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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 50

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 50

I am reading, finally, the New York Times magazine issue that is devoted to AI. I say finally because Harriet has been after me to read it and I have put it off:)! It is, in some ways, very scary and in some ways AI is going to be helpful, a both/and that has to be managed very carefullly and seriously. At issue for me is how the ‘powers that be’ will bastardize, mismanage, exploit and fuck the rest of We the People with AI. Think Elon Musk and his benevolence towards government workers when he had the opportunity to work for the US Government and he took it to be he was working for himself, getting rid of anything and everything that might make him, his business’ accountable. I am reasonably sure the people behind the Orange Asshole are using it to figure out ways to steal more money from We the People and fuck ‘the average Joe/Jane’ in new and bolder, more brazen ways. It is DISGUSTING!!

Reading and not finishing the magazine, I turned to Hosea and in verse 13:8 found: “You are undone/destroyed Israel, you have no help but me” in reference to the Northern Kingdom’s constant and consistent turning against the covenant made at Sinai. This comes to describe what We the People are allowing our Clergy, our Government, our private business’, the oligarchs, billionaires, tech CEO’s, etc to do to the American Dream, the promise that we the people made to NOT GO BACK TO EGYPT and here we are, once again on the precipice of heading back in new and innovative ways that feed our self-deceptive desires and our egotistical bullshit. I am only able to read so much at a time because I become so fucking pissed off at how We the People have turned away from our inner lives, how We the People have dishonored the sacrifices and bravery of our ancestors to get here, to the “golden medina” as America was referred to by Jews in Eastern Europe, to the land of opportunity for so many from Ireland, Italy, Germany , Poland, etc when they were being threatened by both nature and the people in charge. Yet, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned(I know this is a myth), too many of we the people  are hiding, licking our wounds, scared of our shadows to STAND UP, to GET CONGRESS to do their jobs, to STOP the maniac in chief, to SAY NO to the cruelty he and his gang of thugs impose on Americans, on people throughout the world.

The fact that Universities are using AI to teach their students and Trump is touting the AI firms he, Lutnick, Kushner, Wytkoff, Don Jr., Eric et al have stock is is INSANE. “Back in the day”, We the People went to college to learn about life, learn to live on our own, budget our money, meet and get to know people of wildly different backgrounds, and learn how to learn, learn how to discern our own thoughts from those of parents, teachers, and the other influencers prior to college. This morphed, unfortunately, to college becoming a trade school for white collar jobs, to become CEO’s, to become entrepreneurs, without the life skills learning, without finding our path to becoming the soul we are created to be. Now, we are taking away the skills to think, to discern, to make judgements by relying on AI, let the Chatbot tell us what to do, write our papers, emails, etc. I am of the belief that We the People are losing the very essence of what it means to be human in the ridiculous search for perfection, certainty!

What is so evident, to me at least, is that the Clergy who support Trump, who tout AI because of their mega-donors, are telling We the People that they don’t give a shit about our inner life, they could care less about truly helping we the people to grow into the “soul we were created to be” and more about control, money, fame, power. Be it any of the ‘good christian nationalist preachers’, those ‘fine orthodox jews in Israel and across the globe who preach the hatred of “the other”, and/or anyone else who is so disinterested in serving God that they promote the “destruction Israel” because too many of we the people have forgotten that God is our help not the lies we tell ourselves, not the autocrat who promises to “be your retribution”, not the AI chatbot, not the Universities and colleges that contine to care more for their continued existence than the covenant they made/make with their students.

I am not anti AI! I am pro Inner Life! There is HOPE! In all of the Western Religions there is a belief in T’Shuvah(called by different names of course), a returning. In all of the Eastern Philosophies, from what little I know of them, losing and then regaining our higher consciousness is a constant back and forth. WE THE PEOPLE must demand of our clergy assistance in studying the Bible and immersing ourselves in the wisdom found there not the LIES and POLITICAL bullshit of the priest, rabbi, imam, etc. We the People have to immerse ourselves in “Our Stories” to find the solutions to the issues facing us today. AI is NOT the issue-Human emptiness is. More tomorrow.

ACTION STEP:

  1. Allow your higher truth to say NO to the relentless onslaught of the mind

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Daya 49

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 49

There have always been two conflicting inner experiences for me, ever since I can remember: 1) righteous anger at the state of things, the way people treat people, standing for the voiceless and powerless, etc-even to the point of getting into fights at school; 2) deep fear of not being with ‘the in crowd’, not being liked, not being seen. These two opposing forces have been fighting forever within me and, I am elated to report, force #1 has won out for the past 39+ years! I know I am not unique in this experience, I know that most people have some conflicting inner experiences and I also know that most of We the People refuse to deal with them, go to shrinks for them and have these natural human experiences turned into some pathogical issue that a ‘pill’ can mitigate, treat, heal. BULLSHIT!

Another phrase from Homeboy Industries and Father Greg Boyle is: “nothing stops a bullet like a job” and my theory/thesis today is: “nothing loads a gun like hiding from our humanity, our inner life, our war within”. Using Trump, the Republicans, the right and left extremes as examples is just too easy. My goal today and everyday is for We the People to look at ourselves and stop pointing at another(s) to deflect the truth we all need to face. It is imperative for We the People to realize that the Bible never asks for us to be perfect! This constuct of society, this societal norm is killing all of us, it is preventing great works of art from being painted, sculpted, built because ‘if it isn’t perfect what does that say about me’ and ‘how can I show my face after this mistake/no one will forgive me nor forget that I am a fuck-up’ are so prevelant in our society and have been adopted as a “societal norm”, one which We the People have to become maladjusted to so We can have “an authentic awareness of that which (truly) is”, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s definition of radical amazement/wonder.

To quote Howard Beale from the movie Network: “I am mad as Hell and I can’t take it anymore. We the People say this not as a sign of suicide or surrendering to these societal norms, rather as a statement of intent, an MOU(memorandum of understanding), that declares our fidelity to BEING HUMAN. Our fidelity to the principles of the Bible, of Jesus, to care for one another, to love one another, to make sure those without sight are not made fun of by putting a stumbling block before them and this is not just people who are physically blind, it is for anyone and everyone who is blind to the truth, to the “authentic awareness of that which is”.

I am mad as hell, I won’t take it anymore and I am asking you to join me in battling the inner demons that stop we the people from joining in the fight against cruelty, against love, against helping another human being in their struggle to BE FREE! There can be NO FREEDOM without engaging in and winning this battle between the action of standing up, of living in and with the righteous anger of the prophets and settling, doing what is politically correct, going along to get along. Freedom, as the Bible teaches us in Exodus 6:6 (one of God’s promises) is to free us from both the outer and inner slavery of Egypt(narrowness/narrow places) and the bondage of the Egyptians(needing to go along, refusing to deal with our inner life and hear the call of our souls). This is the CALL I am issuing to all of We the People. Stand up, respond to the war within and find the path to making the world a little better rather than going along to make it worse.

Hosea 12:7 calls out to us to be mad as hell, in my opinion with the demand to: “turn to your God, kindness and justice you must guard and trust in God continuously.” Just as the prophets lived this demand from God, so too do. we the people have to also. I know the risks of doing this, I know the political fallout, the fear of losing one’s job, one’s friends, one’s place in the community-I have experienced it all and, looking back on these past 39+ years of “turning to God”, the only regrets I have are when I looked the other way, when I was afraid not to “go along to get along” and I am proud of, grateful for the Serenity/Clarity and the Grace God has given me to stand up and “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”. Not that I was right all the time, not that I did not cause hurt feelings, rather-I won the war between fighting the fight for what is good and right and hiding, being fearful, selling my soul. I am sorry for the hurt feelings, I am not sorry for standing up for principles, for truth, which is the ultimate kindness and justice, in my opinion.

ACTION STEPS:

  1. write down and look at the myriad of ways you hide from yourself and decide if these paths are good for your spiritual life or not

  2. determine the ways you are joining in the very actions that are counter to kindness, justice, love, mercy, clarity, truth and ask yourself if these are truly the ways you want to live

  3. GET FUCKING MAD AS HELL

  4. GET MALADJUSTED and live into radical amazement

  5. Join in the march to freedom, the battles of our inner lives and stop trying to find the ‘pill’ that will make it all good without effort.

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 48

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 48

There seems to be a deal in the making to end the senseless, reckless war with Iran, please God! The problem, of course is the leaders involved just never tell the truth, are given to follow their cruelest instincts, constantly tear up deals that make sense in order to show ‘how smart am I’! I am sure that Trump is going to declare he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war with Iran-even though the ASSHOLE started it! And, the new Ayatollah, Bibi are not exactly trustworthy partners either. So, the crude oil prices will drop and no one knows if the price of gasoline will drop because the oil companies are making tremendous profits here as we never relied on foreign oil through the Strait of Hormuz. What we seem to have here, in America and across the globe is “a failure to communicate” as the saying goes in the movie Cool Hand Luke.

“He should not have returned to Egypt”(Hosea 11:5) is what seems to have not been communicated to the mendacious ones in charge, to the liars in chief, to those ‘fine christian nationalists who hate everyone’, to those ‘wonderful progressives who treat people who don’t agree with everything they say, do, believe in as ‘riffraff’, as ‘stupid’ and are prejudiced against them! In the former’s world there is no place for dissent as in the later’s world-hence they have dissented into “Egypt”, that narrow place where there can be no learning, no compromises, no true kindness, no truth, no justice-only judgmental thinking, niceities, indifference to the plight of people ‘not like us’, and perverted unjust decision making. And, as in Israel, Judea, the people who are the guardians against such mendacity and harlotry: the priests, the rabbis, the ministers, the imams; are not doing their jobs-on the whole. Too many of our Clergy are either in lockstep with the assault on Biblical Values, lockstep with the bastardization of God’s words and Will, lockstep with the LIES they spout about Jesus being the Lion rather than the lamb, supporting the money-changers in the Temple, in power rather than railing against them. OY VAVOY! If this isn’t desecrating God’s Name, what is? If this is not taking the Name of God in vain, what is? If this is not creating false Images of God, what is? If this is not murdering the souls of another(s), what is? If this is not stealing, committing adultery, bearing false witness and coveting your neighbors’ wife’s ass, what the fuck is?

We the People who are not part of either of these two extremes, are given hope and wisdom in Psalm 121: “I lift my eyes up to the mountain, where will my help come from? It comes from Adonai, maker of heaven and earth”. Whenever we the people stay in our small little prisons, are locked into the emotions and lies of our rational minds, give power to the emotions of despair, despondency, disaster, catastophizing, we have “returned to Egypt”. It is incombent upon We the People to read/re-read our holy texts, mine them for their wisdoms, their ways of peace, their teachings about justice, truth, compassion, kindness, and LOVE. We the People are being called upon in this moment to end the disastrous “failure to communicate” going on right here, right now-without fear nor favor, without taking any side except the side of God, which is the side of caring for everyone, seeing everyone as an Image of God, a divine reminder, doing T’Shuvah every day, enhancing our goodness and repairing our not so good actions/ways.

It is important to hold people accountable for their actions-something the Supreme Court is not applicable to Trump-how could they and say they are defending the Constitution, they are fulfilling their oath, is beyond me AND it is as important, if not more important to hold ourselves accountable sa well! One of the narrowest places in life is the constant blame and shame game, the need to hide our own insecurities and uncertainties by “accusing them of that which I am guilty of” as Josef Goebbels taught the current ‘leaders’. I believe one of the reasons immersing ourselves in the holy texts is so important is that we learn differently than what the LYING ASS CLERGY are attempting to sell us. King David, argueably the greatest king in Biblical times, took responsibility for his actions! He could admit his errors, sometimes it took someone to point them out to him, like Nathan the Prophet, and he could take advice even from WOMEN! Yet, to today’s crazies, women shouldn’t even have the right to vote, only white christian men are citizens and every one else is 2nd class, or below, slaves. This is the way we the people are imitating, repeating the errors of Ancient Israel. THE SOLUTION is in our

ACTION STEPS:

  1. what are the extremes you are living in/at and how is it serving God?

  2. what will it take for you to leave the Egypt of self-assuredness

  3. how will you deal with the uncertainty of living in God’s world

  4. What are the ways you continue to engage in “failure to communicateboth as the listener and the speaker?

GOD BLESS and STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 47

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 47

I have been engaged in conversations with Harriet and many people about the dramatic shifts of the pendulum and how, we the people, are not allowing the pendulum to settle down in some sort of middle. When it slows down to find common ground, when it is starting to give us the both/and, when the cognitive disonance that is part and parcel of being human begins to take shape and hold; one extreme or another pushes the pendulum to “their view” rather than what is good for We the People, what is good for God. All of these ‘good people’ who are behind these political, social, religious extremes are not ‘true believers’ rather they are rank opportunists, like the leaders of the MAGA movement, the leaders of the “squad”, like Doug Wilson who misquotes Jesus, take Paul’s teachings out of context and feed this bullshit to his boy Pete Hegseth, etc. The real “extreme” is, as Father Greg Boyle says: “erase the margins”-seeing every human being as a child of God and to practice “radical kinship”-knowing we are connected one to another and all of these false ‘differences’ are nothing but distractions and deceptions to gain and hold power, money, and prestige! Hosea in Chapter 10:13 has already taught us what we are doing is ridiculously stupid and we cannot hide from the truth that “you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruits of lies; because you have trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men”. If this doesn’t describe both our current situation and the struggle of humanity,  I don’t know what does.               

Yet, because we the people show such disdain for Biblical Wisdom, we fail to learn from it, we fail to hear the call to return, we fail to practice “radical kinship”, continuing instead to compete and compare, need to save our face rather than our ass, need to get ‘there’(which there is no there) fast and stay as distracted as possible by gadgets, by thoughts on a loop, by planning our escape, our revenge, our next ‘score’. Because we the people have made a decision to serve our rational minds, keep our “earthly inclination” as the arbiter of our actions, it is impossible for us to learn, it is anathema to think about T’Shuvah, to making amends, to turning back to be the soul we are created to be, to see beyond our own self-centeredness and give a shit about the world, about another human being, just because they are fellow travelers on this earth. HOW FUCKING SAD!

Elon Musk became a trillionaire on Friday-whoopee do! He will continue to think he is the smartest person in the room when he is nothing but a GREAT ConMan-someone who built two companies, Tesla and SpaceX on the back of We the People, our government has financed him through his trials and errors and Trump has not gotten anything back from him for We the People, instead he used his money to get elected, used his money to lie to so many Americans and they both used one another to kill funding for humanitarian needs, to kill people’s jobs so the poor would increase, to be as cruel as possible-just like a ‘good Afrikaner’ would treat Black People in South Africa. When we the people hail him for his genius, we are forgetting his grift, his con, his hatred of anyone not white male like him, etc. This is a classic way we the people have “trusted…in the multitude of your mighty men”, just like electing Trump to “be your retribution”. How has “trusted in your way” worked out for you-not so good for the rest of us!!

Be it Doug Wilson, Ben G’Vir, any of the Rabbis, Priests, Imams, Ministers who continue to rant and rave about their particular soap box, they all “plowed wickedness”, “reaped iniquity”, fed we the people “the fruits of lies” and, like stupid ass guppies, we the people have eaten the lies up, allowed ourselves to be yoked together as beasts of burden to help the ‘multitude of men” to plow our fields for their gain, then gathered in the crops so they could reap the ill-gotten gains-Anyone see the lunacy of this and We the People are continuing to do it!

There is a solution and one of them is found in Hosea 10:12; “for it is time to seek Adonai, till Adonai comes to rain righteousness upon you”. We the People are capable of return and repentance. Our solutions to bring an end to our “plowing wickedness, reaping iniquity, eating the fruits of lies” are found in the Bible, and it all begins with TRUTH, with a real investigation into our actions, reactions, responses and learning how to manage our “earthly inclination” with our “divine inclination”, manage our rational mind with our intuitive mind, make a decision to live in the ways of holiness, godliness, decency, kindness, justice, mercy. This is the ‘secret’ to my success-hearing God, listening to what I know is right and seeking the wisdom of spiritual counselors rather than “the multitude of your mighty men”

ACTION STEP

Make a list each day of how you practice “radical kinship” and erased margins and the ways you plow wickedness enjoy the iniquity you reap.

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD,GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 46

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 46

We the People are all created in the Image of God and, as I have said before, we are equal in our dignity and worth and each one of us is unique. Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Chieftans were better than the rest of the Tribe, the chieftans had a different job and, as it says in Deuteronomy 29:10 “you stand here this day, “all of you…. your wives, even the stranger in your camp, the woodchopper, the watercarrier to enter into the covenant which God is cutting with you this day.” Each and every one of us is unique, equally dignified and valuable, and each and every one of us are descened from those who entered into the covenant at Sinai, each and every one of us are descended from those who entered the ‘Promised Land’. Each and every one of us are descended from slaves! Yet, we the people continue to forget this truth, continue to act as if we have to run away from the shame of being descendants of slaves, here in the US, in Israel, throughout the world. This is borne out by the myriad of wars that have been fought for pwoer and control, taking the Name of God in vain and making false images of God, forgetting that Adonai brought us out of the land of Egypt to be Our God. Basically, each and every day we the people choose to forget our history, ignore the truth of our history, we are saying FUCK YOU to the 1st 3 commandments! This from those ‘fine white christian folk’, those ‘good jewish boys studying Torah to save Israel-on the same level as the soldiers in the IDF who kill and are killed so they can break these 1st 3 commandments! WTF?!?

Prophecy in the Bible was not so much about predictions as it is about calling attention to the INATTENTION of the Israelites in both the Northern Kingdom and in Judea. This inattention will have severe consequences for the people as they have for us. Hosea calls us whores, harlots and he is right! He tells us that bringing the show, the wonderful sacrifices while continuing to act in opposition to God’s ways is BULLSHIT-he is telling we the people that the only ones we are fooling is ourselves. Each and every day, the call from Sinai is RETURN, I MISS YOU, each evening, according to a story in the Talmud, God cries “my children are in exile”, each day our souls cry out to be connected to the source of being once again and our minds ignore these cries. While it is easy to blame our leaders for the situation we are in, TRUTH says we are responsible, we put them in charge, we knew they were snakes and liars, grifters and thieves, bullies and weaklings!

What is the pull, the magnetism of this type of person for we the people? I have been pondering this question for a while! The responses I have come up with go back to yesterday’s writing: We the People are AFRAID to see our authentic selves with the glory of God that emanates from us and the lack of maturity, lack of growing our intuitive minds and our growing our rational minds out of proper measure. When we the people would rather not look at our selves and instead, look at the foibles of another, when we the people decide it is too painful to see the glory of God that glows from within us because our awareness of ‘falling short’ is too much, we the people have joined with the liars, the deceivers, the grifters and the thieves. We the People are being called back each day, every day. Hosea is pleading with us to STOP our harlotry, to “walk the path of return” that is uniquely ours.

I know this place, this way of being, I still fall into the trap of blaming another for my errors, for ‘losing’ when sometimes there is no fault, their is no one to blame, not even myself. While many people of faith will tell you it is “god’s will” that this tragedy/expereince happened, I believe in the power of the human being’s rational mind to do what it thinks is best and fuck everything and everyone around them up! I am guilty of this as is everyone I know, everyone I have come in contact with. Being responsible for my actions, being in tune with the divine spark within me, ensuring that I am growing in decency and kindness, truth and justice each day is the way I have and continue to “walk the path of returning”, “improving my conscious contact with God” as the 11th step of AA reminds us is a crucial part of moving forward, and my commitment to move forward one grain of sand each day. The sadness I experience is the lack of same from many of my colleagues in the Clergy, many of the people I meet, and listening to their hatred, their inabilty to be responsible for their own actions is enraging and counter-productive to “walking the path of return”. So, the question and the ACTION STEPS:

  1. How are you carrying your self as an equal to everyone?

  2. Are you aware of your foibles, know they probably will not go away, and you can master them

  3. Do you see the subtle ways you have joined with the minority to do evil

  4. What are the ways you are being responsible to the God Image within you?

GOD BLESS STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 45

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 45

The more I have been pondering the ideas of the past few days, the more eye-opening, mind-blowing, and soul-knowing they have become. Harriet and I were speaking and Harriet’s belief, along with mine, is our unwllingness “lets go and return to God” stems from our need for certainty, our inability to admit to our imperfections, and, Harriet adds, knowing that we will die. Since we the people are the only animals that know of their mortality, as far as we know, impending death and our fear, our not wanting to admit it is a natural process of life, creates within us a burning desire to ‘be eternal’. The issue has become, as Trump shows us, the need to be the ‘biggest and the best’, to “kill the competition” as Bezos is trying to do with Amazon, to kill my enemies rather than feed them, help them when they are in need goes against the dictates of the Hebrew Bible that Ben G’Vir, Smotrich, and Bibi use as reasons for their mistreatment of Palestians in Israel, in the West Bank, and in Gaza. Be it Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, et al, the all of these little men are trying to ensure their names for eternity, like Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Hitler, et all as the ‘worst of the worst’, so they can puff out their chests and walk with a strut that says, I am the “baddest man in the whole damn land”. Maybe because they fear their death so much, because they fear they may have to answer for their deeds in the world to come, they think immortality here is all that matters.

At issue for We the People in this moment, in all moments, is whom do we want to learn from? Is learning from the Greeks, the Romans, the King Solomon and his descendants,  the trough we want to drink from? Is learning from King David, who knew how to admit his errors, who is known for his bringing together the different factions within the Jewish people at the time, who is known for, supposedly, writing the Psalms more in line with our divine call? We the People are faced with this issue on a daily basis. Misguidedly, too many of us continue to believe our names on buildings will bring us eternal respect and being known, too many of us believe that ‘making a name for ourselves will bring us eternal glory, and so cruelty, winning at any and all costs becomes the way of the world. Rather than living with Radical Amazement as Rabbi Heschel suggests, rather than “love your neighbor”, rather than feed your enemy if he is hungry, too many of we the people are under the spell of the autocrat who reminds us to “suspect your neighbor”, “get retribution from your enemies”, all that matters is power, control, wealth and white men being in charge. Is this REALLY the way to honor and live into the words of Hosea: “let us walk and return to God”? If you listen to these ‘fine christian nationalist white men, and women,” it is!! All so they don’t have to face their own mortality, their own imperfections, their own lowliness as humans rather than being exalted like God.

As I wrote the last sentence I blinked twice, once because it did not come from my mind, aka, from my soul, my connection to God, and the second time because it is a lightening bolt to me. In the program of AA, in every spiritual discipline, living into one’s proper place and with proper measure is crucial to living well. In the Bible, every human being is created in the Image of God! From this, the Rabbis realized: “to save one soul is to save an entire world…each of us comes from Adam… and each of us in unique”, so there can be no ‘who’s the best”, no naming of the “GOAT” because no one can live like I do, no one can bring to the table the talents, insight, brilliance that each of We the People have individually so this bullshit of “I am the Best”, “I am your retribution”, “I am a genius”, Trump’s depicting himself as Jesus, “I have stopped 8,9… wars” is RIDICULOUS and only comes to show how fearful these people are at facing God, at looking at their own imperfections, their own inablity to be worshiped like God. It is sad and dangerous, pathetic and cruelty comes from these fears. And, we the people who are not confronting the lies and the bullshit, who are not “walking the path of returning to God” are just as responsible-knowing the crimes of another, not trying to stop them, not bringing them to justice goes against the principles of Justice, Love, Righteousness, Truth found in the Bible.

Sitting here, at my computer, I realize how I have fallen into this trap in subtle ways. While I no longer equate my self-worth with my net-worth, I still have to always have cash on me-which seems more and more ridiculous as society is heading towards a cashless way of doing business. I also know the need to be seen, to be held in esteem, to be known and, this need has morphed into knowing another(s), to respecting and holding another(s) in esteem, seeing another(s) human being for whom they are, not what they can do for me. My writing is the “bully pulpit” I have now, it reflects my prophetic voice, my spiritual and moral inheritance from my ancestors and God.

ACTION STEP: Face your mortality, your imperfections, your own place in the universe with joy, with compassion, with strength and resolve

God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 44

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 44

Every morning, after I write and, usually make Harriet her coffee, she reads what I have written and we talk about it. Yesterday’s writing spurned a discussion that is continuing-I played Bridge yesterday afternoon- about what is it that causes the 3rd and 4th generation to bastardize, blow-up, abuse, etc the brilliance of the creators, the inventors, the thinkers, rather than take their brilliance, take the wisdom of the Bible, etc, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, scientific breakthroughs, family business’ and improve upon it and NEVER losing the spirit of these things? We are still talking about this idea.

In the political arena, we are watching, many of We the People in horror, the 3rd/4th generation after the “Greatest Generation”, according to Tom Brokaw, went to war, won the fight against fascism, witnessed the atrocities that senseless hatred and prejudice, blame and anti-semitism can bring about on an entire continent and came back, enough of them to make a powerful minority, to hate Blacks, not wanting women to be anywhere but barefoot and pregnant, taking care of the house, and those uppity Jews had better stop their money-grubbing ways and NOT have a seat at any table of power, only a table with ‘those n——-‘ to bring their vision to fruition, to cause senseless hatred between minorities, to split the Black/Jewish alliance that caused the Civil Rights Act to happen, that worked together with a shared belief and commitment to the words and lessons of the Bible. And, it seems, they are winning at the moment-hence Trump is in the White House, Thune is the Majority Leader of the Senate, Johnson-a lying no good, IDOLATOR and CHARLATAN who MISQUOTES the Bible everytime he speaks, are in charge-YIKES!

What is also apparent, certainly since the days leading up to the Civil War and ever since is that, like the Jews have not all ‘been one people’ except for maybe part of the 40 year reign of King David, We the People have not been united States, rather red/blue/purple, at one another’s throat ever since Gingrich declared politics is war-again beginning with the 3rd/4th generation following the Revolutionary War. Now, as we approach the 250th anniversary of Independence Day, it is a joke that all of these ‘big, beautiful activities’ are celebrating our Independence, like Trump’s face on a $250.00 dollar bill, 70 billion more dollars to fund ICE so more cruelty can be wrought on a nation CREATED BECAUSE OF THE CRUELTY OF KING GEORGE!, a new Arc D’ TRUMP disrespecting both Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, tributes to brave men and women who served our country with passion and purpose.

In business, many times the same experience happens, be it through mismanagement, sales of companies like Warners, MGM, Columbia Pictures, the entrepreneur spirit has left and all that remains is the search for more money, power, prestige. Today’s entrepreneurs are interested in making money, not music, in enriching themselves and their shareholders and, like Trump stated, they “don’t care about the plight of average people”, only how it affects them, their bank accounts, etc. Think about this movies are less than 150 years old and the commercial studios are less than 120 years old, again the 3rd/4th generation. In families, the 3rd/4th generation have, in many instances, lost their family story, their family history-hence the popularity of Ancestry.Com-there is a yearning to know where we come from, how we got here, etc. What causes this is for tomorrow, hopefully, after Harriet and I discuss it more:)!!


This is the reason, to me, that Hosea’s words are so important, so powerful! RETURN, walk back to the ways of Godliness, the ways of decency, the ways of loving our neighbor-not suspecting them, take the path back to kindness and concern for the needy, the poor, the widow, the orphan, walk back to the path of freedom and proclaiming it for EVERYONE! This walking back to is not going backwards, it is reclaiming the roads and paths that our recent ancestors left so they could ‘make it’ and using the principles, the pathways to MOVE FORWARD and promote the ways of decency, love, kindness, concern, compassion, TRUTH, and JUSTICE! Knowing the difficulty of this task, knowing it is counter-intuitive to everything society preaches and does, I can attest to the joy, the power, the finding of my authentic self and an adult partnership, covenantal relationship with God which gave me a new address to live at: Joy, love, truth, justice, kindness and, at times, my house is messy and I screw up-this too is part of being human, I do my Tshuvah’s upon realizing them.

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Find your Family history and see how you are honoring the power of the good in it

  2. Re-read the Declaration of Independence for US and Israel and ask if we are living in to them, up to them or ignoring them

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 43

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 43

My brother, Rabbi Neal Borovitz, sent me an email yesterday about even though Amos and Hosea were absolutely pissed off at the ways in which Israel demeaned, desecrated, spit on, ignored, etc God and the ways of Godliness, they believed wholeheartedly in the power of return, the compassion of God, the eternal covenant that God made with us human beings, the unconditional love of God for humanity! Heaven forbid lest anyone think I am only condemning We the People. I am pointing out the lessons we can, and in my opinion, must learn from our communal stories found in the Bible, in the New Testament, in the Koran, in the Eastern Philosophical writings, etc. In fact, before I got my brother’s email I had picked out this verse from Hosea 6:1- “Lets go and return to God, the One who tore us can heal us, the One who wounded us can bind us”

The Hebrew word for “lets go” or “come” is the word that is at the root of what is called “Jewish Law”, the Halacha. It is the word for walking also, it is the word that God spoke to Abraham, “lech” to let him know it was time to continue his inner spiritual journey and the outer journey to a place where he and his family, his people, could worship Adonai in semi-peace. Sitting here this morning I am overwhelmed with the inner experience that “return to God” is the purpose of the “Halacha” and the Rabbis of old, the OG’s did not want it to become the club that it has, did not want the Halacha to pit the people one against another, as has become the norm. They gave us majority and minority opinions, they gave us the permission, the demand to keep arguing with the text and it is only since the Middle Ages, since the Priniting Press that discussion, dissent has been stifled. The Hasidic Movement begun by The Baal Shem Tov was a revolution against the stiffling of creativity, spiritual enthusiasm, etc and, as a desecration to God’s Name and the legacy of the Baal Shem, Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Reb Nachman, the Maggid, et al, it has “run after the majority to do evil”!

While this is not what I had in mind when I sat down to write, I have to stay on this theme else there is no point to the words from Hosea for us now. The gift of the Bible for We the People is to remind us of previous errors and returns, previous choosing the next right thing to do and the deeper connection with God and self. When we engage in “walking to”, strictness, we are missing the point of Hosea’s words, when we engage in elitism, we are missing the point of Hosea’s teachings, when we engage in cruelty for its own sake, we are missing the call to RETURN! When we support any type of cruelty, even the slightest amount with the caveat “this is the way of the world”, we are rejecting Hosea’s demands, we are telling God to go fuck Godself, we the people know better! This is what Reb Joshua told God and Rabbi Eliezer when Eliezer corrected him on what the “way of the law” should be. This type of behavior was not limited to the times of the prophets, the times of King Saul, King David, et al, it was not limited to the power struggle amongst the Rabbis, the power struggle between Jews and Christians, it has continued to this day and all of it is a desecration of God’s Name. I am enraged, sitting here thinking of how little we the people have learned, how ridiculous it is to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, how we the people proclaim our faith and allegiance to the god we make up for ourselves and not GOD who is “our father, our King”, who calls to us each and every day, 24/7/365 to return, to come back to God’s fold, to “walk in the ways of God” as we learn from the prophet Micah, yet we the people keep ignoing the demands, shutting out the “noise” of the call.

I know this way of being so well-I lived it for 20 years, drinking to quiet the ‘noise’ in my head asking me “what the fuck are you doing- you know better and are better than this”. It worked sort of for those years, I say sort of because the voice, the call, the demands were always niggling around in the front, back of my head, my neck, my shoulders, etc. Knowing right and doing wrong is the most excrutiating pain I have ever endured, I am not sure it is as bad as the physical pain of a terminal illness, I do know that spiritually it is the worst. The cutoff of God is not something that God has done, the cutting off from family, friends even when we “look good” is our doing, and the inner psychic pain is piled on exponentially to the psychic pain of the trauma we endured to begin to lie, to cheat, to be cruel, to “get ours”, etc. The only solution is “L’Chu”, lets go and return to the way we know we should live, lets go and return to one another and make amends for our behavior and forgive them when the make theirs, lets go and return to the soul we are created to be, lets go and stop the CRUELTY that is rampant in our midst, lets go and return to our covenant with God and with one another!
ACTION STEP:

STOP GHOSTING GOD, STOP GHOSTING SELF

GOD BLESS, Rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 42

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 42

“Their doings do not permit them to return to their God; for the spirit of harlotry is in the midst of them and they do not know God.”(Hosea 5:4) I am stuck on Hosea, as I have written before, because his words, his description of the actions of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, are so appropos for our times, for all different times throughout the millennia and we the people, cannot figure out how to learn from his words, from history, from our own experience! I understand it taking a while, it took me 20 years to return from my own harlotry, and I don’t understand it never taking hold, never understanding the whoring we the people are doing and rather than holding the whoremongers, the whoremasters accountable, we the people(at least some of us) worship, promote and praise the harlotry that is happening in front of us and bastardizing God’s name, Jesus’ ways!

The rockets are raining once again in the Middle East, who broke the ‘cease-fire’ first is immaterial, what is material is that Bibi and his thugs have become like Pharaoh in Egypt; causing the people of Israel to go to war while their ‘yeshiva bochers’ stay at home and study because their study is going to save Israel-BULLSHIT! He is like Pharaoh because for the past 15+ years all he has cared about is himself, his need for power, his wanting to be the ‘king of Israel’, restoring the ‘glory days of King David’. I am surprised he hasn’t claimed his lineage goes back to King David. AD MATAI, “until when” Bibi, Ben G’Vir, Smotrich et al “will you refuse to humble yourself before God?” These people and their followers promote “the spirit of harlotry” “in the midst” of the Jewish people to the extent they and their fellow perpetrators of harlotry at AIPAC and other right-wing crazies have caused the rise of Anti-Semitism, have gotten into bed with the Christian Nationalists, the Evangelicals, who proclaim their ‘love for Israel’ while teaching Jews killed Christ, Jews control the world through the banks, and other such blood libel-THESE ARE BIBI’s GOOD BUDDIES!!! “I am a Zionist” like Mike Huckabee, is the rallying cry of these ‘fine christian nationalist folk’ who then say Jews who disagree with Bibi, who believe in the original 2-State solution of the UN in 1947, are anti-zionists! WTF?

All of these so-called “religious people”, “good jews”, “righteous Gentiles” are the HARLOTS Hosea is speaking about and, like our ancestors of old, we the people are unwilling to take action, unable to stand up, fearful of our safety, as I am sure people in Congress are because the way of Bibi, the way of Trump and their thugs is to threaten, to scare, to ensure the demise of the people who stand in their way as well as their families, as Mitt Romney said in his book. They do NOT KNOW GOD, for all their holy-roller shit, for all their Bible-quoting. They are like the Rabbis of old, afraid of the prophets, afraid of the message of the prophets, afraid of losing control, afraid of being found out to be frauds, afraid of facing the consequences of their actions, afraid to face God, to face their neighbor who they abhor rather than love, afraid to face their actions through doing T’Shuvah, afraid to be seen, afraid, afraid, afraid. They are hiding their fears through wars that did not need to be started, by abandoning and blaming allies for their woes, being as cruel to “those people” as possible.

How in this era of AI, can the fascists still deny the truth of the Declaration of Independence, the promise/goal of this blueprint on this our almost 250th anniversary? “All (people) are created equal” is not a statement that is up to debate, their is no wiggle room, no amount of talmudic arguments, pilpulling, no ‘re-interpretation’ by Kavanaugh, Roberts, Thomas, Alito can change the explicit and implicit truth and meaning of this statement. And yet, the very people entrusted with holding these “self-evident” truths, near and dear, the very people who swore to uphold the laws, to defend and protect the Constittution, the People of the United States, the People of Israel are the ones violating all the principles, the hopes, the decency, the freedoms both countries were founded on and founded to ensure!

What is scarier to me, however, is that we the people in our smallness, in our own harlotry, refuse to KNOW GOD, to KNOW OURSELF, and give into the lies of another(s) and our own self-deceptions. That We the People could be lulled into electing self-centered, egotistical, assholes who are thieves, conmen, ne’er do wells, is BEYOND the BEYOND! Yet, we did! I believe one of the reasons is the Bernie’s of our time also do not heed the call of Hosea, do not KNOW GOD, they too have “the spirit of harlotry in their midst”. That anti-semitism is rampant on the left led by Bernie and AOC, support for Hamas’ terroism, raping, killing of babies on Oct 7th was condoned by them, is BEYOND THE BEYOND as well. We the People are being called by the words of the prophets to stop our harlotry and end the harlotry of elected officials.

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Write down the ways you adhere to and don’t adhere to “all people are created equal

  2. Do a 7 day daily inventory on how you did and didn’t give in to harlotry

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD and SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 41

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 41

“Harlotry(lust) and wine must take away the heart”(Hosea 4:11). I love all the prophets, as you know, and these words from Hosea seem especially poignant in this moment, in every moment. The importance of immersing ourselves in the Bible is, of course, to learn how to live and how not to and, I believe, to see the danger that is coming down the pike, to realize the problems that need to be tracked, the people who need to be careful of, and the ways of Pharaoh, the Romans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, fascists of all stripes that are waiting for their opportunity to pounce, like a cougar, a puma, a lion. It is also to help us realize and assess when we are being like the Israelites who willingly went into slavery in Egypt even though we “are more and mightier than we”(Exodus 1:9) and the Israelites who summoned the courage to walk through the Red Sea and stand at Sinai.

Ivanka and Jared Kushner have been in the news lately for their “deal” with the Albanian Government to ruin a beautiful wildlife preserve and beachfront by developing both into a commercial venue for Kushner to use the money he acquired from Saudi Arabia for his Affinity Partners group-because he was such a great businessman-ha ha. Trump is in the news for whatever his latest grift, theft is,and the lust of the billionaire class and those who believe this class will help them that has our country by the throat is beyond the beyond. Hence, the words of Hosea come to describe this moment with such power and simplicity. The drunkeness on power that has taken over the Republican Party, the addiction to lies and mendacity that good people like Bill Cassidy have succumbed to has also taken over the Republicans and some Democrats in Congress(think John Futterman), the horrific prejudice against Hispanics, against Jews, against Catholics and the Pope, against anyone who is not a ‘good white christian male’ protecting his women and children from “those people” is running rampant. The whoring of themselves, their values, their principles is atrocious and, it seems, has taken away “the heart”, the seat of compassion, wisdom, knowing from them. And, this way of being is ruining the country’s foundational principles, the promise of the words on the Statue of Liberty, the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, the goals of the Declaration of Independence, the reason for the Civil War, the results of winning the 2nd World War, at the cost of millions of lives”-defeating fascism.

It seems like the fascists never were defeated, they surrendered, they raised the white flag and have been chipping away at the freedoms, the recognition that ALL PEOPLE are CREATED EQUAL, with “certain unalienable rights”. The fascists like Lindbergh, Coughlin were replaced by the KKK and the John Birch Society among others who were replaced by Gingrich and his cronies who were replaced by the Tea Party which has morphed into MAGA, have played the long game, they used people and played upon the fears of people about “those people”, “anyone not like us”, and Mitch McConnell, John Thune, et al have aided and abetted the fascists like their ‘daddy’s before them’. Chuck Schumer, AOC, Bernie Sanders with their ridiculous rhetoric and Schumer’s need to ‘obey the proper rules of the Senate’, are “bringing a knife to a gun fight”, hence aiding and abetting the fascists. IT IS TIME TO STOP THEM!

It is WAY PAST TIME for We the People to immerse ourselves in Hosea’s words and the actions they demand of us. We are being called to stop our own lust for power, prestige, money from perverting our knowing what Justice looks like, for knowing how to BE HUMAN, our knowng what is true and what is false, our knowing how to connect to a higher power than our “rational mind”, our knowing how to live with the intention and purpose to serve rather than be served, to understand rather than be understood, to love rather than be loved, paraphrasing St. Francis’ prayer for peace.

I am a terrific example of how lust/harlotry, booze can take the heart away, it happened to me when I was 15-I did not want to feel the powerlessness of being a kid without a father, who’s mother just didn’t get him, and I ran right into the arms of being a whore and stayed there for about 20 years. I lived in both worlds, KNEW what I was doing was terribly wrong, felt powerless to stop until Det. Jim Bashira arrested me, until God intervened on me. I am also a terrific example of what T’Shuvah looks like, an example of doing the  next right thing, living by the words of the prophets, doing what I believe necessary in the moment, being wrong and makeing amends, not worrying about another person’s part, just cleaning my side; being pained because I am shunned by ‘polite society’, and not changing my beliefs nor values to ‘get along’. I, like most people, am a BOTH/AND kind of human being!
ACTION STEPS:

  1. What are the lusts that keep you drunk and take away your heart

  2. How can you heal these lusts, live a life of service to another(s)

  3. What will it take for you to leave the fascists and join the God followers

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 40

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 40

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge/ because you have rejected knowledge…seeing you have forgotten the Torah of God…” (Hosea 4:6) describes our current situation as well as the one he encountered some 2900 years ago! “The more things change, the more they stay the same” comes from French wisdom by Jean-Baptiste Karr and applies to our times as much, if not more, than when he said it in the 19th Century. Why do I bring these two quotes up and together? I am not sure except as I immersed myself in the news overnight, the words of Hosea(who I love) and thought about all of the “changes” modernity has brought-many of them very good-I am struck by the never-changing ways of human beings when they obtain power, when they are brought up on and spoon fed “lying is good as long as you don’t get caught and when you do, deny, deny, deny”-thank you Fred Trump and the guy who taught Donny boy everything he knows-Roy Cohn! That we the people stand idly by the bloods of our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and enemies, that we the people are living just like the children of the 10 tribes, the Northern Kingdom of Israel did, and not taking into account what their “because you rejected knowledge” did to them is UNBELIEVABLE! What makes this all the more devastating is, as “back in the day”, the people leading this “reject knowledge” way of being are the Priests, the Imams, the Ministers, the Rabbis who are either too scared to speak truth to power, too drunk on being ‘close to power’, too ignorant of their own spiritual crisis and too arrogant to realize they “have forgotten the Torah of God”.

I am so filled with righteous indignation, I am so tired of hearing about Rabbis who are worried they will piss off their donors, Rabbis who want us to be “Am Yisrael Chai” the People Israel live/are alive, rabbis who, like the Priests in Ancient Israel and Judea, “have forgotten the Torah God” and made it into the Torah of the Rabbis-as the argument in the Talmud, Baba Metzia 59b teaches us. When Rabbi Eliezer argued for the Halacha(way to walk) of God, Rabbi Yehoshua argued for the Halacha(way to walk)  of the Rabbis using a part of a verse from Deuteronomy 30:12 “It is not in Heaven” and another from Exodus 23:3 “after the majority to incline/run”. Both of these proofs for wrong judgments are taken out of context, are used in the exact opposite ways they are meant in the Torah. This is the issue facing all of We the People in this moment, in every moment: are we the people going to make the “way to walk” according to some fixed human ideas, are We the People going to make the “way to walk” as God intends us to, there is a saying in Genesis Rabbah(commentary on the book of Genesis) that goes: Each day in the Heavenly court, God makes new Halacha, new ways to walk  in God’s ways and not give in to the “evil in the hearts of men since their youth”!

WTF PEOPLE?!? How is it possible that these important pieces of wisdom are not being taught? How is it possible to know there are 70 ways to see the words of Torah so no one has ‘the way’ and go along with the bullshit of “only I can save you”? How is it possible to keep the beauty of knowledge, the importance of change, the sanitizing of Truth to meet the ‘needs’ of the Clergy and people in power and proclaim allegiance to God? How is it possible to stop the voices of the prophets, the voices of the people who are promoting God over their selfish needs, the voices of the poor, the stranger, the needy in favor of ICE, in favor of Bibi, Ben G’Vir, Smotrich, Rubio, Trump, Miller, Vought, Johnson, et al? This is ridiculous, this will not end well, as the destruction of the Northern Kingdom teaches us, as the “lost tribes” remind us AND we the people refuse to heed the warnings, the history, the words of Hosea.

What is the solution? There is not just one! I have been talking about solutions of the past 37+ years, I have been seeking them in earnest for almost 40 years now. I know the seduction of the rational mind, I know the seduction of the fearful mind, I know the seduction of the angry mind, I know the seduction of ‘being the hero’, I know the seduction of “I have to fix it” because in my youth I succumbed to them all! I am shuddering as I write this, I am pissed off at my lack of education in these points in my Religious education, I am embarrassed at how long it took me to realize and reject these seductions, these calls, and how they almost ruined my life and me. One of the first solutions I learned was to “immerse” myself in the Bible, not read it, not just comment on the verses, not go along with the “Rashi” on it, rather to put myself in the text, ie ask myself,  “how am I “destroyed by lack of knowledge”, how have I “rejected knowledge”, how have I “forgotten the Torah of God”?

ACTION STEPS:

  1. How do your respond to the questions above

  2. What is your process for surrendering to the Will of God and not the will of humans who promote their will as God’s

  3. How are you standing in the way of progress because you are stuck in the past and how are you ignoring the lessons of the past at your peril

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 39

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 39

The news is the news, the grift is the grift, the camaraderie between dictators and autocrats is purely situational and transactional, the ‘war’ with Iran is ongoing and devastating so many lives, Ukraine is still fighting for its independence against a ‘stronger’ Russia and Putin. While many are feeling hopeless and many are feeling buoyed by some of the primary results and hopes for the midterms, I am hearing the words of Hosea: “there is no truth, no kindness” reverberating and echoing in my ears, my mind, my soul, in my veins and arteries! All of the rest of what is going on here, in Israel, in the war in Ukraine, the ‘takeover’ of Venezuela, is based on “no truth, no kindness”, the very foundations of Judaism, Christianity, Islam!! So, as I am wont to say WHAT THE FUCK?! One of the issues of the present that is different from my youth is there does not seem to be a Martin Luther King Jr., an Joachim Prinz, an Abraham Joshua Heschel, etc to “lead us out of Egypt and into the Promised Land”! I believe these people exist, I believe they are trying so valiantly and so hard to be heard, and like the prophets of old, they are ignored, there is indifference to their calls to action, to their cries of help, to their warnings of the cancer that racism, anti-semitism,  islamaphobia cause. It is so infuriating and, as I am writing, I think that golden age of America was in the late 50’s, 60’s, early 70’s when the voices of our “modern-day prophets” like Rabbis Prinz, Heschel, Rev. King, were heard, were responded to, and their demands were met by We the People with fervor, passion, purpose and energy!

There was a passion for Truth that was ignited by these men, by the women like Rosa Parks, by the ugliness of Bull Connor, George Wallace, the Klan, et al. There was a lack of kindness and love in the bombings of Churches, Temples, the Cross Burnings, the Lynchings which brought about the song that Billie Holiday was tortured by the Government for singing; Strange Fruit. This was the war then as it is now: Truth versus mendacity; Racism, hatred, lynchings of innocent Black people versus Kindness- all done in the name of Christ? All done by those ‘fine christian southern folks’ who go to church each week and hear their pastors and ministers urge them to continue their evil ways calling it “the lord’s work”, ie lying to fit their prejudices, feeding the cancer of the souls of the people engaged in these evils with strength and courage. It was’t so much better in the North, either-just a little subdued and when the Black men who were working at a business that my father had just bought had their wages raised to that of the white men there for the same work-the white men QUIT! We are 20 days away from the 62 Yahrzeit of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner who were killed brutally in Mississippi on June 24, 1964 by those ‘fine white christian, god-fearing’ Ku Klux Klansmen who were cheered on and supported by those ‘fine white christian god-fearing’ women who were their wives, daughters, sisters, etc and here we are again-disenfranchising Black voters in the South, arresting anyone who looks Hispanic whether they are citizens, here legally, etc and treating them like garbage instead of showing kindness, humanity, and love which the New Testament calls for!

This moment is DEMANDING a RETURN TO TRUTH, A RETURN TO KINDNESS that is preached by Moses, by Jesus, that is preached by the prophets, that is called for by Dr. King when we hear his “I have a Dream” speech, that is called for by Rabbi Heschel when we read any of his writings, especially the Race and Religion speech where he tells us that “prejudice is an eye disease”, that “the more current, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence” that Rabbi Prinz a Rabbi who was thrown out of Berlin in 1937 and had been urging his congregants to leave Germany. It is not for a lack of the wisdom, a lack of leadership, a lack of a Moses, Jesus, prophet in our moment, we are in this situation because We the People have chosen to be small, to be we the people and NOT STAND up to the mendacity, the cruelty being spewed by Trump, Netanyahu and their gangs of THUGS. That Jews and Blacks could support these heinous crimes against humanity and God, that Jews and Blacks can go along with these assaults on Truth, on Kindness is beyond me! Both of our cultures KNOW where this leads to and we can’t get over our petty differences, acknowledging our errors, cleaning our side of the street to make America, America again? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Write down the ways you subtly and overtly support, participate in the assault on Truth and Kindness happening in this moment

  2. Make a commitment to find the “prophet” who speaks to you in a way you can understand to make Truth, Kindness, Love, the path to follow

  3. Support and spread the word of your “prophet” and join in the war to Save America!

  4. Honor the memories of all the people mentioned here by STANDING UP AGAINST PREJUDICE AND HATRED!

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 38

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 38

“Hear the word, people of Israel; God is angry with the inhabitants fo the land because there is no truth, no kindness, no knowledge of God in the land.”(Hosea 4:1). I am quoting this verse today because, again, it is a great descriptor of where we are at, as a country, as human beings. Since the “days of yore”, the bastardization of “truth, kindness, knowing God” has been the achilles heel of humanity. While we don’t know how bad this bastardization was in the times of Hosea, the rest of the prophets, Jesus, it seems from the writings we have, today’s reality is not a new one. People have, from the beginning of time, tried to hide from the truth, from the consequences of their actions, blame another for their actions(thank you Josef Goebbels, Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, etc). “When will we ever learn” asks Pete Seeger in his 1955 song “Where have all the Flowers gone?”

Imagine this, some 71 years ago, when there was no ‘war’ raging, Seeger had the foresight, the spiritual vision to ask the question that we the people are still running away from. The midterm elections are the latest measuring stick of whether we are going to respond to the call of God, the call of Hosea, the call of “when will ever learn” or continue to run and hide, ala Adam and Eve. The assault on “truth, kindness, knowledge of God” has been going on for a long time, since the founding fathers, in their desperate need to keep the South in the newly formed United States, agreed that Black people were to be counted as 3/5’s of a person! WHAT THE FUCK!! These ‘good christian white men’ from the South and the North could put their hand on the Bible and do this? This is an example of “no knowledge of God in the land”. That, after the Civil War and the 14th Amendment the “carpet baggers” took over the South, the haters, the racists came back into power and the Klan, the Jim Crow era took over, negating the gains from the Civil war, by those other ‘fine christian white men’ is another example of “no knowledge of God in the land”.

Yet, in both of these examples, these liars, these charlatans, went to their priest’s, their ministers, etc to get ‘permission’ or at least a ‘pass’ to do these reprehensible deeds and the fucking clergy gave it to them, in the Name of Christ!! How low can we go- pretty far down, we the people both then and now are refusing to have “knowledge of God” in our land and foolishly, recklessly believe the fate of all others who tore apart the 3rd Commandment, won’t happen to us! Talk about hubris, stupidity, being blinded by the gold we seek and the toys we believe fervently will fix us!

Our country was founded on the principle of “religious freedom”, that fought one another for the dignity of all human beings, we still have not reckoned with the truth that women are also equally dignified and worthy, that Black and Brown people deserve the same rights, dignities as everyone else, that Jews are not to be continually hated. In order to shy away from our purposeful “not have knowledge of God” some of we the people are rewriting the story of our birth, the difficult growing pains of a new nation that wrestled with one another to find the next right action to take. That we are being HIJACKED by the Unchristian nationalists, the white supremacists, the descendants of the Klan, the followers of the fascists like Coughlin, Lindbergh, Ford, et al is INSANE! Yet, here we are. The question that should be searing our the foreskins of our hearts is: AD MATAI, for how long will we the people continue to run away from and hide from God, the “knowledge of God” that is within us?

Be it at the Bridge Club, the golf course, at home, with friends, this is the question that haunts me, gives me indigestion, a bad conscience: Am I “knowing God” in this moment, am I bringing God into this experience? I am, at times, oblivious to both the question and diving into my “knowledge of God” so I can better deal with the experience I am in. Each of these times has proved to be disastrous for me and those around me!! Yet, it still happens and today’s reminder from Hosea is what will help me stay aware of God being right here with me, whispering into my ears through my soul/gut what the next right action to take is and then I have to listen!! OY, what an order!! And, I know it is doable because for the past 39 years, little by little, I have increased my “knowledge of God” and, as a friend of mine and I were saying-“You can’t get here(where we are today) from our beginnings:)

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Do a daily inventory, for 3-7 days, of when you are activating and living in your “knowledge of God” and when you are activating and living in your “Not Knowledge of God”

  2. How are you, in your progressiveness, conservatism, denying the validity, the dignity, the worth, the uniqueness of another because, ‘they ain’t like me, they ain’t my people’?

  3. What is your response to Pete Seeger’s question: Have you learned?
    GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, rabbi mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 37

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 37

“I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in kindness and in mercies.” (Hosea 2:21) I have been stuck in this part of the verse for 24 hours now. Immersing ourselves in these words is the key to living well, to end our incessant and idiotic ghosting of our authentic self, or our soul’s purpose, of the demand of God to LIVE and BE HUMAN!

These words of Hosea speak directly to the issue facing humanity since time immemorial; how to live in this world with the obligations God demands of us vis a vis the demands of our false ego/rational mind out of proper measure? How do we remember that we are “Betrothed” to righteousness, to justice, to kindness, to mercy when our rational mind rejects being a servant to our intuitive mind/our soul? Rather than accept our “being engaged” to and with God, most of we the people spend our time trying to ignore the call of this engagement, the need to fulfill our part, to live into the knowing that is within all of us, the infinite, unique equal dignity and worth every human being has by virtue of being “in the Image of God”, with “Ruach Elohim”, the spirit of God blown into us at birth.

What made the American Revolution so unique and the Presidency of Washington, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution such maladjustments to societal norms of the day was the leaders were not supposed to be in it for themselves! The President served We the People not the other way around. We the People made a conscious decision that to provide space and pathways to those “certain unalienable rights”, it has to be a “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This is why this moment is so crucial-not just the elections-rather our entire view of the United States of America(which we have never been totally united since the Revolutionary War) must return to the foundational tenets upon which we began-“all people are created equal”, the “unalienable rights”, Freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, and the inclusion of Black, Brown, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim as well as Christian folk in all of our affairs. Rather than blackball them as Hegseth seems to love to do, denying promotions based on sex, ethnicity, religion, as Trump loves to point out to the women who challenge him, the Blacks and Browns who do, the Jews he calls “not loving Israel” because they don’t love Trump, the prophet Hosea is delivering a message from God, from the Universe, the power greater than ourselves, to ‘turn around’ and go back to the times when freedoms were free, when bribes were not allowed, when “righteousness” was pursued by the majority. Hosea is calling us out for our lack of humanity, just as he called out the people of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. I find it so interesting that King David, the warrior, the strong man, the king who’s descendants some of us Jews wish would return as the Messiah, was the ONLY KING to LISTEN TO the Prophet of his time, Nathan!

Righteousness, Justice we are told to pursue, not as a suggestion rather as a Command, because God knew, the Biblical author(s) knew that humankind would jettison a suggestion that called upon them to go beyond their comfort zone really quickly. Kindness is an integral part of being Jewish, being a person of faith, of the Bible, the New Testament. It is what God continually shows to us, bestows upon us, and tells us we have to do the same to one another-“love the stranger”- Mr. Trump, Pastor Hagee, Pastor Cain-White, Pastor Osteen. Caring about the needy and the poor, both commandments from God, from Jesus, is another Command, Mr. Trump, Drunk Pete Hegseth, Greedy Howard Lutnick, Grifter Jared Kushner, Ass-kissing Marco Rubio, etc. All of you ‘good bible-believing folk’ take a look at the words, the meaning, the call of the Bible you so extol! BULLSHIT Which brings me to We the People! These words of Hosea are calling for us to make a fucking choice- are we Standing for God or Standing for the Fuhrer? Are we responding to the command to “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” or to wet dreams of Trump and his thugs to enslave the people they don’t like, anyone who is not a white christian nationalist, throughout the land and believe their call to ensure that “the Jews will not replace us”?

ACTION STEPS: they are simple, not easy.

  1. Find a spiritual guide and learn about your inner life, as I have since December of 1986

  2. Write out the barriers you have put up to righteousness, mercy, justice, kindness for ‘those people’

  3. Journal each day on what Righteousness, mercy, kindness, justice you need to practice and be shown so you can “grow along spiritual lines”

  4. Who is the prophet you are following-a real one or one of many false ones?

  5. Find and adopt a spiritual discipline-could be an amalgamation of a few and live into one grain of sand more each day- it is the solution that has helped me grow into who I am today

God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 36

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 35

“I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in kindness and in mercies.” (Hosea 2:21) Along with the verse from yesterday, Jews say these two verses every morning when we “lay tefillin”, put on our phylacteries. Most people say it by rote, getting through the verses as quickly as possible and herein lies the issue I have with prayer, with people. Each and every prayer has to be said slowly, with meaning, immersing ourselves in what is the call of this prayer on this day. We the People are “doing” the words of the V’Ahavta prayer, the first prayer after the Shema, we are expressing our commitment/love to God in accepting God’s “betrothal” and we are making a sign between our eyes and a sign upon our hand as commanded in the Shema, so why are we the people rushing through the words without taking in the meaning for us this day, without understanding the actions we are taking with “laying tefillin” and immersing ourselves in this most intimate of relationships, God and us, and we with ourselves.

This is a prime example of the name of this blog; we ghost God whenever we say this prayer and are not having an intimate relationship with God/intuitive mind/higher consciousness, which is most of our daily living. We the People have bought into the lies, the deceptions, the self-deceptions that dogma is what God wants. Some Orthodox Jews believe following the Mitzvot, learning Talmud, and wearing the proper clothes is having an intimate relationship with God-WRONG! Some Conservative/Reform Jews believe it is all about spiritual connection and the laws are “not relevant” to me, to life today, etc- WRONG! The first verse above says it all: “FOREVER”.  The issue most people get wrong most of the time is that there is NO DIVORCE, no LEGAL SEPARATION from God, no matter what we the people do, think, believe. God and humanity are forever linked in an intimate relationship, in finding ways of living into our covenant, living into our continuing errors and learning from them, living into our awesomeness and wonder/radical amazement of being alive! Whether a person is ‘religious’ or ‘secular’, whether they are active in their church or not, we the people are all in a relationship with God and, by extension, with one another.

No matter what Trump et al say: each one of us needs the whole of humanity so we can live because “no man is an island” as John Donne’s poem teaches us. He says what Hosea is saying, what God is reminding us of in a different way: “any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” And, by extension, every birth uplifts me, fills me! This bullshit happening in New Jersey with ICE and the private prison contractors has to STOP, you “Fine Christian Folk”, you “Upstanding Fruma Yidden(observant Jews)! No one, be one Christian, Jewish, Catholic can proclaim the Name of God, proclaim Allegiance to Jesus and allow our fellow human beings to be treated in this manner. THIS IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO THE UNDOCUMENTED WORKER PROBLEMS! It is not in keeping with being married to, “betrothed” to, God! I say in the name of the prophet Hosea, to Rubio, Hagee, Cain-White, Kushner, Lutnick, Bessent, Trump, Vance, Miller, Wytkoff, et al, and all of we the people who are still supporting them: STOP YOUR BULLSHIT, STOP YOUR LIES, STOP YOUR DESECRATION of GOD’S NAME, STOP YOUR HARLOTRY!

The anger, sadness, empathy with God, bewilderment with the people is coursing through my veins right now. I get so ‘crazy’ because I HAVE BEEN IN THE SAME PLACE AS some of We the People, who are still under the ether are and it is so devastating when our eyes open, when our vision becomes clear and we see what we have wrought with our harlotry, with our breaking of the “betrothal” vows, with our foray into false judgments, taking bribes, believing that “forever” doesn’t mean anything any more.  There is a solution, however. It is one that takes discipline, commitment, love, and faithfulness. The pathway back to being in this intimate relationship with God begins with our self. Looking at the false rumors I have believed and given voice to, the self-deceptions I have been unwilling to let go of, the using of people’s vulnerabilities against them, thinking my family always has to take me back, etc. Seeing the truth of the words when I “lay tefillin” in the morning, when I say any of my prayers and living into their truth rather than my lies or societal lies and mental cliches. Staying maladjusted enough to see everything today as if it was the first time-my wife, my daughter, my family, my friends, the bridge game, etc. This is the challenge and the way.

ACTION STEPS:
1) Ask yourself how intimate you are with your soul, with God

2) Write down the “forever” lies you hold onto and the “forever” truths you hold dear

3) Make a list of what/whom you hold dear and how you honor them and you by showing up and taking actions of them

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 35

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 35

Again from the prophet Hosea 2:21: “I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know YHVH.” I am stopping here because the verses before this were about Israel’s harlotry, her betrayal of the Covenant, of the 10 Sayings, of the simple command to “Love Adonai with all your heart, your soul, your everything”. No matter how much kindness, love, care, strength, wisdom human beings experience, are granted-whoring after the next ‘shiny thing’, running to the ‘certainty’ of an idol seems to win out. Israel was whoring after those gods they did not know! Hence the use of the word “know” in the verse quoted above is very telling-We the People “know” God and it is when we forget “one we came in with”, as Sinatra sings in “Luck be a Lady tonight”, everything starts to go haywire and we find ourselves stranded, alone, broke, and empty. Unfortunately, most of we the people blame another(s), blame ‘bad luck’, blame God! Rather than being responsible for our own harlotry.

I went to Sacred Heart Catholic Church last night with Harriet and a friend from the Bridge Club. I realize I was imagining what the Temple Service of old would have been, with it’s pomp and ceremony. I also realize that for Catholics, Communion is a renewing of their Covenant with Christ, Christ’s teachings, Christ’s ways of being in the world and I found very moving and profound. There were young and old people there, the service was 45 minutes, the Priest’s message was spot on for the moment we are in without ever mentioning politics, and the experience of seeing the joy, the kindness, the love of the congregants for one another, for the stranger in their midst, was/is uplifting and hopeful. I watched with awe, reverence, wonder how people resonate to the message of forgiveness, of redemption, of love and it makes my heart open even more and my spirit soar.

The problem that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel told us about: “We don’t study the Prophets” is getting bigger and bigger by the moment. Without immersing ourselves in the Prophets, how are we the people going to learn how to remedy our errors, not make the same mistakes in the same was as our ancestors did, refuse to learn from another(s), stay willfully blind to the Truth, not whore ourselves out as the rich, powerful, clergy did in the times of the prophets? WE CAN’T!

AND there is a solution, it is a simple one that seems too hard for most of we the people: Accept God’s betrothal!! Stop whoring around, end our incessant need to sleep with anyone and everyone who tells us what we want to hear. Let go of the lies we have been telling ourselves, as the Priest said last night, let of of the “excess baggage” we are carrying in our minds, in our emotions, in our hearts (living in the past errors that we have done T’Shuvah for, neurotic guilt, etc), let go of the spiritual fears of “not being enough” and accept that God wants us, God believes in our ability to be faithful, which will allow us to suspend our disbelief in this truth. Thank you Rev Pastor Gregory Elder!

Being known by God, being loved by God’s unending love, being accepted for who we are, warts and all, imperfect as we are, takes faith, takes willingness, takes community and takes commitment. Accepting this “betrothal” is to accept our SELF for whom we are and stop trying to ‘flip our script’, LIVE into the divine need we are here to fulfill ie, the talents we are given to heal and repair, to learn and grow, and see every human being as a divine reminder, a fellow human being, no longer “judging a book by its cover”, no longer giving into the cancer of prejudice, letting go of our fears of people doing to us what we have done to them-my ‘fine white christian nationalists, my soooo very observant jewish nationalists’!

Most of all, as Hosea reminds us: We the People KNOW God! Knowing in the Bible means having intimate relations with another. Hosea is reminding us that our connection to God, our “knowing” God is innate, it is intrinsic to being human. Living in “faithfulness”, “knowing YHVH”, gives We the People the path back home, the roadmap to living with and on purpose, the joy of learning, of being curious, of letting go of old ideas, “excess baggage”, “not being enough”, etc. Our relationship with YHVH is the most intimate one we the people can ever have because YHVH is nonjudgmental, betroths YHVH to us in faithfulness and, unlike humans who hide so much of the time, is never hiding, always accessible, “in our mouths, in our hearts”.
ACTION STEPS:

  1. Without Drama, self-flagellation, list the ways and areas when/where I have been unfaithful

  2. Look in the mirror and realize you “can’t hide from the man in the glass” and begin to be in truth with your Self, with another.

  3. Write down how you are going to stop being the harlot and accept YHVH’s betrothal and KNOW YHVH and your SELF intimately

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 34

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 34

The prophet Hosea speaks to the “harlotry” of the People Israel, telling us, in the beginning chapters of his book, that because ‘she’/Israel, the Northern Kingdom, will not “put away her harlotry” and will be stripped “naked”. This is the kingdom that was made up of a majority of tribes, it is a kingdom that is ‘run’ by the descendants of Joseph’s children, Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of the chosen of Jacob and, like Jacob-they could not ever truly believe in God’s love, they could not completely surrender themselves to the truth of God’s ways and they whored themselves all the time-seeking the ‘certainty of idolatry’, they were risk averse, and they found themselves overtaken, conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed so they could not come together to fight the Assyrians nor would they remember where they came from in a generation or two.

Twice each day, in the Shema and her paragraphs, we say “Lo Taturu”, “don’t scout after your heart and your eyes because you will whore after them”-this is a literal translation. The Rabbis, without giving attribution to Hosea because they were afraid of the prophets, the prophets hated the smallest injustice, the least amount of inauthenticity, the minute bastardization of God’s will/words, thought the lessons of the Northern Kingdom were important enough to include this warning in our prayers, saying it twice and following these words with “I am the Lord, God who brought you out of Egypt…” I am hearing the call this morning to STOP WHORING in the slightest way, to STOP running after the false idols of money, prestige, power, to STOP BASTARDIZING the word of God, the word of Christ for one’s own benefit and to STOP GIVING IN to the lies of the autocrat, the mendacity of these ‘fine christian, jewish, and muslim’ clergy who are telling us to kill the bastards who are ‘against us’, like those Black people and those Jews, those Christians and those Muslims, ie, anyone who is not like us!!

To speak to what is happening right now is to shudder at the criminality, the grift, the hating the stranger, the killing of innocent people, the grab for absolute power and the lack of resistance from We the People’s representatives on the Republican side and the idiotic resistance from We the People’s representatives on the “progressive” side. To not see the reflection of Hosea’s description of the Northern Kingdom in today’s world is to stay willfully blind, something Jews repent for each Yom Kippur and do a daily inventory (T’Shuvah) about each day. Yet, when Scott Bessent can proudly stand up and show off a counterfeit $250.00 bill with Trump’s picture on it, when Scott Bessent can loudly and proudly support everything the administration is doing to curtail the rights of We the People, when Scott Bessent can smile at the Supreme Court’s thinking about reviewing the Marriage Act that allows Same-Sex marriages throughout the land, he is the EXACT HARLOT that Hosea is speaking about and to! A gay married man kissing the ring, the ass, sucking up to and off the very people who think he is an ABOMINATION! What the FUCK??

Be it Bibi, Wytkoff, Kushner, Bessent, AIPAC, they myriad of Jews who are supporting this grift and graft, supporting the restriction of freedoms for ‘those people’, all of the people who are in the extremes are ignorant and/or ignoring the lessons of Hosea. I find it unbelievable that Rabbis, Cantors, Jews of any and all stripes could continue to be THE HARLOT that destroyed the Northern Kingdom that caused “the lost tribes” and, ultimately, destroyed both Temples. I am AGHAST that Jewish Education is so puny, so ridiculous that the Prophets are not studied, taught, emulated and imitated.

I believe it comes down to risk benefit. Too many people have shown throughout the millennia they are afraid to surrender to ADONAI, to live into a monotheistic way of life, to stop being the harlot and start being the faithful spouse, the loyal husband, the child that obeys because their experience and the experience of their ancestors has taught her/him the wisdom of God’s ways, the joy of wonder, the power of connection, and the need for curiosity. I know once I opened myself up to learning, once a became excited again each morning cause I knew/know I am going to learn something, everything changed-surrender became a joy, certainty was sent out of my ken, stupid risks didn’t control me as they had in the past and I risk everything to “save one soul” because, as Jewish Wisdom teaches, “it is as if you have saved an entire world”. I am grateful that I have been able to imbue the wisdom of the universe and show up when called and stand up when needed.
ACTION STEP: 1( How have you been the harlot overtly and covertly-what is the T’Shuvah you need to do to get back onto God’s path?
    GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 33

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 33


“Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin” according to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Yesterday, in a zoom study, we were speaking about the lost “art of wonder”. We the People have taken so much for granted and find ourselves heading back to the last century, to the 1800’s, and beyond in history. With the racism and antisemitism coming from both the right and the left, it seems overwhelming to many of us. In his book, The Secret War against Hate, Steven J. Ross lays out how the indifference to hate, our indifference to what was happening since the end of World War II has brought us to this moment, when our caring and concern, our “surprise” and fear of being taken hostage by the autocracy in charge right now is in full bloom and on full display in many circles-both in 60’s liberal circles and 60’s conservative ones.

Yesterday I asked “What happened to us” and this is the major reason America and Israel for the domestic turmoil both countries are in-indifference going far back in both of our histories. For Israel it is a repeat of the errors dating back to the times of the prophets and 70 ad, for America, according to Professor Ross, it is what happened upon the soldiers returning from World War II. He posits that the returning soldiers came back to an America that was different. After fighting to “keep our country safe”, they now had to deal with a new reality back home: women working, Jews and Blacks getting the same jobs they held, these non-Christians did not know their place! And the lies of Henry Ford, Father Coughlin, Lindbergh, took root, again, and issued in a new “Jim Crow” era. These returning soldiers were from the North and the South, the East and the West, they brought together the simmering hatred, the fear of ‘the other’, the belief that White Christian men were the privileged ones and the ONLY people that should be running things!

While this was met with indifference by the government of Dwight D. Eisenhower, their anger, their cruelty, their ‘who do these n-word and kikes thing they are grew exponentially! The Brown v Board of Education ruling was largely ignored in the South and in the North, it took Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus and the subsequent bus boycott of 381 days to get Montgomery, Alabama to say “Uncle” and end the segregation on buses! Not the segregation everywhere else, however-and most of America remained indifferent! The Jews were treated the same with quotas for admission to the colleges, being told to change their names to get ‘good’ jobs, still being under suspicion as not “real Americans” because they cared more about Israel and one another to care for “our White Christian Country”. Are you starting to understand the evil that indifference allows, supports, brings about?

The Republicans in Congress remain “indifferent” to the plight of the average American-giving power to the rich, to their allies here and abroad, kissing the ass of Putin and AIPAC, Xi and Saudi Arabia, wanting to annihilate Iran and kill millions of innocents while not putting American Soldiers on the ground-how ridiculous!! AOC, Bernie, and their gang-who are as thuggish as Trump’s and the Republican’s, also are indifferent to the plight of anyone they deem not poor enough, not discriminated enough, not enough of an underdog to warrant their concern-hence they can support the terrorists of Hamas and, by extension, the terrorism promoted by Iran; they can inhibit the “free speech” of the centrists by name-calling, not being willing to make incremental changes because that’s what’s available; having their noses turned up and disdain for anyone who disagrees with them-using name calling and shaming as much as Trump, et al.

“What happened to us”, is we the people became indifferent to “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, we all have “certain unalienable rights”, “among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness”. NO WHERE DOES IT SAY CHRISTIAN WHITE MEN ONLY! The Supreme Court has become “indifferent” to these words and the Bill of Rights as well. The course correction is crucial, We the People are being called by God, by one another, to take these demands of the Bible, of the Declaration of Independence, of the Constitution seriously and take these

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Do a daily inventory of the things you have been indifferent to this day and in previous days

  2. Write on the reasons you have stayed indifferent and how you rationalize this way of being

  3. Make a list of those you have harmed beginning with self, God, family and the people most in need of your help

  4. Say HELLO to people, ask how they are and how you can help with sincerity and eagerness to be of service and joy at the opportunity.

  5. List your talents and find places to offer them to those in need

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 32

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 32

What happened to us? This is the question that has occupied my being for some time-I don’t mean only right now, I am speaking about the ideal/idea to “make a more perfect union”, the idea/ideal of “all men(people) are created equal”, the idea/ideal that “all of us have intrinsically dignity and worth, uniqueness and we all possess equal measures-hence there is no one who has more dignity, worth, uniqueness than another person. I am thinking about the Psalmist King David and the warrior King David,the David who could listen to women and his prophet, who could admit his errors and repent and everyone who followed him who has been unable to do the same. I am thinking about the prophets who came to warn, cajole, lovingly and harshly coax the People Israel back to the Sinai experience, the Red Sea experience, knowing the difference between slavery and liberty, liberty and freedom.

I am not thinking about doubts, about wondering if it is God or Ego that we are connecting to because we the people do both! Abraham, the man of great faith, even greater than Moses’ because there weren’t a lot of people around who thought about, practiced, spread the idea, the concept, the Truth of One God, he had doubts, he had foibles-remember he pimped Sarah twice, (but never Hagar, hmm…), threw out Ishmael, almost killed Isaac, AND he had great faith, great allegiance, to God. Yet, we tend to forget, gloss over, explain away the foibles, the errors of our ancestors in the Bible because We the People do not want to come face to face with our own incongruities. Rather than continue the tradition begun in wilderness of Sinai, the practice of bringing an offering so we don’t stray from the community nor from God, so we don’t go into the “poor me, I’m so bad” bullshit, the “I will never be forgiven” lies, rather we make our amends to the people harmed, we make restitution to the best of our ability, and we re-sew the fabric of our connection to God. Since the destruction of the Temple, this process is T’Shuvah-return, repent, response. This is the true greatness of King David-he did it willingly, as completely as he could and he was not afraid to stand up, admit his errors, do his T’Shuvah and experience the consequences of his bad behavior just like he did the same regarding his good behavior.

This is the basis for the opening question, “What happened to us? As Dara Horn state state in an article in the journal Sapir: monotheism is a political idea, that the reason the Jews are hated, and I would add admired, is because “Jewish Civilization is an anti-tyrannical movement, a nonconformist movement, an anti-hierarchical movement, based on a story of liberation that taught the world that change is possible”! We the People know the solution to the ills of today, to the autocracy that is trying to enslave the world today, the cruelty, the power struggle, the stealing, the disgusting actions of so many who are in power-forgetting that We the People gave them the opportunity to serve the Greater Good, not themselves and they have FUCKED WE THE PEOPLE, Royally! It is WAY PAST TIME for we the people to rise up once again, to stand up once again, to say LET MY PEOPLE GO to the various Pharaohs in the world today and to say NO to the rational mind that has gone along with the lies, the self-deceptions allowing us to become enslaved ONCE AGAIN!

“What happened to us?” We the People have stopped immersing ourselves in the Bible, we have made a conscious decision to not read, hear, listen, understand the gifts that the Prophets are constantly giving to us: the strength to go against the grain, the reminder of our experience at the Red Sea and then at Sinai, the bitching and moaning of the desert years, and the whole shebang-we the people are stiff-necked and stubborn, seeking certainty and knowing there is none, wanting consistency and knowing the only constant is change, etc. Yet, as my recovery has taught me, liberation happens all the time, none of us have to be too far gone for redemption, for those who are, it is a choice they have made-like Pharaoh in Egypt made. I am living proof that the anti-tyrannical, anti-hierarchical, nonconformist Jewish culture saves lives! This was the basis of the way Harriet and I ran Beit T’Shuvah, where if one staff member thought they could help the resident everyone thought should leave, we kept them, where telling the truth is more important than the crime, usually. This is the path, nonconformity, anti-hierarchical, anti-tyrannical  actions to returning to the ways of the Bible, the path of King David, the ideals/ideas of Moses and God!

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Each day, for a week, write down how conformity served your soul and how it harmed your soul

  2. Look at how you are Pharaoh and the Pharaoh you are following

  3. How has your nonconformity hurt your status/revenue and helped your soul

GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark

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Ghosting God, Ghosting Self - Day 31

Ghosting God, Ghosting Self

Day 31

America is bombing Iran, again after saying a deal was close. Israel is bombing Hezbollah because Trump gave Netanyahu permission, evidently. We just commemorated the offering that our military people gave so We the People can live free, saying “Happy Memorial Day”. This got me wondering, what is “happy” about Memorial Day? The original name for this day was “Decoration Day” to decorate the graves of the soldiers lost in the Civil War as a way of honoring their offering of “their last full measure”. Unfortunately, given the reign of chaos, terror, ignorance, cruelty that this “great nation” that is supposed to be a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” and “shall not perish from this earth” is putting this dream, this vision, this idea/ideal of the founding fathers and each successive generation in grave danger!

It is a custom, with some Jews, to offer a prayer, a statement at the time of death, on the anniversary of the death of a loved one: “HaMakom YiNachem”, which means “God will comfort you”. A lot of people add “may” to the beginning of this phrase, which is the same people do to a lot of blessings when the “may” is not in the phrase, the blessing. What these two words tell us and the mourner is: we cannot give you the comfort you need from our rational minds, from our facts and figures, we can only sit with you, hold you, connect with you and together seek the wisdom and way forward, not out of grief, the way forward to live without this person you/we love so much. To every mourner, each day is Memorial Day, for the last 60+ years, my father’s memory, his wisdom, his calling for me to be one grain of sand better each day has nagged at me, given me bad conscience when I was screwing up and embracing me since I am doing well.

“God comforts you” is a way of putting order to the chaos of death, to chaos of living without this important person in our lives, to the immense sense of being alone. It is a refusal to give in to the cruelty of vengeance, to the need to be right, to the need to blame and shame, to the seeking of injustice, to the need to hate. This is what is missing today here in the US and in Israel-a refusal to Hate, to Cruelty, to Blame and Shame, to promoting and bragging about Injustices Trump, Netanyahu, et al are perpetrating with glee and reckless abandon. Really BIBI, Really Ben G’Vir, you whom are descendants of the people who “wrote the book”, who taught us how to behave no matter who was the physical leader of where we live, who coined the phrase “God comforts You” are perpetuating hate, cruelty, dehumanization of another(s)? I understand Trump doing this because all his life he has cared about himself alone, sought to be rich, sought to have people kiss his ass, wanted to be a Mafia don, and now he is Capo D’Tutti, the head man and his evil inclination, which was always on display, has free reign, hence the back and forth with Iran, the need to show how strong he is, the decisions he makes based on who is pumping him up at this moment. But you, Netanyahu, YOU ARE A JEW and MORE IS EXPECTED OF YOU! It is not about turning the other cheek, it is ABOUT REJECTING CRUELTY! It is about not being like the “other nations”, it is about representing the Kindness, Truth, Justice, Love, Compassion, etc that God promotes, that God teaches us to have, and the Loyalty to Principles that the Prophets remind us of each day! You have screwed the pooch BIG TIME, Bibi and Israel, like the US, will take a while to recover from your corruption, your lies, your destruction of freedoms, your hateful actions towards the Images of God that Palestinians represent!

When we allow for “God comfort You” to overtake us as visitors to the mourners, as mourners ourselves, a change happens. I no longer needed to blame society for my father’s premature death at 42, I no longer needed to be angry that I was alone with no one to understand/“get me”. Rather, I became and grow in gratitude that Jerry was my dad, that I got to learn from him and still am talking to him, that my siblings and I have good relationships, that I am connected to my wife and daughter in close and loving ways. “God comforts You” whenever you open yourself to the healing powers of the universe, when we the people become ready and willing to be comforted because the anger, the getting even, the cruelty, is not serving us at all. It is like the family who, after the guilty verdict, are happy that justice has been done AND they are still not whole, the hole in their soul that their loved one filled is still empty. When and if We the People allow “God comforts You” to make an impression upon us, to hold the hand of the people who offer nothing but comfort in whatever way you need it-the hole starts to get smaller because, like my experience with my father (who was a veteran of WWII) our loved one never leaves!

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Each day, write down the moments, experiences when you allowed ‘God comfort You” to help you out of the morass you feel you are in

  2. Each day, ask yourself is you are honoring the memory of our deceased loved ones or not

God Bless and STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF! Rabbi Mark

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