Living Rabbi Heschel's Wisdom- a daily path of growing our inner life.

Daily Lessons from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Day 1

“The greatest hindrance to knowledge is our adjustment to conventional notions, to mental cliches.”(Man is Not Alone, pg.11)

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is a gift that we all can receive, experience and grow from/with provided we are willing to immerse ourselves in his teachings, in sacred texts, in our own lives. He was, to me, one of the greatest Spiritual Leaders of the 20th Century and may be more influential now than when he was alive. Rabbi Heschel has, like his description of the Prophets of Ancient Israel, “a painful rebuke, a powerful dissent, a deep love and unwavering hope” (Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, Appendix). Rabbi Heschel was friends with and a teacher for many of the Civil Rights leaders of the 60’s, Christian theologians and ministers, Catholic Priests, Rabbinical Students and Rabbis, etc. His writings have inspired and changed so many of us who were not fortunate enough to know him personally.

The first sentence above is a very radical one. Rabbi Heschel, in my understanding, is saying that as soon as we become adjusted to a conventional notion and/or a mental cliche, we are prevented from obtaining any more knowledge about that particular aspect of living. Be it our understanding of history, our understanding of life, our understanding of God, religion, another human being. The root of the word hindrance is, hinder. This means behind, at the rear of, so anything that hinders us puts us behind and prevents us from moving forward. I ask you to think of the ideas and notions that we have accepted that keeps preventing us from moving forward as a country, as a community, as a family, as individuals. The truth of this statement begins to reverberate within us and within our different affiliations when we immerse ourselves in what the words mean and Rabbi Heschel’s unique way of writing poetry and prose in the same sentence and with the same words. 

The word adjustment means to alter and/or adapt. We alter and adapt our thinking, our living according to some conventional notion that most people just accept as true and valid, some inner mental thought that we heard, imagined and are staying with. Rabbi Heschel is telling us that we cannot attain/grow our knowledge, a deep understanding and knowing of what is truthful, by adjusting to the what we knew yesterday. Rabbi Heschel believed, according to my reading of his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, that being stale was the worst “sin”/experience that could happen to a human being. Yet, we have become stale in so many ways. We long for the “good old days”, which allows us to stay stuck in the past. We say “here is the way we do this ____” not realizing that progress is made every moment. We are willing to buy the latest technology, yet we still believe having the newest, the shiniest, the best will tell people who we are, how smart, successful, etc we are. These are some of the conventional notions we have all accepted and this stops us from seeing past the surface of life. The mental cliches, the words we use to describe ourselves are stale as well. As soon as I say something, it has become obsolete, just like a new car loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot, so too do our descriptions of ourselves, our life, our surroundings, etc become stale once we think them. Yet, we hold on to these old ideas and they stunt our growth, they hinder our ability to deepen our knowing and, in many cases, become fertile ground for racism, hatred based on race, color, creed, religion, etc. 

These old ideas have become so insidious that we adorn our parks, state capitals, US Capital with statues of people who committed Treason! We get angry at US Flag burners and people who kneel at the National Anthem, yet we celebrate people who fly/wave the Confederate Flag which represents the attempted overthrow of our country! These old ideas have allowed the ‘persecuted white supremacist’ to recruit decent people, who are unaware of their being duped and deceived because of their adjustment to the altered “facts” of another. On a personal level, we have become so inured to these mental cliches that we believe the most negative things about ourselves and/or we run from the negative ones and become enamored with ourselves. We become stale and stuck because of our belief in these mental cliches in our inner lives and we become stale and stuck as individuals and family/community/country because of the conventional notions we hold onto.

In recovery, we are aware of how our old ideas “availed us nothing” as the Big Book of AA says. In fact, we because so stuck in our old ideas that we could not hear the call of the people around us, the people who loved us that we were ruining our lives and theirs. We were so stuck in the mental cliches that we held onto to we were unable to see the destruction we had caused, were causing and about to cause to ourselves and anyone who was around us. We took hostages and prisoners, all the while feeling that we were the ones being treated poorly, we were being misunderstood, we were the victims! In recovery, we become aware of these lies we have been telling ourselves and another(s), we tremble with tears and hope when we begin to recount for ourselves how powerless we are over the ideas and mental cliches that brought us to our knees and how grateful we are to finally begin, grow, enhance our live in recovery. In recovery, we are so aware of our ‘stinking thinking’ that these ideas and cliches will save us and realize they will kill us. 

I was always a smart kid and my ‘smarts’ led me to doing some of the stupidest things one could imagine. I read this sentence about 5 times a week, either in study with another person, in conversation with someone and/or just to remind myself to get out of being stuck and stale. I continue to read/study/meditate on this sentence so often because I am able to deceive myself into thinking I have let go of these cliches and ideas, yet, my yearly inventory has shown me how I hold on to old and new cliches and ideas for too long, accepting their truth once and for all. Every time I do this, I become a caricature of my true self and I am disappointed and disappointing. I am susceptible to the lies and mendacity of another(s) and I put my trust in people who have their own agenda’s without my realizing it. When I hold on to old ideas and cliches, I become spiritually, mentally vision-impaired and this has led to hurt, pain and loss for me and some of the people I love the most. I know that I have to see what I know new each day and not just accept something because it was true yesterday. This is my learning and doing in all my affairs, study, work and relationships. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets 

Day 217

“Then God said to Jonah, are you so deeply angry about the plant? Yes, Jonah replied, so deeply angry that I want to die. Then God said, you cared about the plant with you did not work for, which you did not grow, which appeared overnight and persisted overnight. And should I not care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 human beings who do not know their right hand from their left and many beasts as well?”(Jonah4:9-11).

This is the end of the book of Jonah and we see that Jonah never became human. He doesn’t want to serve God, he is incapable of seeing past his own needs, his own judgmental ways, and his egotistical need to be right all the time.

Jonah is a representative of all the people who know better than God. Jonah is representative of all of the times we, each of us, has acted as if we know better than God. Jonah is representing the anger many of us experience when we don’t get our way. Jonah is representing the lack of personal insight many of us have when faced with Yom Kippur and At-One-Ment. Jonah represents the lack of personal responsibility many of us ignore when refusing to forgive and, rather, get the ‘pound of flesh’ we are able to because of  “the letter of the law” not the spirit. Jonah represents people who get angry when what they want doesn’t happen so they want to take their marbles and go home to sulk. Jonah represents the people who lack empathy, who lack the ability to let go, who are so small and think so little of themselves they have to beat up and take advantage of someone else to feel strong and big. Jonah represents the politicians and the lawyers, the CEO’s and the shareholders, the far right and the far left, who are only interested in winning, in profits, in ideology rather than being interested and concerned about 1 human being at a time. 

God’s words to Jonah are words to all of us. We get angry about our ego being bruised, being called out for our errors and our ways, being ‘found out’ after we put up false facades/masks and then blame and want to destroy those who see us because we care more about being seen in a good light than we care about truth and concern for another human being. God, on the other hand, reminds us that we have to care about our creations, ie children, families, business’, organizations, etc. as well as God’s creations, ie, earth, animals, plants, sea life, another human being, etc. God is saying that people who are so confused, so unknowing, as the people of Nineveh, who could ignore, not learn, go against God’s teachings of how to live; deserve our compassion, deserve another chance to change, deserve to be told and taught the ways of decency, kindness, truth, justice, mercy, forgiveness and love. God is telling all of us, through Jonah, that this is our mission. Vengeance, getting even, winning at all costs, using the vulnerabilities of someone against them, these are all animal instincts that we humans need to overcome in order to serve our higher instincts of Godliness. 

Rabbi Heschel writes: “God’s answer to Jonah, stressing the supremacy of compassion, upsets the possibility of look for a rational coherence of God’s ways with the world. History would be more intelligible if God’s word were the last word, final and unambiguous like a dogma or unconditional decree…Yet, beyond justice and anger lies the mystery of compassion.”(The Prophets pg. 287). So many of us are looking for surety and we find God instead. Those who wish for the rational coherence would be destroyed if it were so. Those who seek to call God’s anger and retribution upon another would perish if God were to respond to such a call. Yet we continue to bully people into believing that God will punish for the slightest errors, that we are doing God’s work when we serve ourselves and use and abuse a system meant for lifting up the dignity of all. Many people continue to revel and relish, roll around in and bathe themselves in mendacity and deception of self and another so they can have power and control. We read Jonah on Yom Kippur to remind us that this is not the way, resentments are not compassionate, Ego-anger is not appropriate. Will we all let these go in this Schmita year of 5782? 

In recovery, we are so aware of our powerless, our limits, our need to keep our ego right-sized and our gratitude for God’s mercy and grace. We know that Grace is not earned with one action, rather Grace comes from the latin meaning pleasing and thankful. God is pleased with our humanness, our imperfections and thankful that we have progressed one grain of sand each day in the past year. In recovery, we keep letting go of resentments, appreciate compassion and practice mercy with ourselves and everyone else. 

I have been Ego-angry even in my recovery and I am sorry for those times. I have thought about “getting even” and using vulnerabilities against another, and I haven’t very often if at all. God’s compassion is enough for me to leave sadness and hurt, betrayals by ‘friends’ and loss of community, for being the loud, brash, in-your-face, guy I have always been. It isn’t cool in Cancel Culture, etc. Yet the love, mercy and compassion of God and God’s Angels are enough. If I have harmed you, I am truly sorry and I ask for your forgiveness. If you have harmed me, please know you are forgiven. God Bless, Stay safe and 5782 is a year of release and renewal and I pray you immerse yourself in it.

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 216

“Jonah left the city and found a space east of the city, He made a Sukkah there, sat under it for shade to see what happened to the city. God provided a ricinus plant…to give shade for his head and save him from discomfort. Jonah was very happy. God provided a worm which attacked the plant and it withered…Jonah begged for death, saying I would rather die than live.”(Jonah 4:5-8). 

In the first verses above, Jonah is not interested in staying around, giving counsel to the people or the king, he just wants to stand apart and above the fray to watch the destruction. There is a term that Harriet and I use: Relationship Arsonist. This is the person who creates tension and hatred between two people and watches the relationship blow up. This is a person who revels in watching people destroy themselves by ensuring they are constantly and consistently afraid to trust, afraid to connect and afraid there is something inherently wrong with them. Jonah wanted to deliver God’s message and then sit away from the city and witness the destruction. As we get closer to Kol Nidre, instead of just reciting the annulment of vows, this year lets recite an annulment of our need to watch the destruction of another(s) with glee. As we recite the short and long confessionals on Kol Nidre, let's confess to the ways we have caused strife and fire between two people, the ways we have been relationship arsonists and reveled in the chaos, hurt and not cared about the collateral damage. 

On Yom Kippur during the morning confessionals, let's confess the myriad of ways we have been like Jonah, sitting in comfort, out of the hot sun, watching and waiting for the destruction of things we did not build, and were jealous of. In the morning confessionals, let’s confess to the ways we have destroyed our ability to have empathy, divine pathos/rachmones, compassion and pain at the destruction of relationships of  families, communities and, the world with one another and with God. On Yom Kippur morning, let’s confess to the negative speech/gossip we engage in to destroy another person’s character, goodness, helpfulness, accomplishments, etc. just to feel superior and better about ourselves. 

How often have we been happy when we have been provided what we need, like Jonah was provided with the plant by God. He never acknowledged God in his pleasure nor did he realize he was being an entitled person. On Yom Kippur morning, let’s confess to the ways we have acted entitled, been angry when our entitlement is not fulfilled, and set fire, or tried to set fire, to the goodness of another and the goodness of an institution. On Yom Kippur, let’s confess to the myriad of times we have spoken badly about the Rabbi’s sermon and/or the Cantor’s melodies or voice just to feel superior when we could do neither role, just to bond with another negative person, rather than being moved by both the liturgy and the messages of the Rabbi. 

Entitlement brings a lot of pain when it is suddenly taken away from us. Jonah is so angry, upset, grieved for the plant when it is taken away, he becomes faint and just wants to die, rather than ask for help from God, take shelter under the sukkah again, go to the town and seek shelter, etc. Isn’t this the way many of us are? To mitigate this pain, we get angry, lash out against someone, no matter whether they had a part in our entitlement not being fulfilled or not, and then we are so dramatic and taken with ourselves and our pain, we threaten to die or at least say we want to. This is a ploy people use to get what they want, when they want it, from the people most likely to give in. Many of us use this type of threat, the threat of litigation so they can get a payday, the threat of scandal/exposure of lies that are believable and/or the imperfections of another person/institution and/or government. On Yom Kippur morning, let’s confess to the ways our entitlement has caused us to be ungrateful and unmindful of the blessings God and another(s) have given us. On Yom Kippur morning, let’s confess to the ways we coerced another to fulfill our entitlement issues even when they didn’t want to/knew it was wrong to do. 

In recovery, after trying to kill ourselves for so long, we know we are not entitled to anything except the day we have and to do the most with it that we can. We wake up every morning grateful to be alive, thankful for what we have and seek to be of service to another(s) rather than seeking people to be of service to us. In recovery, we let go of our need to be relationship arsonists. We seek to help another and when they rebuff us, we pray for them and we welcome them back when they return. 

I have been Jonah prior to my recovery, I have released my need to see someone else fall a long time ago. When I see it and I reach out and am rebuffed, rather than “I told you so” my response has been and is: “I am so sorry, how can I help?” I have made the confessions I wrote about above and the one I still have to make for this year is: “I am sorry God that I did not hear your call and respond to it quicker. I am sorry God that I engaged in being willfully blind to what was going on around me. In this year and all coming years, my commitment to you, God, is to keep my eyes and ears open and see what is, not what I want to see. I am grateful for all You have provided me with and will use it better in this year and forward”. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark 

The Prophets- wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 215

“This displeased Jonah greatly and he was grieved. He prayed to God, saying, “God, isn’t this the outcome I spoke when I was still in my country? This is why I fled to Tarshish, because I know You are God of compassion, and grace, slow to anger and great in kindness and renouncing punishment upon the evil. Please, God, take my life for it is better for me to die than live. God said: are you that deeply grieved?”(Jonah 4:1-4).

This is the final chapter in the Jonah story that we find in our Bible. It begins with an example of what happens when we can’t “get even” and/or “people don’t get what they deserve” according to our opinions. Jonah is pissed off that people repent, people are saved from death and they have an opportunity to change their ways and live as decent human beings. Jonah is reminding us of the attitude that has been around forever, evidently, that not only doesn’t a leopard change its spots, humans don’t change either. Yet, Yom Kippur, T’Shuvah, growing our connection to God and another(s) human being says differently! The Jewish Tradition is all about change, growing in wisdom, learning new things and new depths from our sacred texts. And, there are many Jonah’s around today as there has always been. 

We read Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon, I believe, to re-enforce God’s ways of kindness, compassion, forgiveness, grace, renouncing punishment, etc. We read it also, I believe, to make a decision as to the type of person we are going to be in the new year. Are we going to be like Jonah, who flees when he knows that the people of Nineveh might listen and they won’t “get theirs” from God? Are we going to be Jonah-like and displeased when people turn back to God, to decency, make their amends, forgive another(s), realize their errors and change? Are we going to be Jonah-like and be angry with God for being unreliable when it comes to destroying Nineveh-like cities and Nineveh-like people because they are made aware of their evil ways and repent? Are we going to be Jonah-like and believe that we, alone, are righteous and the unrighteous in our minds need to be punished, exterminated and wiped off the face of the earth? Are we going to be Jonah-like and be displeased and angry at God for being merciful? Are we going to be Jonah-like by being unmerciful, unkind, unforgiving, not compassionate and the grand enforcer of the justice we believe should happen? 

We read Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon, I believe, to remind ourselves that we have to be moved and changed to act more humanly in this coming year. We get to choose to be the Anti-Jonah by, as Rabbi Harold Shulweis, z”l, taught, being Godly. We get to choose to be the Anti-Jonah by forgiving easily and completely, by letting old resentments leave us and appreciate and emulate God’s forgiveness of us towards another(s) in our lives. We can choose to be the Anti-Jonah by hearing God’s call to wade into the worst places and call for redemption, for changing the old ways and following a path of being human. We can choose to be the Anti-Jonah by being kind and truthful with all we meet, remembering to let go of our own self-deception and self-aggrandizement. We can choose to be the Anti-Jonah by taking the blinders off of our eyes, see the areas we need to change and see the ways another(s) has changed. We can be the Anti-Jonah by realizing we are never going to be perfect, we say the same confessionals each year and, improving one grain of sand every day in all areas of living is enough. We can be the Anti-Jonah by rejoicing at God’s Mercy, Kindness, Compassion, Forgiveness. We can be the Anti-Jonah by living a life of justice tempered with righteousness as we are taught. We can be the Anti-Jonah by remembering that one person’s T’Shuvah allows the entire world to endure, as Rabbi Meir says in the Talmud, Yoma86b. 

We get to choose between being like Jonah who wants to die because he did not get his way, because, as Rabbi Heschel says, he found “what transpired only proved the word of God was neither firm not reliable.” Because God can change God’s mind and decrees based on our actions, Jonah was displeased, grieved and bereft. Because God did not wipe our an entire city once they repented, unlike the Jews of Israel and Judah, Jonah wanted to die. We can choose to be angry and bereft because we did not get our way and someone wasn’t ‘punished enough’ and be like Jonah. We can also choose to be the Anti-Jonah be realizing that God forgives us and doesn’t carry out the decrees we deserve from our actions. We can be the Anti-Jonah by releasing our need to get even, our need to see the destruction of those we consider our enemies. We can be the Anti-Jonah by becoming one with God, with the prayer at the beginning of the bedtime Sh’ma, and forgiving another and wishing no harm on them!

I learned of T’Shuvah in prison in 1987 with Rabbi Mel Silverman, z”l, and I have continued to do T’Shuvah-knowing I will not be perfect and I will make similar errors that I have in the past. In these 34 years of recovery, I have forgiven everyone who has asked and, in this year of Schmita, those who haven’t. Jonah teaches me who I don’t want to be and who I do want to be. I can’t have the same anger/resentment that I have held on to in the past, I have to forgive those who have harmed me and betrayed me (in my opinion) and I have to forgive myself. I pray you do the same. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 214

“When the news reached the king of Nineveh he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. He had the word cried through Nineveh… Let everyone turn back from their  evil ways and from the injustice of which they are guilty. Who knows if God will be comforted and turn from his anger and not kill us. God saw what they did and God was comforted and did not do what God had said God would do.” (Jonah 3:6-10).

As we ponder the efficacy of doing T’Shuvah, as we are tired, hungry, excited, and in the home stretch of Yom Kippur, we read of the king of Nineveh hearing the call of God to repent, to change his ways and maybe, just maybe, God will not destroy the city, the people, the memory of Nineveh. In the waning hours of Yom Kippur, Jonah is reminding us to hear God’s call to repent; not to blame, not to make excuses for, not to rationalize through ‘on the advice of counsel’, ‘I admit no guilt and will pay a fine’, ‘it is not my fault’, etc. It is time to make sure that those in our community with whom we have had strife, we ask for forgiveness and we forgive them-it is a two way street. It is time to reach across the globe and ask for forgiveness to Jews we are not talking to and forgive them as well. It is time to reach out to the people of our community, who are not Jews and forgive them as well as ask them for forgiveness. In other words, reading Jonah at the Mincha Service of Yom Kippur is reminding us that our repentance, our deep dive into our inner life can’t be just for this day, it has to become an everyday occurrence. Who do you need to forgive/let go of resentment towards? Who do you need to ask forgiveness from? 

What is the king’s message from hearing God’s call? “Turn back from our evil ways and from the injustice we are guilty of”! The king of Nineveh had a spiritual awakening, realizing that his reign of terror was over, the power game was done and it was time to BE HUMAN, be a partner with God instead of an adversary of God. Commit to a way of living that is compatible with the Image of God we are created in and remember, like God told Cain, evil couches at our door, it desires us much and we can master it. The king intuitively knew all of this once he opened his ears, his heart, his mind and allowed his soul to be the arbiter of his actions and the people did the same. Like us on Yom Kippur, they fasted; like us on Yom Kippur, they prayed and did T’Shuvah; like us on Yom Kippur, they committed to a different way of living; like us on Yom Kippur, God forgave them; like us, on the day after Yom Kippur, they continued to follow a path away from evil and towards God-I hope and pray. The people of Nineveh were changed by the actions of their king, the actions of their neighbors and their own actions-everyone joined together to repent and as for forgiveness as well as changed the paths they were on from evil to good, from selfish to kindness, from harm to compassion, from mendacity to truth. We read Jonah at Mincha on Yom Kippur to remind ourselves that this is not just for a day, our repentance and forgiveness is for the rest of our lives and is a new way of living that we have to cultivate, grow, return to when we forget, and continue to serve God, community, family, and ourselves. 

We read Jonah at Mincha on Yom Kippur to remind us to learn from everyone. As I said yesterday, it is amazing that the people furthest from God and God’s ways could hear 6 words and change while the people supposedly closest to God, could hear 233 or so chapters of prophecy and be deaf! I understand this phenomena through the words of the Ramchal, in his introduction to The Path of the Just, “for you will find in most of my words only things most people already know and have no doubts about. But according to their familiarity and to the extent their truth is evident to all, so too is their neglect very prevalent and forgetfulness of them very great.” Because we get so haughty about our stature and nature, about our inheritance and lineage, we leave the truths, the paths and the spirit that brought us and/or our ancestors to live well. Jonah comes on the holiest day of the year in the Jewish Calendar, according to many, and reminds us to be more like the people of Nineveh than of Israel and Judah. Never be so sure your sh*^)t doesn’t stink just like everyone else’s. Find your part in every interaction, positive and negative, own it, repair the negative and enhance the positive so you/we don’t have to be destroyed and sent into exile again! God repented towards Nineveh, God accepted our request for forgiveness on Kol Nidre, now we have to God’s request that we change our ways-Nineveh say YES to God’s request, will you/me/we? 

In recovery we continue to do T’Shuvah and we see that we make the same errors  each year, a little differently, with less frequency and still make them. In reading the verses above, I realize that what we have changed is our path, we no longer seek to do evil, to get over, to blame, etc. In recovery we continue to do steps 4-9 and do a daily 10th step-all of which are T’Shuvah. 

These verses and the prophets in general have given me the path and the knowing that I have to release myself from old stories, from old hurts/wounds, from the betrayals, etc. I also have to ask for forgiveness from my enemies as well as my friends, I have to release them and myself from the hurt and anger I have carried. Releasing brings wholeness, clarity and love to the forefront of my living. I release people because the hurt and anger, the get even and fight is an impediment to me from being my whole self and being the self I want to be, need to be and God created me to be.

This is the path I am walking this year and beyond. I am already clearer and more joyous, I hope you do the same. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets 

Day 213

“The word of God came to Jonah a second time: “Go to Nineveh, that great city and call out what I tell you to.” Jonah went at once to Nineveh as God had spoken. Nineveh was a large city, a three day walk across. Jonah came to the city and walked for a day and proclaimed: “After 40 days, Nineveh will fall!”. The people of the city believed God.”  They called for a fast and put on sackcloth. (Jonah 3:1-5).

These verses above show the power of God’s love, God’s desire for connection and God’s strength of forgiveness. The first verse above, after Jonah had a spiritual awakening in the belly of the fish, is proof of God’s desire to connect and reconnect as well as God’s ability to forgive and move forward. I am writing this on Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance, Return and new Response. In this first verse, God is having a new response to Jonah’s awakening. God doesn’t need to punish Jonah, at this point, he needed to get Jonah’s attention and assistance. God doesn’t take Jonah’s initial rejection of God’s call personally, God exhibits Divine Pathos towards Jonah. The same is true today, God grants us God’s mercy and kindness, compassion and caring every day and especially during these 10 days of T’Shuvah and on Shabbat Shuvah. Engaging in T’Shuvah allowed Jonah to be able to hear and respond to God’s call this time with energy and passion to serve God. There is a midrash that says God keeps calling ‘Shema’ and “Ayecha” throughout the world 24/7 and only through T’shuvah can we clean our ears, our hearts and our souls to hear this call and respond. 

God’s word is to “go to Nineveh” the city he did not want to go to before, and Jonah goes quickly. In a complete turn from his earlier encounter with God where he ran away quickly, Jonah goes quickly on his mission. He is fresh from his stay in the belly of the fish, the spiritual awakening he had weighs heavy in his being and he seems excited to go to Nineveh. One reason may be that Nineveh was the worst place on earth for decency, kindness, compassion, truth, justice, love, etc. Nineveh was a city of ‘dog eat dog’, ‘kindness is weakness’, ‘tell a lie long enough and loud enough and people will believe it’, ‘suspect thy neighbor’, objectifying each and every person. Jonah might have been excited to go because he thought “they will finally get their comeuppance! Rather than complain about the journey he seems energized by it.

Here is where we get to look at ourselves and those around us on Shabbat Shuvah and during the 10 days of T’Shuvah. How quick are we to rejoice over the demise of people we don’t like, we blame for our failures, who have harmed us, even whom we have harmed? How often do we “throw salt in the wounds” of another human being rather than attempt to heal their wounds. How often are we unwilling to hear and/or accept the T’Shuvah of another person? How often do we realize that we have a part in every interaction and no matter how small or large our part is, we have to do T’Shuvah, be responsible for and have a new response to the ways we acted badly, unGodly, hurtfully? Jonah may be excited that he gets to be the one to tell Nineveh of their fate. 

Yet, the unthinkable happens: the people of Nineveh believe God and believe Jonah is sent by God. Imagine this, as my friend and teacher Rabbi Edward Feinstein and I were discussing, 6 words and the people of Nineveh, the “worst” city ever believed! There are 233 chapters of Prophets and the Jews of Israel and Judah didn’t return, didn’t repent, didn’t have new responses. Yet, Nineveh heard 6 words and repented immediately, they believed immediately. How is this possible, you might ask? I am not sure and I understand what happened viscerally. When one is so far from God, so ‘out there’ it seems as if they can never return, we are also the closest to God we can be. The people of Nineveh were so bereft because their actions had cut them off from their spirit and from God and they were unable on their own to stop. Jonah’s call was their spiritual awakening and, instead of blowing this call off like they had before, they were touched to their core, to the depths of their souls and they could release themselves from the negativity, the isolation, the desperation they had been trapped in. Unfortunately, the Jews of Israel and Judah didn’t know how trapped they were until they were exiled. 

In recovery, we continue to maintain our spiritual connection through prayer, meditation and service. We know the ways of Nineveh well as we were part of that ‘great city’ of negativity and injustice. We also heard the call of our Higher Power/Universe/family/God and could change when all else had failed before. In recovery, we are quick to return, search for our part and continue to seek new responses to each and every situation. 

I am well aware of both the Jonah and the people of Nineveh that live in me. Jonah, who may want to “get even” is alive and dangerous in me. It takes a lot of effort to tame him when I have been betrayed, hurt, damaged and I must. Almost 36 years ago I heard the call from God that I was destroying my life and I had to make a choice. I did and I keep honoring that choice of doing T’Shuvah, as soon as I realize my part and I can tame my inner Jonah. Reading these verses give me hope, reassurance and the power to change my response, be responsible for my part only, not take on the shame of another and move forward spiritually, wholly and lovingly. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 212

“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered God and my prayer came before You into your Holy abode. They who cling to folly/mist forsake their own welfare. I with a loud gratitude will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will perform. God is my deliverance.”(Jonah 2:8-10).

What a few days in jail/whale/fish will do! Jonah’s prayer to God is a recognition, somewhat, that he missed the mark by running away from God. He realizes when his life is “ebbing away’ that he has erred, when the heat is on, when the chips are down, he remembers God. Sound familiar? So many people have these spontaneous conversions/returns to God when all else fails, when they are “in trouble”, when Yom Kippur is here/near, etc. I believe this may be another reason we read Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon, to remind us that our connection to God, our dependence on God, our deliverance by God doesn’t end at Neilah on Yom Kippur, rather it has to continue, our return is a constant turning and deepening. 

On Yom Kippur, we believe that our prayers reach God in God’s Holy Abode and there are many Hasidic stories portraying God’s anticipation, the Tzadik’s arguing for the Jewish people, and God’s acceptance of our prayers. It is not the day of Yom Kippur as far as we know in the story of Jonah, which points out the truth that our dependence, connection and deliverance is a daily occurrence. Each day we must renew our connection to God, each day we must deepen our awareness of how God delivers us and each day, we proclaim our dependence on God through our prayers, especially the Modeh Ani we say upon awakening. Our gratitude and our recognition that God returns our soul with compassion and God stays faithful is a daily reminder and catalyst for our continued connection and engagement with God. It is also a call to ourselves to serve God with all of our heart, soul and everything that is in us. Reading Jonah in the afternoon of Yom Kippur is a call to all of us to commit to serve God, to stay connected to God and to live this way all the time, not just when we think and/or realize we are in trouble. 

The next verse above uses the word in Hebrew, Hevel. This is the name of the Cain’s brother whom he killed, it is a word that translates as mist, in Kohelet it translates as vanity. People who cling to air/mist, who believe so much in their own self that they are only interested in themself are the people who forsake their welfare, the kindness of God and another(s) human being, their best interests. In our vanity, we are willing to punish another person just for sport, in our vanity we think we are God, “the one with the gold rules” is how some people live the Golden Rule. In our vanity, we take kindness for weakness and, at some time, find ourselves bewildered by our loneliness, isolation and neediness. When we try and grab onto falseness, we find ourselves in the prison of our own making, in the belly of the fish with no way out, except to call to God. We have seen this so many times in history, in our own lives, yet we continue to forget and repeat the same basic error, reliance on self instead of reliance and connection to God. 

Jonah declares his gratitude, his sacrifice and his commitment to keep his word in the last verse above. Is this a jailhouse conversion? We are not sure at this moment. What we know is that the experience of living in the belly of the fish when he should have been dead has changed Jonah for this moment. He is aware of God’s deliverance of him from the moment of death, God’s deliverance of him from his selfish and self-centered ways. On Yom Kippur we ask annulment of our previous vows and, implicitly, make new ones. We have to ask ourselves if we are prepared to follow them through and adopt this new way of being. Will we, after our Yom Kippur experience of ecstasy, continue to connect, continue to honor our pledges to God and to another(s), continue to use our gifts to serve God, humanity as well as ourselves? How often do we say one thing and do another? This is a human trait and verifies our imperfections and our need to constantly review ourselves and our actions, making progress on our imperfections while never ridding ourselves of them completely.

In recovery we are very familiar with Jonah’s call to God because we made this same cry at the time we decided to stop running away from God, from connection and from authentic selves. We are constantly working to “improve our conscious contact with God” and continuing to “take personal inventory”. We know our recovery is based on our spiritual condition and that spiritual condition is based on our acceptance of, dependence on and connection to God. 

My life since the beginning of my recovery while in prison 33+ years ago has been about moving life forward for me, God and another(s). While some people claim it was a jailhouse conversion, I know how much God has taken hold of my life.  I am imperfect, I keep making the same error over and over, getting better each time, yet still howling at the betrayals that I experience which causes more damage to me, my people and allows another(s) to make deals they do not intend to keep. I am committed to seek and realize God’s deliverance, God’s message even in the betrayals more in 5782. I am committed to not holding onto mist and vanity in 5782. I am committed to releasing myself from the guilt of past errors. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 211

“Jonah remained in the fish’s belly 3 days and 3 nights. Jonah prayed to God from the belly of the fish. He said: In my trouble I called to God and God answered me. From the belly of Sheol I cried out and You heard my voice. I thought I was driven away out of your sight…the waters closed in over me…Yet You brought my life up from the pit, Adonai, my God.”(Jonah 2:1,2,5,6,7)

It took 3 days and 3 nights for Jonah to realize what was going on and to pray to God, one might say. Another way to read this is: it only took 3 days and 3 nights for Jonah to realize what he had done and to pray to God for redemption, salvation and release. Either reading works, depending on where one is at in their lives. I prefer to read it both ways at the same time. 

On the one hand, Jonah was a prophet who heard the call of God, who was given a task he ran away from, who cause pain and suffering for the crew who took him onboard ship and slept like a baby as the ship was falling apart from the tempest God sent. He wanted so badly to run away from God that he asked the crew to throw him overboard in the hopes he would be eaten by a fish and die. That it took him 3 days and 3 nights to realize what was happening seems incredulous given his ability to hear God’s words. On the other hand, Jonah was a person like all of us, he could hear the call of God, as we all can when we listen and are connected to our soul, and Jonah was afraid to follow the call of God for a myriad of reasons, which is true for so many of us. His reasons will become clearer later and, like all of us, he was unable to bring himself to listen to the call of God, the call of his soul to take the next right action. Yet, after he was left to himself inside the fish, in the prison of his own making, it only took 3 days and 3 nights to realize what he needed to do, pray to God, acknowledge that only with God could he find life, redemption, rescue. 

Oh, if it only took all of us 3 days and 3 nights to realize our predicaments, the outcome of our actions and the trouble we find ourselves in for running away from our true self, our true work, from running away from being transparent, from accepting what is rather than trying to make fantasy come true. If it only took 3 days and 3 nights to realize how our need for power and money, prestige and selfishness, mendacity and deception brings about destruction and negates the call of God and harms the soul of another(s). Of course, we don’t realize we are living in the belly of the fish most of the time, we don’t realize we have been swallowed up by our resentments, our self-deceptions, our negativity and so it only taking 3 days, as we enter the new year, would be fantastic and noble.

Yet, Jonah is not taking responsibility for his situation. He says he called out from his trouble without saying how he caused his trouble. He is grateful that he wasn’t driven out of God’s sight, that he was brought up from the pit, yet he cannot bring himself to admit that all of this was caused by his actions. How many times are we ready to blame God, another human being, etc for our troubles? I know of people who are constantly being the victim and, while praying and meditating on God’s goodness to and for them, try to be crafty, using the vulnerabilities of another(s) against them to get their way, to ‘win’ at any and all costs so they can claim their righteousness, just as Jonah seems to be doing with his inability to take his responsibility. So many people forget the people who God sends to help them, to save them, they forget the times God has sent them a ‘Eureka’ moment of insight and clarity and think they are entitled to their self-interests at any and all costs. Rabbi Heschel teaches us, to paraphrase him, the interests of another(s) have to be our concerns. We, like Jonah, have to realize our call from God to help not hinder another, to care about not destroy another, and to let go of our self-seeking, power-hungry, get even ways of leaving. 

In recovery, we acknowledge our part in every interaction, positive and/or negative. We are in recovery because we are aware of how our actions/inactions led us to a place where our only hope was to call out to God and hear God’s call back to us. We are living examples of the Jonah experience, we were in the pit, the depths of despair, loneliness and isolation and cried out to God and we were heard and saved. God brought us up out of the pit and restored us to life, to wholeness and to service. In recovery, we know our destiny is to serve and to redeem those who still suffer. 

I have taken longer that 3 days and 3 nights to see that I am in darkness, the pit, despair, anger and resentment as well as hurt and sadness and betrayal at times in my life. Yet, I am acutely aware of God hearing my call from the depths of all of these experiences. Because I am connected to God, self and another(s), these are not emotions, they are experiences in which I am immersed. I can only leave these negative experiences, be saved from their imprisonments by calling out to God and to the people with whom I have a covenantal relationship, not a transactional relationship with. Discerning the difference has been the teaching of 5781 and releasing myself from the mendacity is the plan of 5782. I cry out to God and God hears me, I am saved by God’s love and the love of family, covenantal friendship and truth. I pray the same for you in 5782! Stay Safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets 

Day 210

“And when the men learned that he was fleeing from serving God, for he told them, they said to him:”What must we do to calm the sea?” He answered, throw me overboard and the sea will calm down for you for I know this terrible storm is on my account. Then they cried out, Please God do not hold us guilty for this man’s life, for You, God have brought this about. And they threw Jonah overboard and the sea stopped raging.”

I am in awe of the sailors. They did not get crazy with Jonah for fleeing the service of God, they did not want to kill him for causing the storm, they just wanted to be in the solution. They are the Anti-Jonah, people who do not need to recriminate the guilty party, at least until they have a solution to the challenge. The Anti-Jonah are the people who ask “what do we need to do to calm the sea”, what do we need to do to bring resolution, harmony, respect, dignity, connection, service, justice, love, truth back into our world, our situation, our lives. The Anti-Jonah are the sailors who kept trying to row the boat back to shore rather than sacrifice Jonah, the trouble-maker. 

We can learn so much from the sailors! They are in fear of their lives and they show dignity, humanity and kindness to the source of their problems. We, today, are into the blame game so heavily and so intently that the actions of these sailors seems foolish to many. In fact, I am not sure how many people see them as the heroes of the story at all. Yet, they are. They are the people who go to work everyday in the hospitals and doctors’ offices to treat the unvaccinated people who have Covid-19. They are the people who stand on line to vote in spite of, or maybe because of, the asinine restrictions that fear-based authoritarians have imposed on us. They are the everyday people who show up for work in the retail stores, the restaurants, the airports, etc. Knowing the lack of care that some people have, knowing how some people run away from God’s service and God’s gifts to us these heroes, these Anti-Jonahs, show up to serve anyway. They are the real leaders, not the charlatans who go on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter to spread lies about themselves and another(s) through innuendo as well as blatant lying. The Anti-Jonahs send us the truth while the Jonahs/charlatans preach the gospel of self-centeredness and mendacity. The sailors, the Anti-Jonahs take their responsibility and seek to prolong everyone’s life, not just their own. 

Jonah takes responsibility for what is happening and this seems like a good action. Yet even this seemingly responsible and introspective action is suspect. Jonah was afraid to kill himself, he still did not want to serve God, so he puts it on the sailors to kill him by throwing him overboard so he still doesn’t do God’s bidding. Jonah is so self-center that he is willing to force the sailors to send him to his death rather than serve God or kill himself. We see this today with the people who are unwilling to acknowledge their part in any interaction that goes bad, the ones that go good these people take most of the credit-deserved or not. The descendants of Jonah blame everyone else for the whole negative experience, never seeing their part, and wrap themselves in their ‘poor me’, victimhood and get others to try and save them, give them money they haven’t earned nor deserve and heap guilt and shame upon their ‘enemies’. Jonah and his descendants are always looking for someone else to do their bidding, to help them escape the service God has created them to do and, in this case, even get them to commit murder to satisfy himself/themselves. How sick is this??!

The last two verses above impact me so much. They realize they are going to have to go along with Jonah’s solution and throw him overboard. They realize that they are committing murder and they know it is the only way to save themselves. These brave Godly men are so distraught that they cry out to God to forgive them and to hold God accountable. They are aware that the choices are terrible and they want God and the rest of us to know there are times when the choices we face are the ‘lessor of two evils’ and, as Judaism teaches, save your life first then the life of another. These brave souls are deeply troubled and they are unafraid to call God to task in this case. Many times in life, we are faced with this type of choice, many times in life we have to confront the lies and the evil another human being perpetrates upon us. The sailors give us the path forward, cry out to God, realize what we are doing and save our own lives first as they say on the plane; put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping another.

In recovery, we are all about being the Anti-Jonahs! We move from self-centered to God-centered living. We move for serving ourselves to serving another(s). We move from blame to accepting responsibility for our part of every interaction, positive and negative. In recovery, we know we are imperfect, we know we make the same mistakes in different ways, we also know we are seeking to serve God and serve humanity more and more each day. 

I am so aware of the ways I have been Jonah and how, for the most part, in my recovery I have not asked anyone else to help me escape responsibility for my service nor my part in our dealings. I am in awe of the sailors and believe I have been an Anti-Jonah more often, following their lead of rowing against the current to save lives more often than I have been Jonah. As we enter 5782, I hope you look at this past year and say the same for yourself! Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 209

“God cast a great wind and the sea became such a great tempest, the boat was in danger of breaking up…sailors cried out, each to their own god, they threw the cargo overboard…Jonah went down to the hold and fell asleep. The captain woke him, cried out to him, “how can you be sleeping so soundly?”. They said to him, what have you done to bring this misfortune upon us…”(Jonah1:4-6,7).

Immersing myself in Jonah this year, as part of my exploration of the prophets, I am amazed at the lessons left unlearned year after year. While I know “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” to be so very, very true, it is incredible to me that all of us have left so many lessons unlearned over the years, it is terrifying to me that I have left so many lessons unlearned from Jonah and the rest of the prophets. 

God sends a great wind to let Jonah know that he cannot escape his service to God. God is giving Jonah an opportunity to so the next right thing, return to his mission and stop trying to escape/hide. We are experiencing many climate changes, more hurricanes, heat, cold, rain in places that don’t need more and not in places that do need more, etc, yet we are unable to move the needle because, like Jonah, many people just want to run the other way. It is truly amazing to me how people are able to run away while the world is heating up, while the world is flooding, while the world is in a drought. Yet, as I think about it, I have only to look at how we try to escape the consequences of our behaviors all the time by blaming another human being for our choices. Whether it is our parents, ‘the man’, the government, our employer, our spouse, our children, we are always looking for a scapegoat so we can run away from our responsibilities and our mission. I am understanding why Jonah is read on Yom Kippur even more, Jonah is running away from the mission/service God has given/sent him on, just as we have run away from God, our mission/service that God gave to us and we committed to last year. 

The sailors, who were not Hebrews, decided to be in the solution, they are the Anti-Jonah. Despite their fear, despite the odds, despite their despair over what was about to kill them, they threw the cargo overboard-this was the purpose of their voyage, this was how they were getting paid and they said life was more important than money. Can you imagine that? Who says that anymore? Certainly not Big Pharma, not the Koch Bros, not Wall Streeters, not the elected officials who take the donations from people and due their bidding at the cost of the lives of their poorer constituents. Yet, these sailors, these pagans, are in the solution of throwing away their money and calling our to their gods. Sure, they may be idols, they may be false, and the sailors call out because they have faith and belief. They are not going to wring their hands and just worry, they are active in the solution of the problem/challenge. We spend too much time caring about the ‘bottom line’ and are willing to bend our knees and participate in the idolatry of money to be in the solution. It is time for us to think about the tempests, the strong winds that are blowing and come together to be in the solution. No one way solutions anymore, no discounting the humanity of another(s) because of the way they vote, their gender, their ethnicity, their religion, their race, color or creed. The sailors are teaching us we are all in this together and we must work together to solve our challenges, we must each do our part and call out to God as we understand God to gain the strength to overcome pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.

The captain is incredulous that Jonah can sleep during these great upheaval. The boat is thrashing about, the men are screaming out, the tumult is earsplitting, yet Jonah sleeps. This speaks to Jonah’s character more than most people realize. Jonah is an arsonist, he creates drama, he creates chaos and then stands back and watches as everyone else is affected by it and he just doesn’t care. Jonah is the person who can cheat you in business and sleep well at night because he believes in his smartness, his cleverness and his boldness. The Captain, however, is the man who cannot believe anyone would not be helping, he is unable to fathom the depths of Jonah’s coldness, narcissism, and inability to care about anyone else. The Captain is the Anti-Jonah, he is the person who cares deeply for the people in his care, he is concerned for his ship, his crew and his passenger. He is calling out to Jonah to do his part, to pray to his God and to help solve the challenge of surviving this terrible storm/seas. We need to see ourselves as the Captain instead of Jonah for us to survive the storm and the tempest we find ourselves in, personally, communally, and worldly. 

I have been Jonah, I was Jonah for the 20 years I was a drunk and a thief. I am remorseful for emulating him. In recovery, I and everyone else in recovery, strive to emulate and be like the sailors and the Captain. I am bothered by my errors, I am not able to sleep when there is a tempest/storm brewing around me, I am not running away from life, my soul’s calling, nor the cries of people in need, nor does anyone in recovery. In recovery, we seek out ways to be of service, we seek our part in activities, right and wrong, and we continue to grow. I/We don’t need to “get even” as we once did, I/we only need to find community, serenity, wholeness. I don’t have to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of another to feel strong, I don’t have to exploit the weakness/kindness of another to feel powerful. Today, I just have to continue to be the Anti-Jonah and serve God and the people I can. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 208

“These are the words God spoke to Jonah, son of Amittai: Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city and speak to them because their evil has risen up before me. Jonah, got up and fled to Tarshish away from God and went to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fail and went aboard to sail with others to Tarshish, away from serving God.”(Jonah1:1-3)

As Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur draw near, I want to take an in-depth look at the book of Jonah. This opening gets more and more incredible to me as the years go by. We read this every year on Yom Kippur afternoon and each year it is more and more trembling and troubling. 

God speaks to Jonah, as God does with other prophets and with the Children of Israel in the Bible, and yet we are not shocked, amazed, trembling, in radical amazement over these words. I believe the reason we are not is because we don’t believe it! We see it as a literary device, a control mechanism, etc. Yet, each year, we hear God’s call and God speaking to us clearer and more statically. The more set in our ways we become, the more static there is when God speaks, the more power we seek, the more static there is when God speaks. The more open we are to learn, the clearer is God’s call, the more transparent and truthful we are, the clearer are God’s words and message to/for us. Jonah is blessed with the ability to hear God’s call. Jonah, like all prophets, is blessed to know exactly what service God is asking from him. Yet, unlike the other prophets, Jonah says NO to God’s call and NO to serving God.

How many Jonah’s are in the world today? Unfortunately there are more Jonah’s than the other prophets. There are more Jonahs in power, there are more Jonah’s serving as clergy, politicians, business leaders, parents and children than are good for a healthy society. Jonah is the prophet that would be upset that vaccines were created to end polio, smallpox, measles, shingles, covid, etc. Jonah is the prophet that would be upset when democracy works because it means he can’t be the king/decider of who lives, dies, prospers, is free and is enslaved. Jonah is the prophet who preaches peace and takes advantage of everyone he can as he lies his way to ‘the top’ and wins through bullying and threatening. 

God is telling Jonah that everyone can repent, God is telling us that before any judgement is to be handed out, the people must know what they are doing and the impact their actions have. God is telling us and Jonah, be transparent, stop looking for the advantage, bring people together and to God. Yet, like Jonah, we run away. We try to go as far away from this call of God as we can, until of course, Yom Kippur when we want to be forgiven by God without naming the errors we have made individually, without going to the people we have harmed and asking for their forgiveness, without owning our part in every negative interaction, as well as only taking credit for our part in every positive interaction. Like Jonah we believe we can repudiate God with reckless abandon and never experience consequences from our behaviors.

Jonah is going as far away from God as possible, to Tarshish, yet he is unable to flee from God as God infuses the entire world. God is everywhere, God is the oxygen that keeps everything alive, God is the gravity that keeps us rooted on earth, God is the creative force of the universe and Jonah is using that force to create chaos and run away from his responsibility. Isn’t it sad that we have learned so little from Jonah, as well as the rest of the prophets over these millennia? We are still running from God, we are still running from forgiveness and repentance. We are continuing to defy God while proclaiming God’s greatness. We are continuing to use God to control another(s) for our benefit. We all know religious leaders who continue to hide behind a mask of piety and meditation, guile and denial, for their own power, prestige and money. We see politicians who proclaim to be guided by “religious values’ who are helping people die with their inactions and their anti-truth messages. 

In recovery, we ran as far away from God as possible. We heard only the calls of our minds which in the program of AA is called ‘K-f*%$#k radio. We are so attuned to hearing God’s voice and call in our recovery that when we can’t, when it is static, we run to a meeting, to a sponsor, to a spiritual guide to help us get tuned in again and hear God clearly. In recovery, we know we need to serve God and all of God’s creations, especially our fellow human beings. We continue to take our own inventory, continue to make our amends and continue to forgive another. We leave our resentments at the door and live freer each and every day. 

I have been Jonah. I live today as the anti-Jonah to the best of my ability. I am constantly looking to hear and be of service to and for God. I am aware of my flaws and the times I haven’t served God and/or another(s) human and I am aware of the times I have served God and another(s) human being. I am saddened by the ways people harm me, rather than mad which is a growth I have mastered this year.  I have my mission from God and I need to tune out the static from another(s) and from my false ego to be able to hear God’s call better and clearer. I am grateful for my guides who continue to show me the way. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 207

“Who is like you, God, forgiving iniquity, remitting sins for the remnant of the people. Who doesn’t retain anger forever because You love kindness! You take us back with compassion, cover up our iniquities, hurl our sins into the depth of the sea. You show faith to Jacob, loyalty to Abraham…(Micah 7:18-20)

In 14 days at sunset, we will enter the Holy Day of Yom Kippur with the Kol Nidre Prayer which asks for all of our vows, oaths and promises to be annulled, especially the ones we haven’t fulfilled. In my opinion, however, we are asking for forgiveness for the ones we did not fulfill and pardon for the ones we fulfilled poorly, just as a check-the-box way of doing something. We also are asking to have our sins be separated from us, we no longer want to be seen as our worst action, it is no longer our badge of honor or courage to flaunt our negative behaviors and call them positive. It is no longer our way to live: hurting someone else so we can feel good, worshiping the idol of power and prestige, bowing down before the god of money, believing that mine is mine and yours should be mine, etc. 

In 2 weeks we will ask God to forgive us, the remnant of the people who came before us, people of faith and concern. People who are dedicated to follow the words and actions of past leaders of faith, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses. We, the remnant of those great leaders, thinkers, transmitters and interpreters of God, get to go back to our source of strength, hope and wonder to be both forgiven and recharged. Not everyone in a faith community falls into the category of the remnant of these amazing spirits, only those who are dedicated to the principles of love, kindness, truth, justice, caring for the stranger, the poor, the needy, etc. Only people who, as the prophet tells us, follow God’s ways by not retaining anger forever. NO MORE GRUDGES! What a unique way to live, no forever grudges, no need to “get even”, no drive to crush another human being just because we feel hurt-especially when they see our foibles and use them against us. No need to conquer another, in relationships (especially sexual ones), in business (especially as an employee), in politics, in national/international affairs. Of course this is not something we will do only in 2 weeks, it is a way of being that we need to be practicing every day, 365 days a year.

Micah is calling out to us to remember that God loves kindness. Hesed, in Hebrew, is the word for kindness, sometimes love, sometimes truth and it is also used, with a vowel change, to mean follower. God loves followers, God loves kindness, God loves truth and God loves to love! God’s love of kindness, et al, is greater than God’s need for anger, in fact as Rabbi Heschel has taught us before, God’s anger is painful to God and not the first line of action-in fact it only happens because all other paths to return and ways to communicate have failed. Reading these verses today tell me how wrong people are when they say “the God of the Old Testament is an Angry God”. God, as the prophet is reminding us, loves us, takes us back in love and kindness and is constantly forgiving our iniquities, forgetting our sins and keeping faith with the descendants of Abraham. Is this really the way of an Angry God?? I think not. 

Rabbi Heschel teaches us: “Yet it is not in the name of justice that he speaks, but in the name of a God who “delights in steadfast love”, “pardoning iniquity and passing over transgressing.” Micah proclaims the vision of redemption. God will forgive “the remnant of His inheritance” and will cast all their sins “into the depths of the sea..”(The Prophets pg.99,101). Are we truly aware of God’s love and that what we take as anger is really frustration at our rejection of God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s saving us from our own sins and iniquities? Are we aware of how God casts our sins into the sea and then we go into the waters of negativity to retrieve them? Casting our bread upon the water at Tashlich, the ceremony Jews perform on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, is to separate ourselves from our worst actions, these actions are no longer a part of me. Yet so many people are unmoved by this and by God’s forgiveness, the forgiveness of another, God’s love, etc. The unmoved people are people who are stuck in their own false pride, inflated ego’s, in love with their low self-esteem, need to be right at all costs, seeking power, etc. Rather than bask in God’s steadfast love and compassion, rather than pass that same love and compassion on to another(s) human being, they stay stuck in their own anger and resentment. 

In recovery, anger and resentment are the #1 killers of serenity and wholeness. We can’t see anything with clarity/serenity when we are in anger and/or resentment. We know we have been forgiven and we are acutely aware of God’s assistance when people we have harmed forgive us. In recovery, we engage daily in proclaiming God’s greatness, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s kindness and God’s truth.

I have been the recipient of God’s love and forgiveness for a long time. God’s love and kindness, God hurling my sins into the sea and me not retrieving most of them is a miracle. Also, as I enter the High Holidays, I find myself resentment free and whole with life and whatever happens I will be able to deal with. I bear no ill will against my enemies and, while I will defend myself and my people, I do this with a heart filled with God’s kindness, love, compassion, and strength. I pray the same holds true for you. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 206

“They are eager to do evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul. Yet, I will look to God I will wait for God’s saving, God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, enemy. When I fall, I will rise, when I sit in darkness, God will be a light to/for me. I must bear the indignation of God as I sinned against God until God pleads my case and does justice for me.”(Micah 7:3,7,8).

I understand Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s preoccupation with the prophets and his subsequent activism because of them. How anyone can read these words and not immerse themselves in both the words, times, sorrow of the prophets and the words, times and sorrows of today is beyond me! 

The first verse above describes the human situation for millennia. Humans are eager to do evil and to do evil well. We see this throughout history and we see it today. Whereas the spiritual foundations of all Western Religions preach and teach love thy neighbor, how to get along with each other, help the needy, the poor and the stranger, seek peace and be holy; some of the leading practitioners do the evil of separation, hatred of anyone not like them, the eye disease/cancer of prejudice, bribery in many different forms, cheating the poor, vilifying the stranger, hating the needy, etc. I have to admit these practitioners of evil have done it well in the past and are doing an excellent job of doing evil right now. Look at how medical health, mental health and spiritual health have become politicized to the point of infants and small children getting sick and dying because people will not get vaccinated. Yet the leaders, DJT et al, telling them not to get vaccinated, “it’s a hoax”, got the vaccine and the best medical care! 

While it is easy to point the finger at the leaders, we also have to look at ourselves and at the people we surround ourselves with. We bear the guilt of doing evil, as the last verse speaks about,  whenever we pay the bribe, whenever we go along with evil in order to curry favor and/or get along. When we excuse our evil behavior with “on the advice of counsel” which has become the key phrase when people are found to be doing evil. We see this in all of our institutions of higher learning, business, and in our institutions of higher spiritual living. We have to look at how we put up with the bribes, as well as ask for them by giving/withholding favors, kindness, promotions, demotions, etc. We have been subjected to the utterances of the evil of our politicians, our clergy, our bosses and ourselves, yet we have not done much to change the way we “do life”. Micah spoke about this 2700+ years ago and look where we are today! 

We can only be responsible, as I am reading the prophet today, when we acknowledge our need for and dependence on God. Rather than go along with the bribers, the evil doers, the evil that lies within us, Micah is teaching us to look to God for help. When we look to God, to our inner core/soul, we are able to resist the temptations to run after evil which Moses warns us against doing. Looking to God reminds us of whom we serve and to whom we are responsible. Looking to God causes us to question if we are living in our Divine Image or the caricature of ourselves we and another(s) have created.  Waiting for God to save us is the only way to not fall into the prison and narrow place of being under the control of another human being. Knowing God hears us, knowing God wants us to return, knowing God cries when we are in exile can give us the strength to resist the temptation of evil, the temptation that Cain could not resist, we are able to when we return to God and await our redemption. 

Rabbi Heschel teaches us regarding the “do not rejoice” verse: “Among the great insights Micah has bequeathed us is how to accept and to bear the anger of God. The strength of acceptance comes for the awareness we have sinned against Him and…anger does not mean God’s abandonment of man forever. His anger passes, His faithfulness goes on forever.”(The Prophets pg.101). We humans need to act more Godly when we are angry and hurt, we have to leave the door open for reconciliation and forgiveness. We humans need to act more Godly when we have harmed another, we have to bear with grace, dignity and remorse our errors and know that forgiveness and faithfulness last much longer than anger in God’s world. We humans need to be more Godly and live more in God’s world than our own. We have to make this world more Godly than when we were born. We do this, as Rabbi Harold Shulweis, z”l, teaches by being more Godly. 

In recovery we ran to do evil and did it well. We are dedicated to waiting for God and living Godly more each day. In recovery, we learn to be patient and wait for God’s call, reject the bribes and evil desires of another(s) and of ourselves. We know God is our hope, our guide and our desire. 

I have run to do evil and did it pretty well. In my recovery, I haven’t run to do evil nor have I done it that well! I certainly have paid the price for going along to get along, for silencing my truth, for not seeing what was going on, etc. I also know that God is the only salvation I have. I am constantly hearing God by listening to my wife, daughter, family and spiritual friends. I know that darkness ends and the light afterward is so bright. This is the promise and God delivers on God’s promise all the time. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

DailY Prophets

Day 205

“With what shall I come before God, to bow before God on High? God has told you, Human, what is good and what God requires from you: Do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with God.(Micah 6:6,8). 

The first verse above is a question that we humans have asked forever. When we have erred, missed the mark we constantly ask how can we ever return to God, how can we ever be forgiven, how can we repair the relationship we have broken with God, with another human being. Many people disbelieve that God and/or another human being could forgive our transgressions. And, while some people will not forgive our errors, some people will use those errors to constantly deride us, most people want to forgive someone who comes to them in truth, sincerity and remorse. When we have to ask this question, we are usually in the camp of those who feel there is no forgiveness, no return. How sad that these people can’t hear the call and teaching of the prophets to return. How sad for people to be unable to forgive another, forgetting about their own part in any negative (and/or positive) interaction and their own foibles/missing the marks. 

Micah answers the question for all of us. Listen to what God tells us, follow the good and respond to God’s call to and for us, as individuals and as a community/tribe/group/country. How simple a solution and yet, how hard for most of us to follow. It is hard to listen to/for God’s call, I believe, because doing so requires I let go of my need to be right, my need to be seen as____, my need for power and prestige, my need to be adored, etc. It also is hard to do because I have to: Do Justice! I can’t just talk about justice, I can’t just point out the ways I am treated unjustly, I have to participate in doing justice to and for myself, to and for another human being, and to and for God. I have to bring the justice that God has shown us, taught us and loved us with to the here and now, to this world and to my fellow human beings. Doing justice means putting aside my own needs, my own desires, my own ability to get over on another human being, to to f*^$%k my feelings and do the next right thing, to going against my self interests for the good of another human being/community. It also means combining the letter of the law with the spirit of the law, as we are taught in Deuteronomy. It means adhering to a way of being that is compatible with our being partners with God in growing our world. 

Loving kindness is even harder for many people than doing justice. This call from God means that we have to have a good heart, follow the paths of love, of compassion, of truth, open to the tshuvah/return of another human being. We have to change from our negative and fearful beliefs, thoughts and actions from how we have to protect ourselves to how can we give more of ourselves. Protection, suspicion has overtaken our inner belief system, since the days of the prophets, and God is calling us back to a way of being that has at it’s core, trust, need for another, openness to being loved and loving, a heart and a practice of being involved in doing good things for self and another. To love kindness means to be engaged in the moment so we know what is needed by another, by the community, etc to make life better now than it was yesterday, one grain of sand each day. Loving kindness means speaking truth and living the purpose God implanted in us to the best of our ability each day. Loving kindness means to dedicate our lives to serving God, our fellow human beings and our authentic self. 

Rabbi Heschel speaks about this in his book The Prophets on page 207:”The prophets tries to excite fervor, to make hesed an object of love. What the Lord requires of man is more than fulfilling ones’ duty. To love implies an insatiable thirst, a passionate craving. To love means to transfer the center of one’s inner life from the ego to the the object of one’s love.” Isn’t this the perfect way “to walk humbly with God”? There are many people who have a lot of fervor, I am just not sure that their fervor is for Kindness, God and humanity rather than for their own power and self-importance. Rabbi Heschel is teaching us to have an “insatiable thirst and passionate craving” for a connection with God, for another human being, for justice, for kindness, for redemption. Many of us have insatiable thirsts and passionate cravings for self-important things, for ego-centric desires and for power-God, the prophets, Rabbi Heschel and all spiritual disciplines tell us to transform our thirsts and cravings from our ego to God, to another human being and to the ones we love. Love is not something that fills my ego, love is not something that looks good to the outside world, love becomes the inner connection with another human being and God. We create a new entity-God, another human being/community and me and we all serve the new entity-not each other. This is walking humbly with God as well. 

In recovery and in my recovery this verse is what we set out to do each and every day. I reach this goal each day, with someone, not everyone. I no longer have to be perfect and I know that walking humbly with God allows me to be me and no one else. Loving kindness and doing justice helps me open my heart to forgive and take the love of another/community into my core and live better each and every day. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 204

“God has a case against God’s people…My people, what wrong have I done you? What hardship have I caused you? Testify against Me! I brought you up from the Land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, I sent before you, Moses, Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak, king of Moab plotted against you and how Balaam, son of Beor, responded to him…and you will know the righteous acts of God.”(Micah 6:2-5).

Micah is speaking for God, presenting God’s case against the people to the hills and the mountains and God wants us to know the case against us so we can change. Reading these words, “God has a case against God’s people” makes me tremble with the knowledge, reminder that we are all God’s people and God’s case against us is based on the truth of our own actions. We are in the last 8 days of Elul, so we have 18 days till we face God and the indictment is readied and we will hear it on Rosh Hashanah, yet we already know it, we already are acknowledging that God has a case against us and now what? What are we going to do about the indictment, the case against us, we have 18 days to make things right, will we? 

God’s cry is the cry we all have cried and heard: “what have I done to you that you treat me in this way?” Have we all forgotten that God brought us out from our narrow places, for the places where we were either trapped by another(s) and/or trapped by ourselves, our false egos, etc? It seems as if we have not only forgotten our redemption, we have decided to act like Pharaoh to a multitude of fellow human beings. We have forgotten the cries we (our ancestors) cried in Egypt, we have forgotten the hardship of slavery, the inability to ever be satisfied and in joy that our enslavement brought. We have forgotten to “see ourself as if we had been brought out from Egypt” as the Haggadah tells us. Reading this verse gives these words of the Haggadah even more importance. If we are to remember what it was like to be enslaved at the time of Passover and we are to inventory our good and not good actions/behaviors at Yom Kippur time, we will continue to return to God, and not have such a long indictment read against us on Rosh Hashanah. We do this by listening to the guidance of Torah, of Moses, Aaron, Miriam, of our prophets and of our spiritual guides and mentors that we choose for ourselves. We do this by doing T’Shuvah more often, remembering what kindness and righteousness God has shown us whether we think we deserve it or not and honoring this kindness and righteousness.

We are being asked to remember Balak and Balaam, remember the words of “Ma Tovu” prayer. Micah is calling on us to remember that God sees us as good and worthy human beings, God doesn’t want to harm us, God loves us, yet we continue to forget this, we continue to violate the commandment to have no other gods before God by making ourselves into gods and engaging in the idolatry of celebrity, power, wealth, etc. It is precisely because of our engaging in idolatry, because we keep forgetting that we are all redeemed from Egypt, we are all given a place and a purpose to live in and fulfill that we are called to the courtroom each year! When will we stop our lying ways, our willful blindness?

Rabbi Heschel teaches regarding these verses: “God’s sorrow and disappointment are set forth before the people. “Answer Me!” calls the voice of God. But who hears the call?” Again I filled with trembling awe at these words. God is calling out to all of us, God is reminding us of God’s righteousness, love, kindness, truth, justice and compassion for us and we are still not hearing this call to return, to change, to quit our idolatrous ways. We are not hearing the call nor answering God’s plea to explain ourselves. Even in our prayers on Yom Kippur and Kol Nidre, we are have to take our own responsibility in the actions we ‘confess’ to, not just recite a formula. We hear people call us up and say”if I have done anything to harm you, please forgive me” at this time of year, and they are empty words if we don’t do the work of T’Shuvah-be responsible, remorseful, truthful, in order to repair and change and have hope for a different year in this next one. God is calling, our souls are calling, the souls of the people who love us are calling: will we answer truthfully, righteously, gratefully and in true repentance this year?

In recovery, we are well aware of God’s call and we are painfully aware of how long we ran away from God’s call and the call of the people who love(d) us. To continue to grow in our recovery, we have to continue to hear the call of God and people around us, we are committed to not going back to depths of our previous negativity nor deafness and blindness. In recovery, we welcome God’s reminders to us about connection, commitment, kindness and taking the next right action. 

I have heard God’s indictment and the indictment of the people I love and those that do not love me. I have responded with acknowledgment even when I have disagreed. I continue to turn to God, I continue to hear God’s indictment and I pray that people will forgive me, not need to “get even” with me nor I with them, that we treat each other as we want God to treat us, with charity, kindness, forgiveness, compassion and love. When we do this, the entire world changes, one person at a time. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 203

“The remnant of the Jacob shall be, in the midst of the many peoples, like dew from God, like droplets on the grass-which do not look to any man nor place their hope in mortals. I will destroy the sorcery you practice…destroy your idols, and no more shall you bow down to the work of your hands. In anger and wrath will I execute judgement on the nations which do not hear/obey.”(Micah 5:6,12,14)

Micah is giving hope to the people by letting them know, even in exile God will see to their well-being. God will keep the remnant of Jacob that will hear, change and worship God, not idols, flourishing and, spreading the message of God, as I am reading the first verse above. Micah’s words give new meaning to exile, to not having a country for so long, even though he prophesied during the time of the 1st Temple. Immersing ourselves in his words/God’s message we find that our exile, our living in different countries has a purpose: spread God’s message and God’s ways to people everywhere. Be the light to other nations that God created us to be and help them find their paths to God in their own ways. This is the way we are dew and droplets, allowing God’s ways, God’s words, God’s justice, love, kindness, compassion and truth to permeate the nations and the individuals who live there. 

Also in the first verse, we are reminded to stop worshiping another person, stop depending on people when we should be turning to God. We, of course, have to depend on another(s) and we can’t make them our end all/be all. We can’t make someone else our God. Only worship God, depend on another(s) who worship and follow God and walk in God’s ways, is what I am hearing Micah tell us.  OY, what an order given our addiction to social media, to making celebrities out of people who do nothing but try to be celebrities, etc. How often are we idolizing the musician, the athlete, the artist, the builder, the (fill in the blank) rather than admiring their work and being in awe of our Creator who filled them with the spirit and vision to create such inspiring work. There is a great difference between idolizing someone and allowing their work to inspire us to do ours. Each of us is an artist, each of us has a talent, each of us has a purpose and appreciating the talent within us and the talent within another(s) is different from idolatry. 

The second verse above is God’s promise to the people of Israel and to people everywhere, as I am reading the text. The false idols we have erected, money, property, prestige, will be destroyed. Stop worshiping the work of our hands and the work of any human’s hands. Stop being so in love with our ‘brilliance’ and realize where  our brilliance comes from-God. In this month of Elul, we have to take stock of when we have continued to follow the sorcery of ourselves and another(s), when we have sought to ‘curse’ our enemies rather than love our neighbor, when we have thought so much of ourselves that we can destroy another(s) who tried to help us, when we take advantage of the vulnerabilities of another and use them against him/her. We have to see how we have become our own gods and follow the desires of our hearts and eyes to our ruin and the ruin of another(s). We have to make a plan to stop worshiping at the altar of power, money, falsehood, etc. and turn to God alone. 

Rabbi Heschel teaches us, regarding the last verse above,:”Micah does not question the justice of the severe punishment which he predicts for his people. Yet it is not in the name of justice that he speaks, but in the name of a God who “delights in steadfast love”…there is reluctance and sorrow in that anger. It is as if God were apologizing for His severity, for His refusal to be complacent to iniquity.”(The Prophets pg. 99-100).  Rabbi Heschel’s teaching here is haunting me, how often have any of us thought God was vengeful, angry, etc in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible? Yet God is loving and it hurts God when God has to mete out justice because we refuse to. God cannot be complacent to iniquity, even though we are! Isn’t this the crux of our exile, our distancing from God and from another(s), our complacency to iniquity? We have adopted an attitude of ‘everyone does it’, ‘it’s no big deal, he/she didn’t kill anyone’, watching homeless people suffer, denying treatment to people if they don’t have the money/insurance to cover it, denying entry to our country because they are Jews, Italians, Irish, Asian, Hispanic, etc. All of the ways we are complacent to iniquity, most of all standing idly by the blood of your fellow human being-allowing people to lie with impunity about another, setting up laws that false witness’ use to exploit the system, settling because it is cheaper rather than standing up for justice and truth. All of these ways are the ways of exile, the ways of separation and the reasons God has to search for us instead of us searching for God. 

This is the inventory that we do in recovery and the inventory that I do daily. I am sorry for the times I have worshiped me and my creation instead of God. I am grateful that I am not complacent to iniquity and I know my reaction to iniquity is seen as bad also-for that I am sorry and I know that I could not be any other way. My Rabbi and friend, Rabbi Ed Feinstein, said in my book, The Holy Thief, that I am more prophet than Rabbi. I do explode at iniquity, my own and another(s). It gets me into trouble and I am more worried about complacency because of my past life when I was.This makes me  more hyperaware to iniquity and my reactions are based on the harm I perpetrated on another(s). Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 202

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall people learn war anymore. Every person shall sit under their grapevine and fig tree and no one will disturb/harm them.”(Micah 4:3-4). 

This is the great vision of God, of the prophets and of humankind. Yet, why does it have to be just a vision? We can begin this work during this month of Elul, God will not make it happen, we must! 

We, as human beings, can make a choice to “walk in God’s ways” which doesn’t include needing to hate each other, be jealous of each other, need to conquer each other. We, as human beings, can begin to BE human and focus on our divine self more than our animal self. We are engaged in a great war within us and outside of us. The forces of negativity inside of us see enemies all around, everyone else is trying to take what is “rightfully” mine, I have to get them before they get me, in order to ‘succeed’, I have to be a killer, etc. To paraphrase Rabbi Heschel from his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, “Suspect your neighbor” has become our watchword instead of Love your neighbor! The power we give these voices inside of us is in direct opposition to our acceptance, commitment and service we give to God. I know many people who give want to give the appearance of being ‘spiritual’ and take advantage of anyone and everyone they can, look out for themselves first, last and always, have no conscience about hurting individuals and companies that are doing imperfect good in the world. Because they are so good at ‘looking and acting spiritual’ people buy their act and most never know the depths of their treachery to them, to community and to God.

It is this negativity that Micah is talking about taming and channelling into growing things instead of destroying them. We all have the power to do this, yet we all do not have the will to do it. We can choose to learn ways of peace, wholeness, acceptance justice and love rather than war, conquering, authoritarianism, power-seeking, prestige-needing, enslaving another(s) because of our needs and prejudices, and hatred. We do this by taking everything we use to destroy and see how it can be used to build. Begin with ourselves: take every negative statement we make to and about ourselves and turn it into a positive, ie I am not good enough becomes I am good at certain things and for other things, I need help and thank God there are people who can help me; I am not good enough becomes I am a Holy Soul created in the Image of God and God don’t make no junk!  We go on and on like this, not as affirmations as much as telling ourselves the truth about who we really are-imperfect, holy souls, created in the Image of God with a purpose and a passion. We can choose to be an FU person, as my friend and teach Rev Mark Whitlock says, forgive ourselves and forgive you for your imperfections, your hurts and missing the marks. Self-forgiveness is one way we turn the weapons of destruction into tools of building. Forgiving another person is how we practice divine pathos, they deserve mercy and love and we can only deliver this when we see them through God’s ‘eyes’ with the pathos of God in order to bring them back to God and us. 

When we use the weapons we have developed to create tools to build, we will we can use our differences to learn, compromise and build a way of living that serves all people. We then build the world that Micah envisions in the last verse above: Each of us will sit in our place and let go of worry and stress that someone is trying to take it. We will all “be happy with our portion” as Pirke Avot teaches and not need to have anyone else’s stuff. There will be no coveting of another(s) and we will be happy for the success and achievements of everyone else. We will let go of competing and comparing and realize that we are here to serve God and each other, not serve only ourselves. 

In recovery, we do this all the time, every day. We take the weapons we used to destroy ourselves and everyone around us and turn them into to tools to redeem ourselves and see the humanity and dignity in everyone. We make amends and continue to do our inventory, we seek more and more connection with God to better know and do God’s will. In recovery, forgiveness is a key step in our journey, forgiving ourselves, asking you for forgiveness and forgiving you allows us to grow, connect and love. 

I have spoken often about this way of being, using my being a hustler before and in recovery. I still hustle, the difference is I hustle for the benefit of another(s) and serve God instead of hustling for my benefit and serving only myself. I am in a war with the forces of negativity inside of me and outside of me. I have turned the weapons of mass destruction I used to use, my words and a checkbook/pen, into tools to grow, nurture and mature the spirit of another(s). Harriet and I donate at least 10% of our income and we speak all over the country and one-on-one with people to promote recovery from the pain, fear, aftermath of using these weapons against ourselves, against another(s) and having them used against them. We are dedicated to the verses today, we believe they can be a reality and we know you can make them come true along with us. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 201

“In days to come, the House of God shall stand…the people shall gaze on it with joy, many nations shall go and say: Come let us go up to the Mount of God, to the House of Jacob that God may teach us God’s ways and that we walk in God’s paths. For instruction shall come out from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:1-2)

I am going to look at Chapter 4 for a few days, as there is so much here and I want to do it justice. Micah, who usually is railing against the people, who is angry with them on God’s account and, as Rabbi Heschel writes: “apparently regarded the purpose of his mission to be to “declare to Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sin”, is delivering messages of hope to the people in Chapter 4.

The hope begins with the opening verse of the chapter, “In days to come…” is a statement that all is not lost, there is a future and redemption is going to happen. I am trembling with this message from Micah, as it has proven to be true and it is important for us to remember this message today. Rather than give in to the despair and the hopelessness many people are experiencing with the Pandemic, the polarization of our country and the power grab of the minority, we have to remember what Micah is saying: In days to come we will see the House of God and gaze upon it with joy. The earth is the house of God, the people we see everyday in our homes, work, on the streets, in the stores, etc, are the people who, if they are willing to take off their blinders, are going to be in joy instead of fear and hatred. This is the promise of Micah’s words today, I believe. 

We get to gaze upon God and hear God’s words with every interaction we have every day, if we are willing to see another human being as a Divine Reminder, Divine Need and a Divine spokesperson. We have to make this choice to see ourselves and everyone else as created in the Image of God with a word of God, a teaching of God, a mission from God that makes our world a better place to live. We, when we choose to, can “go up to the Mount of God, to the House of Jacob” to learn God’s ways, to walk in God’s paths, bring this word to life and make the choice to serve God and another(s) human being. We do this by respecting every person we encounter and affording them the dignity they are entitled to; by seeing them as Images of God, no matter how they act. We have to take a journey to the House of Jacob, I believe so we can learn how to wrestle with our own negativity, our desire to get over and take advantage, learn to leave our lies and our deceptions so we can truly experience our dignity, our connection to God, our connection to humanity. We have to make the journey, it is not going to just happen to us, we have to be involved in our own redemption, in our own recovery. 

The last sentence is the sentence we say every Shabbat and Holiday when we take the Torah from the Ark. From Zion, from Israel, from the Castle of God, Instruction/Torah will come is another translation of the first part of this sentence. It calls us to hear the word of God directly from the Castle, the house, the dwelling place of God. I hear this call as the run up to God’s Press Conference to us. This press conference is being held daily, running 24/7 and calling us to learn how to live with each other, learn how to live in ways that are compatible with being a partner of God, learn how to answer the call of our own soul and our own uniqueness. From the City of Wholeness, Jerusalem, the word of God comes to us. This instruction/Torah and these words are the paths we have to follow (paths because each of us hear them in our own manner and each of us have our own path) in order to bring wholeness to our individual being and to our corner of the world. It is going to take all of us to listen to the Call, to go up to the Mount of God, to wrestle with ourselves and each other to achieve more wholeness to make these “days to come” happen! Will each of us do our part? 

In recovery, we are living these “days to come” right now. We saw/see the light and joy in the eyes and being of people in recovery and we wanted/want this same light and joy. We took the steps to get into our own recovery in our own way and we continue to hear God’s call, the call of our higher power, our higher consciousness, and follow it’s teachings and the paths it leads on. We are able to experience joy and satisfaction, wholeness and serenity being on the paths that God has laid out for us. In recovery, being of service, continuing to learn and live God’s ways, and keeping hope alive are the paths that we follow and share with another(s) who are on this journey with us.

I heard the call in December of 1986 and I continue to go to the House of God to hear more and more instruction. I find that the instruction forces me deeper into my self and scrutinize my ways more and more each year. God’s instruction/Torah is not a ‘one and done’ experience for me. Each year, I have to see, hear and act on the new instruction that God is giving me and search myself, especially at this time of year, for the subtle ways I miss the mark and the subtle ways I hit the mark. I have to take credit for my positive actions as well as my negative ones. I hear Micah calling all of us to see the good we bring, not just the bad in these verses. I can acknowledge that the search for God’s wisdom never ends, we are never THERE, we are always on the road, never arriving. God Bless and Stay safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 200

“Listen you rulers of Jacob, you chiefs of the House of Israel! You know what justice is yet, you hate good and love evil. I am filled with strength by the spirit of God and with judgement and courage to tell to Jacob his transgressions and Israel his sins. Assuredly, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins.(Micah 3:1,2,8,12).

Micah is so incensed at the doings of the leaders of Israel and Jacob. He is decrying their unwillingness to hear, listen and understand the call of God to them. He is bewildered by their inability to see their evil actions as evil actions. He is enraged by the leaders pretending that their wickedness is actually good for the people! Micah is calling to all of us to open up our ears and, if necessary, get new hearing aids. God is calling to the leadership to care for the people not be self-centered and selfish! God is calling to the leaders to not just know justice but to live it and practice it. Micah is so obsessed with the moral corruption of the leadership, he is unwilling to mute himself. Micah is speaking to us today as well as to the leaders 2700+ years ago.

I am sitting here thinking about what drives us to love evil and hate good while knowing what is just and right. It is our belief that we have to cheat to get ahead, I believe. It is a deep-seated lie that we just aren’t really good enough to make things happen on our own, we need to put our fingers on the scale a little, we need to find the weakness of our ‘opponent’ and exploit it/them because we have bought the lie that we are not good enough and we are constantly comparing and competing with another(s) for everything. We see scarcity where there is abundance, we see competition where there is cooperation, we see comparison where there is appreciation for the uniqueness of every human being. Power is a gift and a trap. We have to decide how we are going to use our power, honor the gift that God has given us to lead people to being one grain of sand better than yesterday or exploit the gift and trap ourselves into believing that someone is trying to take power away from us. 

In describing himself, Micah is explaining to us where power comes from and what power is. Power comes from the inside out, not the outside in-which is why so many leaders feel the need to exploit another(s) to keep power and to feel powerful. Micah is telling us that power is an inside experience that comes from God/soul and is cultivated by our ability, willingness, and actions of justice, decency, kindness, truth and love. Power is the outgrowth of knowing what the next right thing to do is and the courage to do it, even in the face of fear, scorn, being judged incorrectly, even losing ones’ life. Micah could have been killed by the ruling class for what he was saying, yet he said it anyway. He is filled with the spirit of God, he says. NEWS FLASH: We are all filled with the Spirit of God and we all can use this Spirit to truly benefit another(s), God, the world and ourselves at the same time. If it is not good for all, it is not good for any. As Martin Luther King says: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” restating Micah’s words above and showing the same courage, strength and belief that Micah had as well. 

Rabbi Heschel reminds us: “The prophet directs his rebuke particularly against the “heads of the house of Jacob…who abhor justice and pervert all equity” It is because “they build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong” that Zion and Jerusalem will be destroyed.” My head is ringing with these words as we are seeing the same thing happening today, just as Rabbi Heschel saw it happening 70, 60, 50 years ago!! Just as he took to the streets and airwaves, so must we. Just as he organized, so must we-yet so many of us are unable to see the grey in life and our condemning those who do so coalitions are almost impossible to create, yet we must.

In recovery, we are dedicated to using the strength of spirit and the courage from God/Higher Power to promote justice and equity for all people. In recovery, we are all equal and dedicated to our purpose of “practicing these principles in all our affairs” as the 12th Step states. “These principles” being Spiritual ones. Ones that are connected to a higher logic, a higher state of being, a higher calling than the ones we used to hear and listen to before our recovery. In recovery, we know the ruin we created in the past and are dedicated to living with the strength and courage to call ourselves out and to kindly rebuke those who are harming another and practicing injustice. 

I have spent most of my life decrying injustice. My home was a place of justice and decency, from grandparents to parents to aunts/uncles to cousins-we all learned the paths of justice, truth, compassion, love, etc. Yet, for a while I ran away from these paths and even after I returned to them, 32+years ago, I take detours from them. The difference now is that I take the detours unwittingly. I also know that many people have turned away from their own evil because, like me, they have heard the message of Micah and are using the strength of their spirit to bring justice and love, truth and kindness to their daily living most of their days/lives now! This is the gift of the Prophets, to remind us we can and must bring the justice, truth, love and kindness we want to see in the world. God Bless and Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

The Prophets - wisdom to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 199

“Woe to those who devise wickedness and design evil on their beds. When morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, houses and take them away. They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Stop preaching! They preach, that’s no way to preach, shame will not overtake us…To be sure, my words are friendly to those who walk a straight path.”(Micah 2:1-2,6,7)

Micah’s words make me tremble with fear and awe. I understand the sadness, rage, feelings of futility of the prophets and the strength, awe, power, belief, dissent, hope, and love of the prophets as well. Micah is calling everyone out who takes advantage of people, just because they can. He is reminding us that dreaming of the evil, the wickedness we want to/are going to do to another has become natural to some because this is how they act when they are awake, probably what they talk about when they are sitting around with their friends, etc. Micah is reminding us that just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. He is telling us about people in power for their own sake and not in power for the sake of God, for the sake of another, for the sake of the people, not realizing the trust and holiness of leadership and power that has been placed in them. They rather use their power for their own sakes, for their own gain, for their own ‘peace of mind’. It is the same today as it was 2700 years ago, sadly. 

Enough people in leadership/power roles forget the sacred oaths they take and make to the people they are supposed to serve to make many of us distrust all leaders and become power hungry so we can “get ours”. There are leaders who want to use their power to “get even” with their perceived enemies. There are leaders who still refuse to stop their wickedness and continue to design evil on their beds so people will die from disease, poverty, homelessness, etc. We have people in power who develop false vaccines so they can make a buck, false cures so they can keep selling the snake oil as in days of yore. The prophet uses the word covet in the second verse above as a reminder, I believe, of how much evil stems from our coveting of someone else’s life, belongings, family, job, etc. What the prophet is not saying and I am hearing is:”Why is your portion not enough for you? Why are you violating the 10th Commandment which leads us to violate the other 9? What is wrong with you that you are insatiable?” I am hearing these questions because they are the questions we all need to ask as soon as we actually want what another person has and not metaphorically! It is oppression to steal another person’s house and their inheritance. It is disgusting to take away the hope, security, history and humanity of another person for one’s own gain and Micah is calling the people out for doing this. He still is calling us out- are we listening any better, any more seriously than our ancestors? We are so polarized with each side wrapping themselves in righteousness and God/flag no one can hear another, no one can see one another and both want to take theirs for their own gain.

Rabbi Heschel says: “The prophet directs his rebuke particularly against the “heads of the house of Jacob and the rulers of the house of Israel who abhor justice and pervert all equity.” “Here amidst a people who walk haughtily, stands a prophet who relentlessly predicts disaster and disgrace for the leaders and the nation”(The Prophets pg 98-9). Rather than listen, rather than look at themselves, they tell Micah “do not preach…shame will not overtake us,” Imagine that shame and guilt cannot overtake the haughtiness of a people, of leadership! That could never happen today where we have our leaders denying truth, perverting equity and fairness in elections, who have decided that only they know the just way and they take the bribes from the rich to put judges into power who will make us a fine “christian nation again”, as Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence want to see happen. We have to stand up, as Rabbi Heschel did throughout his life to these haughty people and say ‘all people are redeemable and it is our responsibility to practice “radical kinship”! 

In recovery, we learn true humility and walk with pride in ourselves and what we do well. We are happy with our portion and we have stopped coveting what another(s) has. In fact, in recovery, we are joyous for the victories and success’ of another person! We learn that humility is not self-effacing, it is facing oneself and appreciating the good and repairing the evil designs we used to make. It is restoring to another their dignity and value as a Holy Soul and a Divine reminder. 

I had a lot of evil designs and coveting in my addiction and my life before recovery. I have been blessed to appreciate the success of another, cheer on another in their honest pursuits and rejoice in my own portion as it says in Ethics of our Ancestors. This past Friday I was afforded the opportunity to lead my last Shabbat at Beit T’Shuvah. So many people showed up, said such kind/truthful words and reconnected with me and each other in recovery, humility, truth and love. It was an experience of closure and of connection, of acknowledging my errors and not apologizing for being who I am. This, to me, was my community’s response to my preaching over all these years: We love you, we hear you and we are grateful for you. I love them, hear them and am grateful for all who have crossed my path over the years at BTS. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark