) person, enslaving people for our selfish desires, objectifying humans that we are afraid of, and becoming partners with all that is in God’s world. We will no longer have to ‘destroy the competition, grind them into the dust, etc’. We will no longer destroy the spirits of another(s) and, instead, lift their spirits up and join with another(s) to spread God’s word throughout the land. We will all have Daat, deep knowing, of God, God’s ways, and God’s path. We will live life on God’s terms, not ours. 

Rabbi Heschel teaches that Isaiah’s words show that: “nations will no longer turn their eyes to Nineveh, the seat of human power, but to Jerusalem, the seat of divine learning, eager to learn God’s ways, eager to learn how to walk in His paths.”(The Prophets, pg.183). As I take in Rabbi Heschel’s words, I realize that he is channeling the way of being of Isaiah. He is telling us to stop worshiping the human power, stop going to these dens of iniquity, the modern day Ninevehs: The Family, the KKK/white supremacists, anarchists, etc. Rabbi Heschel’s stance against racism, the war in Vietnam all follow these verses. He believed and bought into Isaiah’s vision, not that it was happening but that we are obligated to make it happen! The road from Nineveh to Jerusalem is short and hard. It takes but a few steps and a difficult inner accounting and change. Rabbi Heschel, for me, wrote his books as our road map to Jerusalem. 

Our politicians get worse and worse each day. We need statesman, as Rabbi Heschel said in his interview with Carl Stern. Ron Johnson, and his cronies, are still believing that Nineveh is the place to live in. They are obstructing God’s ways of caring for the stranger, the poor, the widow and the orphan, while waving the flag of Jesus!? Cruz, Hawley, Manchin, and others are going to speak about negative tweets from a woman who is more than qualified for the post while approving all of Trumps’ evil appointments? These senators and congresspeople who approved of the inciting tweets of Trump, Flynn, Guiliani, etc are going to cry about the tweets from a woman of color???? GIVE ME A BREAK. These politicians are not leaders. They are the charlatans that Isaiah speaks about in other chapters. It is time for them to join together for the good of the USA, not their own pocketbooks. Righteousness and faithfulness need to be their mottos and guide their actions. 

In recovery we practice this way of being. We are dedicated to see each person as worthy of recovery, deal with others in and with righteousness and stay faithful to the principles of God/recovery. In fact without being righteous and faithful, we will not be in recovery. St. Francis of Assisi channels Isaiah’s words and thoughts in his prayer abridged here: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. For it is in giving that we receive.” In recovery we get to be faithful, righteous, creating and building when we live these words of Isaiah; and living these ways are the only paths to joy and growing in our recovery. 

I have both destroyed and hurt in my recovery. A whole lot less than when I was ‘out there’ and still I am guilty. I also have built and created and stayed faithful to God, God’s principles and lived righteously an overwhelming preponderance of my recovery. As I write this, I am realizing that when I have been unfaithful it is because I have been too preoccupied with the noise in my ears than the call of my soul. All of my destructions and hurts come from not hearing the call of God and following my knowledge of God’s ways. I am shivering with tears in my eyes at this realization. While it is impossible to get it all right all the time, I can do more to hear the call of God through my soul. This writing is one of the tools I am using. How are you contributing to Isaiah’s vision? How are you staying faithful to God and acting righteously towards another(s)? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 52

“A shoot will grow out of the stump of Jesse, a twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of God leads him, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of advice and valor, a spirit of knowledge and awe of God. He will delight in the awe of God… Judging the weak/helpless in righteousness and decide justly for the poor and lowly.”(Isaiah 11:1,2,3)

I erred in my translation and commentary yesterday-where I used punishment, it could also use accounting. The people are held to account. Also, punishment is not meant in the harsh terms, when I use it-it is suffering the consequences of our/my/their behaviors. 

Here is Isaiah’s good news! While we will/are help accountable and the logical consequences will occur, God doesn’t exile us nor leave us out in the cold forever. Just as God sent Moses, a member of the House of Jesse, the father of King David, will rise up and lead us back to our land, our home and to justice. What a relief! 

I am thinking about what it takes to be a leader for God, for decency, for justice. It takes being a twig, knowing that I/we am not the whole tree, I/we am just a twig who has an opportunity to grow when I/we allow the spirit of God to invade my being and overcome my fears and doubts. When I/we allow the awe, advice, wisdom, insight and knowledge of God to overwhelm me, I/we am the leader God created me/us to be. Whether as a Rabbi, a parent, a boss, a supervisor, an employer, a friend, a professional, a craftsperson, etc, I/we have a choice as to the type of leader we/I am going to be. 

Isaiah’s words are so hopeful here, especially after the last chapter, and they go along with Chapter 2 when he prophesied that “men shall learn war no more”. Isaiah is giving us a glimpse of what life will be like/can be like when we make a choice to be and/or follow the leadership of this “shoot that will grow out of the stump of Jesse”. 

Rabbi Heschel says that these verses point to the need and the desire to seek knowledge of the word of God and this prophecy here is the prophet’s belief that on our own, we will never achieve these goals of God. We need a leader, a ‘messiah’ to help us get there. “Man’s conscience is timid, while the world is ablaze with agony. His perception of justice is shallow, often defective and his judgement liable to deception”(The Prophets, pg. 184).  I read this and Rabbi Heschel’s call to us reverberates through me. While it is written that a “twig will sprout from his stock”, it is also not enough to just wait for this twig. I/we am/are being called to account by Rabbi Heschel and Isaiah to begin the work today.

The current times call for this “twig” to be listened to, heard and understood by our political leadership. It is time for McConnell, et al,  to stop the partisanship and get down to the business of leadership.  It is time for Shumer, et al, to allow awe of God and knowing that they are privileged to serve their country and do what is right for the people, not just their own special interests. Leadership, as Isaiah teaches, means that I have to call on my higher self, my higher angels, God, Higher Power, to rise above what Rabbi Heschel describes as our shallow, defective and deceptive ways of judging. The prophet is screaming at us to rise up in order to save what we have left and build anew upon the foundation of our Founding Fathers and God. 

In recovery, we know how deceptive and shallow we can be. We know that our vision has been and still is sometimes defective. We are so aware that we need guidance and leadership from another(s), hence sponsorship. A sponsor is here to help guide us through the steps, guide us through the challenges we face daily and guide us to the path of seeking God’s wisdom, insight, advice, knowledge and awe. We know that without the Awe of God, we are sunk, we will relapse and we will lose our path again! We continue to reach out to others to “carry the message” and to hear the message ourselves. Recovery teaches us to judge with righteousness, kindness and never judgmentally. We know that the “twig that sprouts from his stock” manifests everyday in the form of some human who reaches out in kindness and love and we manifest it when we do the same.

I have been blessed with this spirit of God and I haven’t always used it well. I understand Isaiah’s exhortations to the People Israel and Judah. I also know that the spirit of wisdom and insight is gift that can be misunderstood by others and misused by us. It is not to gain the numbers for the winning lotto ticket (though I have wished for them), it is not to gain fame and fortune for one’s ego, it is to serve God, help the poor, the downtrodden, the hopeless and the lost. I know that I have done this and I know I have failed. I have made defective decisions and I have succumbed to self-deception. Again, it is a both/and-I have heard the call of God and been imbued with the spirit of awe and knowledge-not as a messiah, as a human being capable of rising above my own needs and desires. How are you using the gift of God’s Spirit of awe, wisdom, knowledge, etc, to guide your actions today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 51

“Ha, those who write out evil writs and compose iniquitous documents, to subvert the cause of the needy of My people;… What will you do on the day of punishment, when the calamity comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help and how will you save your carcasses?(Isaiah 10:1,2,3). 

These words send shivers down my spine. Isaiah is calling out to all the people who have taken advantage of the needy, the widow, the orphan through their ‘legislative means’. He is telling them that God knows the ways they have perverted God’s will and God’s justice.

His questions about punishment and calamity speak directly to the hubris of the leaders and the powerful. Isaiah is speaking to everyone who is empowered to help their nation’s populace. He is telling us that God has entrusted his most prized treasure, humankind, in their hands and they have exploited the people and their position. God gave them the gift of helping others and they helped themselves instead. 

Israel had looked to Assyria and Egypt for help rather than looking inside and seeing how they had abandoned God and the principles of God. It is a way that is still being practiced. Rather than being trusted servants the people in power were more interested in serving themselves.

Hence, the last questions: Now that God is delivering God’s justice, where will you run to? There is no place to run to except God and the people still refuse to turn to God. They look to some human power to save them and help them and no one is there for them. Instead they will only will have to bury their dead and those still living will be exiled to a strange land. 

While there is no commentary by Rabbi Heschel on these 3 verses in his book The Prophets, I believe that these verses confirm his belief that God’s justice will be done. It also confirms that punishment is not done to show power, rather it is done to wake people up and have them return to their roots, God and Torah. 

Politicians and civil servants need to heed these words of Isaiah. They have been given the privilege of serving the people of their nation and service means helping, not denying help. It is not their job to deny help to the needy and the poor, the widow and the orphan, rather it is the opportunity to help those in the most need. Yet, time and time again, they exploit the powerless and the voiceless. They do this with the belief that nothing will happen to them, they believe that their power is absolute and the false god they serve is in love with power. Isaiah is reminding us and them that God is in love with love, kindness, truth, justice, mercy and T’shuvah(return).

As I listen to the politicians and their double standards, I shake at the trouble that they are causing for all Americans. The partisan politics and polarization is exactly what was happening at the time of Isaiah and it led to the destruction of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem. My fear is that these behaviors will lead to the destruction of the United States. 

In recovery, we have already experienced the punishment and calamity of our actions. We went against God’s order and we sought refuge in many different places until we had nowhere to run to and we had to save our own carcasses. This is the moment we (re)turned to God and found refuge, recovery and God saved us with God’s outstretched arm and love. In recovery we know that we are servants of God and we learn to trust ourselves and be trusted by others. We do this through our amends/tshuvahs and by changing our actions. We do this by healing our spiritual malady and begin to see ourselves as God sees us; Divine Needs and Divine reminders. We know that our mission is to reach out to help others with no expectation of any monetary returns. 

I think of all the calamities that I have caused and I deeply regret my actions. I have accepted the punishments that have come from God and others with grace to a greater or lesser degree. Most of all, I have learned from every one of the punishments and how to avoid my self-made calamities. I know that the only place I can flee is to God, to my soul and to my trusted advisors. Each and every day I am blessed to know that I am not in exile, I am not a pariah, I am not evil and that God accepts me, loves me and is the entity I flee to morning, noon and night. I know that I have not subverted the rights of the needy in my recovery, that I have helped the poor and the needy to find their own way and places in their world. Again, not perfectly and not always yet I continue to grow along spiritual lines. Isaiah speaks about a remnant being saved and returning to God, I am part of that remnant and I am grateful to God for accepting me back. Everyone in recovery is part of this remnant and our gratitude is an action we take every day. How are you turning to God rather than believing in your own power? How are you helping the needy rather than exploiting them? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 50

“And all the people shall know, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Sameria, who say in the pride and arrogance of their heart. ..Yet His anger has not turned back. And His arm is still outstretched. For the people has not turned back to Him who struck it and has not sought the Lord of Hosts.”(Isaiah 9:8,11,12). 

Isaiah is saying what everyone else knows, except of course, Ephraim! They are going to be destroyed because of their arrogance and pride. The people of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) have forgotten everything that their ancestors taught them. I find it fascinating that these are the descendants of Joseph, who was Jacob’s favorite and a bit of a snob. Ephraim and Manasseh seem to have inherited the pride and arrogance of Joseph without the humility that he gained from his troubles in the pit and in jail. 

In verse 11, prior to the part I quoted, Isaiah is prophecizing their destruction by Aram and Philistia. I find it interesting that the prophet speaks about God’s anger not turning back and God’s arm is still outstretched. This is, I believe, a prime example of Rabbi Heschel’s teachings about God being in search of us, hence the book God in Search of Man. God is not only always willing to take us back, God is reaching for us and we don’t see God’s call and reach. 

This is, the premise of the final verse above. We are in trouble, we are being destroyed because of our arrogance and pride, our belief that we “can go it alone”, don’t need any help, etc. and when we are beaten and destroyed, we still can’t turn to God, who has saved us from the time of Abraham. This is not just for Jews, God has saved all of us and we still don’t turn to God. How sad for us, devastating to the prophet and crushing to God!

Rabbi Heschel speaks to us about these attempts by Isaiah in the last days of the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah is trying to purify the people, yet their pride and arrogance is too much. Isaiah, Rabbi Heschel explains, in these verses and others in this chapter proclaims the Northern Kingdom’s final destruction. Rabbi Heschel, in my understanding, attributes the people’s arrogance and pride to their callousness, mendacity, obstinacy, and indifference. He says: “ the people were smitten and continued to rebel, they did not stop to ponder about the meaning of their suffering”(The Prophets pg 91).

Our Political leaders need to read the Prophets and Rabbi Heschel’s book The Prophets, as do all the rest of us. We are witnessing the same destructive ways of Israel and Judah and we are displaying the same arrogance and pride, going so far as to say, this is what God wants! God doesn’t want racism, which is systemic. God doesn’t want poor people to suffer. God doesn’t want lies, falsehoods and mendacity to be spread across the land. God doesn’t want the callous indifference to human needs that some political leaders are showing. These ‘people of faith’ are charlatans and liars and the people listening to them and following them are being taken advantage of and being used by them. We need to stop this arrogance and pride from destroying us and what our ancestors built. 

In recovery depends on letting go of our arrogance and pride. Our afflictions brought us to recovery in the first place. “You can’t save your face and your ass at the same time” is a favorite saying at meetings I have attended. In recovery we cultivate pride in our accomplishments that are decent that help another(s) and serve God. When service becomes the foundation of one’s life, as it is in recovery, the pride and arrogance lessen greatly and when shown are examples of what not to do and how easy it is to slip back into them. These “defects of character” are here to serve others in how not to be and a reminder that we have to continually be on guard to ensure they don’t trip us up. We, in recovery, know that God is our salvation, God is always waiting for us and God’s arm is reaching for us constantly. We reach back each and every day because “our recovery is based on our spiritual condition”, as an old-timer taught me early on in my recovery. We live one day at a time so that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and we can continue to grow today and plan for tomorrow.

My life has been about fighting pride and arrogance that is unhealthy. I have pride in what I have accomplished and I am not so arrogant to believe that I have not made mistakes. I continually do T’Shuvah, inventory and take my spiritual and emotional temperature. I don’t always read them correctly which is why I have to do T’Shuvah! I have learned to hear and follow God’s instructions and there are times when I don’t because of ego and arrogance. I also believe that arrogance led me to some of my greatest triumphs, the both/and of pride and arrogance. What is most interesting to me are the times people we make T’Shuvah with don’t hear our words, are too angry, hurt, need another pound of flesh, to accept our return, to accept our outstretched arm. I believe this is why the prophet tells us God’s arm is always outstretched so we can grab onto God when people reject us. How is your pride and arrogance keeping you away from God? How are you turning back to God today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 49

“And God is/will be a Sanctuary, a stone of offense, a rock of stumbling for the two Houses of Israel and a trap and a snare for those who dwell in Jerusalem. So I will wait for Adonai, who is hiding God’s face from the House of Jacob and I will trust in God.”(Isaiah 8:14, 17). Verse 17 can also be read as: “I will wait for Adonai who’s Face is a Shelter for the House of Jacob and I have hope in God. (My translation)

Isaiah is calling to the people Israel to remember who is the source of their power. He is scared from what he sees, people thinking their power will come from Assyria, from other kings, wealthy, etc. The people have forgotten the first of the 10 Sayings/Commandments. It was Adonai/God who brought us out of Egypt, not human power. Isaiah is calling to the people to remember; God is our sanctuary, God is our refuge! Yet, some people refuse to acknowledge this and then God puts rocks, stones, traps and snares out to catch us, not hurt us.

This is an important point, I believe. Verse 8:14 is not about punishment for some ‘hurt’, rather it is the last resort to wake the people up. It is the logical consequence of following the path of forgetting that our source of power is God, spirit and not alliances with strongmen/women. In the city of wholeness, Jerusalem, the people have forgotten what makes them whole, God and Spirit, and bought into the lie that another human being can save them so they will surrender to the power of Assyria/another human being. How sad, how wrong and how infuriating to and for Isaiah!

Isaiah’s response in 8:17 is the only one that is appropriate for this moment. Proclaiming his belief and faith in God is the only antidote to the idolatry of the leaders and the people. My alternative translation is the message that all of us need to hear, God is our shelter and our hope is that we will listen, follow and inspire others to do the same. This is the call of Isaiah in these verses and throughout his prophecy-listen, follow and inspire others in service of God. 

Rabbi Heschel, in The Prophets, speaks about verse 14 as an example of Isaiah’s desire for “historical justice”. “Historical justice is the illumination of all men, enabling the inhabitants of the world to learn righteousness.”(pg.175). What a wonderful goal, “it is not a mystical experience he years for in the night”(ibid), it is that we all learn to be decent, caring people who live God’s Will out loud, with everyone, and in all of our actions! 

Rabbi Heschel goes on to teach: “Isaiah could not accept politics as a solution, since politics itself, with its arrogance and disregard of justice, was a problem(Ibid.pg 73). So, God is our solution. Do you hear this Political leaders? Do we, the people, hear this and hold our politicians responsible to Do Justly and Be Humble, as the prophet Micah teaches us? These so called ‘people of faith’ are charlatans and idolators praying at the altar of power, raping and pillaging those they deem “less than”, ie anyone not white, Anglo-Saxon protestant. They will not stop their ways until either we stop them or they bring about the ruin of all of us, just as what happened in Israel and Judah. As Rabbi Hillel says to us: “If not now, when?”(Ethics of the Fathers).

In recovery, we know that God is our sanctuary because we have tried all the other false ones and failed miserably. No amount of power, money, booze, dope, gambling could bring us the inner acceptance we so desperately searched for. We loved our addictions more than our addictions loved us, a way of being that allowed us to ignore the stones, the rocks, the traps until we were in the snare of our addiction and could not think our way out. In Chapter 5 of the Big Book of AA, it says: “Without help, it is too much for us. But there is one who has all power-that One is God. May you find Him now.” We believe Isaiah because our lives depend on this belief and we say to everyone, in recovery, in addiction and/or in denial, May you find God now and live in God’s Sanctuary. 

I know this to be true, my history is one of stones, rocks, traps that I have ignored, missed until they were snares for me. This is true in my life prior to recovery and even since then. I realize all the ways that God has tried to get my attention gently and then had to escalate the intensity of the message until I received it and acted upon it. I am sad that it still takes a 2x4 at times to get my attention and grateful that I can finally wake up to God’s call instead of listening only to mine. I don’t have to wait for God, I just have to respond to God’s constant and incessant calling. When I do, life is so good! Racism is one of God’s call to us, stop it! Rabbi Heschel says: “To think of man in terms of white, black or yellow is more than an error. It is an eye disease, a cancer of the soul”(Insecurity of Freedom pg. 87). We claim to be “One nation under God with Liberty and Justice for all”, yet we are not. We cannot claim to be any of these wonderful things we wrap ourselves in when Racism, Anti-Semitism, hatred is practiced in our highest levels of government and in our courts. We have to take “shelter in God’s Face” by living God’s Will and Ways. How are you being trapped by your worship of yourself and/or other human beings? How are you taking shelter in/with God by living God’s will and Ways? 

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 48

“God said to Isaiah: Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz (king of Judah)…And say to him:Be firm and be calm. Do not be afraid and do not lose heart… But Ahaz replied: I will not ask and I will not test the Lord. Listen House of David (Isaiah) retorted, is it not enough that you treat people as helpless that you also treat my God as helpless?(Isaiah 7:3,4,12, 13).

Isaiah is trying to assure Ahaz not to make a pact with Assyria that will ultimately destroy Judah by leading them to idolatry. Isaiah is speaking in God’s name and saying to him the same advice that Moses said to Joshua; stay aware and realize the assistance God is giving you and will give you to defeat your enemies. I see this as a call to all of us as well. When I call out to an outside/alien force to defeat our inner demons, we are engaging in idolatry and, usually, things get worse in the long run. 

Isaiah goes on to let Ahaz know that God is willing to be tested, if Ahaz cannot just accept Isaiah’s words. While it may seem very pious for Ahaz to refuse to ask and test God in verse 12, I see arrogance. God is calling out through God’s prophet and the king, is not willing to ask for help nor see if help could come to him. He has compartmentalized God, faith and Judaism. They are something for the Temple, not for politics; they are something for the Temple, not war; they are something for the Temple, not everyday life; according to the way Ahaz is thinking, speaking and acting. 

Isaiah is livid, he is so angry that Ahaz is unwilling to accept help from God, yet will accept help, even solicit help, from Assyria! He encapsulates the issue in one sentence; verse 13 above. Ahaz ‘kisses up and shits down’ - he will woo the King of Assyria, eventually cause the ruin of Judah and he will treat his subjects as helpless and with disdain and dishonor. We are still refuse help from God, when we treat others as helpless, when we think we are the smartest person in the room, when we bully etc. 

Rabbi Heschel says in his book The Prophets on page 64: “The issue was to let faith be the guide in a public life; other people’s lives were at stake; the culture of the country was in peril. ..So Ahaz decided that it was more expedient to be “son and servant to the King of Assyria than son and servant to the invisible God.” Throughout our history this has been the issue, hasn’t it? It is never about service, it is about whom/what do we serve. While, as Rabbi Heschel says, it was reasonable for Ahaz to go with expediency, it was/is wrong. The name of Isaiah’s son means “a remnant will return to God and be saved”; a clear indication that Ahaz’ decision to rely on Assyria would lead to destruction and ruin, yet he was too scared, stubborn, blinded to realize this.

How true this is for our political leaders as well. They speak about God, just don’t rely on God. All spiritual disciplines have at their core: justice, truth, love, compassion, caring and kindness, according to the Dalai Lama at a lecture I attended with other faith leaders years ago. Yet our political leaders are more interested in making pacts with outside powers who will eventually lead them to ruin, than relying on the inner call of their souls, the call of God to help one another, to care for one another, to “love your neighbor as yourself”. Will they learn Isaiah before it is too late?

In recovery, we know that God is the help we need. The 2nd step; “Came to believe a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity” is the bridge between acknowledging the problem and surrendering to God’s will. In recovery, we have tested and asked God for help and God has always helped, we haven’t always been willing to accept the help or like the help! In recovery, accepting God’s help is the only thing that gives us the strength and courage to move forward. We have been Ahaz and we have lost everything. Now, in recovery, we have a deep belief in Isaiah’s words and we live them so we can continue to grow our recovery and our souls. 

Reliance on God is the foundation of my life and has been for over 34 years. Reliance on ‘other kings’ has led me to disappointment and inner turmoil over this same period of time. Immersing myself in these verses, I realize how I relied on God and, at the same time, relied on ‘Assyria’. I relied on people who I thought/needed to see as people who relied on God, yet actually relied on themselves and what they could get. I am also guilty of this behavior as well, in hindsight. I know that I have been able to stand firm and not lose heart because of my reliance on God and not myself nor others. I also know the pain of relying on another(s) who is ‘Assyria’ because what they want is for them, what I wanted was for us. I have been doing a lot of inventory these past few days and I realize that when I spoke just for God and another(s), I was okay and when I spoke with my ego involved, I wasn’t nor did it work out well. I work hard to keep my arrogance in check and treat each person in the way they need to be treated and speak to them in ways they can understand. My inner life has been torn up in my recovery and every time there is a remnant that turns to God, is healed and grows stronger. How and when are you relying on outside powers? When and how do you rely on God? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 47

“Holy, Holy, Holy! The Lord of Hosts! God’s presence fills all the earth. Woe is me, I am lost! I am a man of unclean lips, I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my own eyes have beheld the Lord of Hosts. One of the Seraphs flew over to me with a live coal… He touched it to my lips and declared, Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt shall depart and your sin be purged away”(Isaiah 6:3,5,6,7).

While this is a lot of text, I wanted to ensure the proper context for today’s thoughts. Isaiah is having an encounter with The Ineffable One that is so overpowering he can’t adequately describe it. “Holy, Holy Holy… is the Kodosh prayer that we say in the morning and in the twice-daily recitation of the Amidah(except on Shabbat and Holidays when we add an extra recitation of the Amidah(standing prayer). As I read this, I became overwhelmed myself with the trembling fear and awe of Isaiah, I live in the presence of God all the time and I do not realize it most of the time! God’s presence filling the entire earth is the prophet’s way of telling the people to WAKE UP-stop thinking you are the boss of everything and you are in control. 

Isaiah’s response to seeing God and experiencing the Seraphim is to cry and realize his own nature and what his shortcomings are and what he longs for. He is lost, I believe because, like all of us, he lives in awe and wonder of God and knows he has “unclean lips” which can mean a great many things. I prefer to understand this phrase as meaning lies we tell ourselves and lies we tell others. These lies lead us to ruin and destruction. 

Isaiah’s being able to “beheld the Lord of Hosts” is the signal that God knows we are “unclean” and wants us anyway. God knows we are imperfect and desires connection with us. Once we connect, the Seraphim help to make our “guilt depart and your sin shall be purged away”. What a hopeful message which is what the prophets keep trying to bring to all of us, yet we are bogged down with the fear of change and don’t believe the consequences of our behavior will be so bad. 

In The Prophets, Rabbi Heschel has a subchapter called the strange disparity where he says: “The two staggering facts in the life of a prophet are: God’s turning to him and man’s turning away form him.”(pg.188). He goes on to say: “It was a major enigma that confronted the prophet: How is it possible… not to sense that the whole world is full of His glory, not to understand God’s sign in the happenings of history? What we call the irrational nature or man, they called hardness of the heart.”(pg189). The prophet was unable to grasp the irrational ways of humans in the face of the majesty of God. Yet, they kept on trying, which is Rabbi Heschel’s call to all of us. 

In our political realm, our lawmakers seem to be unable to experience the majesty of God in their own chambers. Instead of lamenting their “unclean lips” they are acting in irrational ways towards each other and towards the people they are supposed to be representing and the principles of country and God. We witness the hardening of hearts when we listen to Senators speak out against guaranteeing a minimum wage that in many parts of the country still is not a livable income! We are engaged in a battle with people who don’t even know that they are lost. As we prepare for Passover and liberation from slavery; I ask our lawmakers to allow the Angels to put coal to their lips and purge their sin and allow their guilt to depart.

In recovery, we know that “the glory of God fills the earth” because that is the only way we can be in recovery and continue to grow our recovery. Without God, we are back to old ways. Our lips have been touched by hot coal, we have gone through the purifying fire of inventory, amends and changing our old ways. We have adhered to a life of “rigorous honesty” as it says in Chapter 5 of the Big Book. We continue to do our 10th step so we can see where we have been less than rigorously honest and repair that damage. We hang out with people who are like-minded and on the same path seeking “God’s will for us and the power to carry it out”. We don’t look to be perfect, we only “seek spiritual progress”. Then we get the honor and privilege to be a messenger to people who still suffer, in many ways the 12th step of AA is similar to the work of the prophets. How blessed are we! 

My acceptance of God’s glory filling the earth happened a long time ago. My continued growth along spiritual lines continues to this day. My purging of my sins and my guilt departing is a daily activity. Tonight marks one year since my last big error. While I was being me, the unrestrained me,  and, had been honored for being me 2 years prior, I was wrong for my action and I acknowledged and made tshuvah/amends immediately. Other people decided I had to go and here we are. I observe this Shabbat with sadness, reverence and guilt-free. I know that the sin has been purged from me and I know that being me is not acceptable when I am all of me in certain settings. I am sad at the loss of community and relationships because of legal reasons. I am sad that lawyers are speaking instead of having a conversation between people. I am in acceptance and grateful to be of service in any way I am needed. I know God’s Glory fills my world, does it yours? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha - Tetzaveh

Weekly Parashah

Tetzaveh 5781

“And you shall command the people of Israel and take from them olive oil, gently beaten for the light, for the lamp to burn always.”(Exodus 27:20). 

These words that open up this week’s Parashah continue to inspire me and fill me with awe and trembling. I am struck by the word Command. It comes from the latin, to commit. I love this way of understanding this verse. God is telling Moses to have the people commit to, in this case, making the oil to light the Ner Tamid, the eternal light. 

While the usual understanding is some declaration that has to be fulfilled, committing is an action that is done willingly. God is telling that we have to make and keep commitments so we cannot only see the light, we have to participate in the creating of the light as well. The commitment we are offered to make in this verse is the commitment to be part of the solution, not just bemoan the darkness. We get to have the power to make our situations better through lighting the Eternal Light. 

How much the more so is this true in our personal lives. The Eternal Light, I believe, is the outer example of our soul’s light. We get to make a commitment to growing our inner lives and our internal light each and every day so it burns eternally. I know this to be true from my own experience. My ancestors are dead and yet their light burns so brightly for me and in me. I never have to be in doubt as to what my ancestors would advise me to do in any and every situation because their light shines and calls to me always, whether I seek it out and follow it or not-it is here. In fact, there are countless times that I have been stuck and here the call and see the light of my ancestors showing me the solution. I just have to commit to constantly opening up my eyes and my soul to their light. 

Committing to make this light also means committing to follow the instructions as to how to use the resources we have. In the verse above, we have to gently beat the olives so the oil is pure, not full of pulp. There are so many times in my life where I have taken a sledge hammer to something that needed a soft touch. I am not always known for my soft touch. This is true in my golf game as well as my dealings with self and another(s). While there are times to be harsh with self and others, there are also many times to have a soft touch. 

In my spiritual counseling, I experience how often people are trying to take a sledge hammer to their problems and their vision of themselves is foggy and full of pulp. We are unable to see clearly when we are committed to beat ourselves up as opposed to gently beating the negative emotions and impulses out of us. We can’t reach the clarity and light by being dark and living in the either/or. We have to live in the both/and, seeing our negativity and responding to it with gently beating the energy to serve our situation instead of making the situation worse. 

As parents, leaders, employers, supervisors, etc. we need to seek commitments from others. We need to train them to listen with their whole selves and in order to do this, they have to know we are committed to them. My writings on The Prophets, have brought home to me God’s commitment to us, even when we screw up. This helps me stay committed to me, even when I miss the mark. It helps me stay committed to another(s) when they screw up. God’s commitment is God’s desire for our return to God and God’s principles. Our commitment to and for ourselves and another(s) needs to be our desire for the return to God’s principles. With this commitment, we will always be lighting the Eternal Light of T’Shuvah, return and new responses for all people, including ourselves. What are the commitments you are willing to make and keep so your Eternal Light and the Eternal Light of God stays lit and bright this year? Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 46

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who present darkness as light and light as darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are so wise in their own opinions and clever in their own judgement. Who vindicate him who is in the wrong in return for a bribe and withhold vindication from one who is in the right.”(Isaiah 5:20,21, 23).

I read these words with terror and I’m amazed that the inhabitants of the land were not moved by this call to change. When the word Woe is used it is a sign of catastrophe about to come to people who are hellbent on their own destruction. It is also, in my reading a cry of compassion and pain, an identification with God and the pain, sorrow and compassion that God experiences in the moment. 

Here we have people with a Spiritual Malady, as Moses Maimonides speaks about in his book Eight Chapters. The first indicator is the confusion of good and evil, light and dark, bitter and sweet. This happens when we allow our minds, emotions and rationalizations to overtake the call and knowledge of our soul. We do this when we are more interested in puffing ourselves up than in being grateful for the gifts we have been given. People in power have to remember that God has to rule their actions, not their false egos and drive for power, prestige and wealth. 

The people Isaiah is speaking to believe that they are the smartest people in the room and they alone decide what is right and good. They don’t need anyone else’s help or input as they know best and will take care of their ‘people’, the ones who bribe them, kiss their butts, etc. They care nothing for what is right, they care only for their power and who will help them stay in power. These “wise and clever ones”  are the ones who set up the ruin of Jerusalem and the destruction of Judah. 

Rabbi Heschel explains: “The essence of blasphemy is confusion and in the eyes of the prophet, confusion is raging in the world”(The Prophets, pg 78). He also explains: “the people don’t know how sick they are. Human wisdom and understanding have failed to save man form pride, presumption and arrogance”(ibid, pg. 93). I am shaking at these words of explanation as well. OY! How prescient was Rabbi Heschel and how little have things changed in the world. We live in a state of confusion that only prayer, immersion in text, connection to and being directed by God will solve. Yet, we humans, continue to engage in the hubris of presumption and arrogance of cleverness. Bribes blind the eyes of the righteous we are taught in the Bible, yet we continue to take them and call ourselves righteous and just. 

Nowhere is this more evident than in our political climate of today. Listening to some senators on their objections to President Biden’s cabinet picks is laughable. They are so wise and clever they think that we have forgotten their actions of lauding the inexperienced, political hacks of the previous administration that they approved willingly and quickly. These leaders are masters at the subterfuge and confusion that they use to blind the eyes of the people and steal from our pockets. Lindsey Graham, Joe Manchin, Ted Cruz, et al were willing to appoint an ambassador to Germany who was so outrageous in his tweets and, because it is a woman, oppose Neera Tanden for hers? This is their desire to confuse the people of this country as to their true motive, white, male power. Isaiah is calling these leaders to account and warning them of the destruction they are bringing to our country and our people. Yet, these ‘God-fearing’ bigots and idolators think they are too clever to get caught and will ‘rise up to the lord and be saved’ for causing ‘the rapture’ to happen. OY, VaVoy!

In recovery, we seek to undo the confusion that ruled our lives and that we promoted in the world. As a practicing addict confusion, misrepresenting, vindicating the wrong and convincing you it was right was standard operating procedure. We had lost the ability to distinguish light and dark, good and evil and sweet and bitter. We were in a deep Spiritual health emergency. Only when “admitted we were powerless over alcohol that  our lives had become unmanageable” could we begin to be lifted from our confusion. In fact, many people say it takes about 30 days after putting down the drink for the fog to lift. Only when we can admit that we are not so clever and wise, not the smartest people in the room and we have a soul sickness, can we begin to connect to and see the light of God and the light of others.

I have tried to be the smartest person in the room and thought I was so clever that I did two prison terms in California! That was prior to my recovery and becoming a Rabbi, lol. Yet, I still fall back into this mode, not as a means of trying to confuse or rule, rather as an outcome of my deep beliefs in what I am seeing. There are times when I have needed my glasses cleaned and believed the fog I was seeing was actually clear. Each of those times have led to bad outcomes. Luckily, I was able to listen to another(s) call me back to clarity. I continue to ‘clean my glasses’ often during the day to prevent the experience Isaiah is speaking about. Having done this, I am terrified to repeat these actions. How are you being too clever and wise for your own gain? How are you confusing good/evil, sweet/bitter, light/dark? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 45

“Woe, those who chase strong drink and wine from early in the morning to late in the evening… They do not regard the deeds of Adonai or see the work of God’s hands. My people go into exile for want of knowledge.”(Isaiah 5:11-13) 

Isaiah is so angry with the people here on God’s behalf and he diagnoses at least two of the causes here. “Woe” is used to alert us to a problem as I understand the prophets rhetoric. The problem here is the utter disdain for the power of wine and strong drink by the people. They are just having a good old time without regard to the effects of this behavior on the rest of their lives. Isaiah is calling out to them to stop and they can’t hear because of the stupor they are in. I discovered in these words that all idolatry is because of being in a stupor!

How bad off are the people? They can’t see or appreciate the work of God’s hands and the deeds that God has done for them. This is a common occurrence even to today. So many of us forget that God has done amazing things for us, starting with giving us life. What we are not taught is that we have to reciprocate the gift back to God and another(s). Just as we are given so too do we have to give out. Yet, we can’t do that when we think that we are the source of all of our success and, of course, others are the source of our failures. This willful blindness is the root of most of the ills that afflict our society today, as it was then. 

We stay drunk and blind so we don’t have to face truth, God and be responsible for our part, good and not good, in every experience.The amount of problems that come about because of our “want of knowledge” is enormous and tremendous. What is most disturbing about these verses to me right now is that our “want of knowledge” is so strong that we think we know! Herein lies the heart of the problem; we are so lost in our stupor and in our idolatry that we can’t discern the gifts, deeds and works of God nor can we see how much we need to learn/relearn. 

Rabbi Heschel speaks of the verse about drinking as the prophets railing against the idea that “drunkenness elevates man to a higher level of existence and facilitates spiritual illumination”(The Prophets pg 355). He points out that Isaiah is regarding this state as a state of confusion, not spiritual ecstasy. LSD, Ayahuasca, Mushrooms and other hallucinogens are still popular today, they, as I read Isaiah and Rabbi Heschel, still give us a false sense of God and spirit. Rabbi Heschel goes on to say that: “the prophets regard the lack of knowledge as the root of misery (ibid pg 359f). This is so true today as well. Our lack of knowledge leads us to seek out false solutions and keeps us haughty and proud which leads to our own demise, either internally and/or externally. 

WOE to our elected officials who are so drunk on their power, position and prestige that they fail to see the works of God and the deeds God has brought upon our nation. Instead, they worship at the idolatrous altar of power, of deceit, of confusion and have become the Priests of Mendacity rather than servants of the people and of God. Listening to the double and triple standards of some members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, is infuriating, saddening, and fearful. Every great empire, every great experiment has failed because these Priests of Mendacity have sown confusion, lies and treated people as objects not worthy of their consideration.

In recovery, we have lived this “want of knowledge” and intimately know the dangers of strong drink and wine as well as other mind-altering chemicals. They are the reasons we got into recovery, they were our entrance fee and our recovery is dependent on how much we expand our sphere of knowledge. We pray each day for “knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out”(Step 11). We are aware of our need to keep in close contact with God and another(s). We know that we can become unaware in a second and that during each and every day, we “do not regard the deeds of God or see the works of God’s hands” so we do a 10th step inventory each evening. We are not perfect nor do we expect to be, we find ourselves a little more conscious and aware of God’s world and how to serve God each and every day. 

My motto is to be one grain of sand better each and every day. For the most part, I have achieved this goal, not every day and enough to be a lot more aware of God’s deeds and the work of God’s hands today than I was 35 years ago. Of course being drunk is not just with alcohol or mind altering chemicals, it is being drunk with our own greatness and our own success and with our own arrogance. I am guilty of all of these. I have also seen the light, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, and made the necessary changes to get right-sized again. I have been exiled for “want of knowledge” and it is painful and sad. My drunkenness with the three states of being above led me to not see what was right in front of me and I believe this experience happens to many of us. I am without anger and resentment about this exile now because I can own my part and not need to blame. I have taken off my blinders and read the prophets to stay out of the willful blindness that calls to me and you. What are you still ‘drunk’ on? What are you staying willfully blind to? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 44

“In that day the radiance of Adonai will lend beauty and glory and the splendor of the land will give dignity and majesty to the survivors of Israel and those who remain in Zion and are left in Jerusalem. All who are inscribed for life in Jerusalem shall be called Holy. When my Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and from Jerusalem’s midst has rinsed out her infamy in a spirit of judgement and spirit of purging.”(Isaiah 4:2-4)

While this is a lot of text, I have it here to put into context what Isaiah is prophecizing. He has been speaking about the fall of Israel and Judah in the earlier chapters and here in this chapter he is speaking about what happens after the fall-the return. We are going to have to experience the consequences of our behaviors and then we will return. 

 “In that day” gives a certainty that Adonai will redeem the people once they turn back and call out to God. Not only will they return, they will return in beauty, glory, dignity and majesty-all the attributes we so desperately seek now and then through our own ego-driven selfish ways.

Isaiah is calling out to us now as he did to the people then, stop this rebellion against God. Stop believing that God doesn’t care, stop selling your soul for a pot of gold. Stop selling your neighbor because he his poor, stop taking advantage of people’s misery and despair, stop using their vulnerabilities against them. STOP! 

Why stop we might say? Because God wants us back. The words of the prophet Isaiah are so clear as to God’s desires and intentions. God wants us back and knows that we have to experience the logical consequences of our behaviors. God knows that the path back to our authentic selves and being has to be through purging the dross as a result of the idolatry we practiced/practice.

God wants us back so much that God will rinse the infamy, the shame, the filth from us. God doesn’t want us to carry this shame, filth, etc with us in our return and new life. God knows that we can and must be relieved of this shame so we are then called Holy, dignified, majestic with beauty, glory and splendor adorning us. If this isn’t love, what is?

If our politicians in Washington could stop their lies, deceits, double talk and standards, we might all be ready for the splendor, dignity, glory and redemption that Isaiah is calling us to. Yet, these self-righteous bigots practice their mendacity without any shame, without realizing the filth that they are spreading will stick to them, and that they will live in infamy for their behaviors and their attempt to ruin the democratic way of the United States of America. These so-called ‘religious men and women’ who want to promote idolatrous versions of the New Testament, ignore the truth of the Hebrew Bible and wrap themselves in Jesus Christ, all the while going against his foundational teachings and contributing to the deaths of some of the 500,000 people we have lost from Covid-19 through their inaction and support of the lies of Trump, et.al. Hypocrisy doesn’t describe their behavior, Isaiah’s words do it much better. Yet, they do not hear the call of Isaiah and continue down the destructive path of seeking only power to enhance them, not help others to this day. How sad for all of us! We the people are going to have to vote them out so they can be purged of the dross and hatred, cleaned of their infamy and filth.

In recovery, we know that only God can fully clean us up and we know the judgement and purging that we have gone through to reach our recovery. “In that day” is everyday for us otherwise we will go back to the filth and infamy of our past very quickly. Each and every day we “sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God…”. We continue to bask in God’s light so we can soak up and imbue God’s radiance, beauty and splendor. Each day we seek to recognize and live a more dignified life by owning our infinite dignity as a gift from God and honoring the dignity of another(s) human being that is their birthright from God. People in recovery knows the experience of God washing over us and cleansing us, as an act of Grace. Our recovery is rooted in our spiritual condition and our spiritual condition is dependent on our connection to God and our gratitude for life, for our dignity, for our return, for our cleansing is the basis of our connection to God.

I have been blessed to have risen from the ashes of my mendacity, filth, infamy to being clean, whole and alive with hope and promise. No matter what has happened in these years of recovery, no matter what errors I have made/experienced, God has purged me of resentment and, after I did my T’shuvahs, washed away my shame and guilt. I live a life without holding onto resentments, looking forward and leaving the past where it belongs, in the past. I work hard not to practice idolatry, seeking false gods, false people and false sense of self. Life is truly glorious and majestic. Have you experienced being purged of guilt and shame? how are you experiencing dignity? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark 

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 43

“Ah Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because by word and deed they insult Adonai, defying Adonai’s majestic sight. Their partiality in judgement accuses them, they avow their sins like Sodom, they do not conceal them. Woe to them! They have served themselves in evil.”(Isaiah 3:8-9)

Isaiah is calling Judah and Jerusalem to account. Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, cannot stop herself from stumbling because of words and deeds of her inhabitants. I see this as a teaching that nothing protects us except our own deeds and nothing defeats us except our deeds. And, our deeds either exalt God or insult God.

This point is so important for so many of us. We do matter, what we do matters, and we influence so many concentric circles of which we have no idea. Our deeds radiate out and cause vibrations throughout the Universe. Like the Butterfly flapping its wings or a tree falling the forest, our actions exalt or insult our very beings and so many other human beings. We are responsible and capable. 

What is Isaiah’s complaint? The people of Judah and Jerusalem think that their false piety will save them, they think that the Holy City of Jerusalem will save them, and they are wrong. They think that they are doing right so they don’t hide, they believe the lies they tell themselves so they stand on the merits of their actions! Their blindness and conceit is their evil and they don’t even know it. 

When we believe the lies we tell ourselves, we are the most susceptible to ruin. When we have to ‘clean up’ our actions by explaining the technicalities that allow us to do the deed, we are grasping at straws, according to the way I read these verses. Isaiah is exhorting us to stop thinking we are serving God when we are really only serving ourselves. This, I believe, is the greatest evil in the sight of God. 

Rabbi Heschel says that verse 8 is a statement of God’s being at one with God’s people. “What was the purpose of planting the vineyard, of choosing the people? The vineyard was planted to yield righteousness and justice. Yet the fruit it yielded was violence and outrage, affecting God, arousing God’s anger.”(The Prophets, pg. 85). The anger of God is always aroused with sadness and as a last resort, according to Rabbi Heschel. God’s anger is a direct result of the stumbling, falling, defying, insulting, perversion of justice, and indulging in evil. While a lot of people want to say: ‘the Old Testament God is an angry, mean, etc. God’ it belies the responsibility of the people. 

If only our leaders in Washington would study these verses. Our government has become a cesspool of people defying God’s gloriousness. The elected officials and the bureaucrats have joined to keep the status quo of racism, hatred, demeaning of the poor and the stranger, being partial to a certain constituency at the ruin and demise of the rest of the country. Some of the political leaders in Washington and in State Capitals have decided that perverting justice is a good thing as long as it serves them, keeps them in power. This, unfortunately, is happening in voter registration, vaccine rollouts, Covid-care, healthcare in general, and help for those who need financial assistance. I am calling on all of our elected officials to stop their evil ways and truly exalt the glorious presence of God in our midst through their deeds. 

In recovery, we know all about falling and stumbling. We are so aware of our propensity to lie to ourselves that, in Chapter 5 of the Big Book of AA it says those who can’t give themselves to the program suffer from not being able to engage in rigorous honesty. We know the destruction that our sins have caused and we were like Jerusalem and Judah, insulting God, doing evil, being proud of our sins. Our recovery demands and depends on our being honest with ourselves and another(s). It demands that we continue to do “the next right thing” no matter what is going on right now. It calls us to be of service and, as the 12th Step says, “Practice these principles in all our affairs”. We do a daily inventory to keep our house clean and enhance the good things we have done. Our recovery bears its fruit through our actions. 

In reading these verses this morning, I see how my own fallings and stumbling have happened. I, like all of us, am imperfect. I know the experience of the people who are bewildered because they are drunk with their own power and ‘independence’ and ‘freedom’. I have been there and still go there every so often. I also know the experience of Isaiah, who is holding God and human together. I know the sense of betrayal from both the betrayer and the one betrayed. I have been transparent in my living and this has seemed like I was arrogantly saying the rules don’t apply to me, while I was saying this is what I think is needed in this moment. Not as a clean up for any bad actions, just as an explanation of my own, at times, erroneous thinking. Daily inventory and doing T’Shuvah are necessary practices for each and every one of us so we can continue to honor and exalt God and stop the slide of our stumbling and falling. How are you still falling and stumbling through your arrogance? How are you letting go of the lies you tell yourself? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark