Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 68
“The great contest is not “between God-fearing believers and unrighteous believers.”(God in Search of Man pg. 370)
Immersing oneself in Rabbi Heschel’s words above causes us to ask ourselves to define “God-fearing believers” and “unrighteous believers”. To be God-fearing, I believe, is to live with trembling awe of being a partner of God, to be aware of our capacity and call to make our corner of the world better, to stay connected to what is good and holy, to think ‘what is the Godly action to take now’ and follow our soul’s knowledge as to the next right action. It is not to be afraid of being struck down by a vengeful force that wants to control us. The sages say:” All is in the hands of heaven except the awe of heaven”. We are in control of us, we are not automatons, we are not robots, we are not angels nor animals. It is imperative for us to stop using God as a weapon, as an excuse, as a clean-up for our unGodly actions. It is time for us to stop anointing people as our saviors and save our own selves. To do this, we have to take responsibility, we have to, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, “immerse ourselves in the thoughts of the Bible”, we have to stop being literal and put ourselves into the text, see the myriad of ways to understand the teachings and the actions that the Bible gives us and no longer ignore the gift of our intuitive mind, our soul’s call.
Yet, as we can see from what is happening and what has happened over the millennia, this way of being is perverted for the power of the “unrighteous believers. In reading some of the text messages from Republican Congresspeople to Mark Meadows after the 2020 election, we see people who want to use God as a weapon for their power, for their elevation, for their enslavement of people they see as their enemies. I am overwhelmed with grief and sadness that God is being used as a pawn and a club by these “unrighteous believers” who call themselves “God-fearing believers.” Immersing myself in Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above, I am experiencing his words as a cautionary tale to us. We have to be careful or we will easily turn from the trembling awe experience of connection with God to “God-fearing believers” and then to becoming “unrighteous believers.” It is a descent that seems seamless, it is a movement that seems logical to our rational minds. It is a way of being that gives in to our desire for power, prestige, wealth, certainty and control. Both “God-fearing believers” and “unrighteous believers” experience God as a tool, as a weapon, and make God into an idol.
God is infinite, unknowable, ineffable, yet we know that people, in our need for certainty and control, want to define, know and have the corner on God’s Word. Jesus spoke in parables, the Torah is to be understood in 70 ways, all of the translations from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Chinese, etc are commentaries based on the translators beliefs and prejudices. How can any of the “God-fearing believers” say they know what God wants? How can any of them declare people like Shabbtai Z’vi or Donald Trump as the Messiah? How can anyone say that Godliness comes about through ignoring the cries and pleas of the stranger, the poor, the needy? How can anyone state they are the ‘true Americans’ while denying refugees safe harbor-be they Jews from Nazi Germany, Cubans fleeing Communist Cuba, Central Americans fleeing for their lives, Syrians fleeing the chemical warfare of Assad, etc? How can we continue to dishonor the treaty we made with Native Americans in the 19th Century? How can we continue to treat people of color as 2nd class citizens? How can we continue to use Anti-Semitic tropes while proclaiming our love for Israel? We can do this when we falsely believe, when we deceive our selves with the lie of being “God-fearing believers” and accuse everyone else of being “unrighteous believers”!
Those of us in recovery are certain of one thing, we can never know God, we can only seek to understand God’s will for us. We know that the “power greater than ourselves” that is in charge sends us anonymous messages through people, through signs and through our soul’s knowledge. We are acutely aware of the dangers of being too sure of what God is telling us, of confusing our desires with God’s will, and of returning to a way of being that is incompatible with being a partner of God!
As I immerse myself in these words, I realize I am guilty of being an “unrighteous believer” at times.I have gone overboard in my zealotry and my desire to ‘be right’. I am embarrassed and guilty which gives me the strength to retreat from these false stands I have taken. It is difficult at times to separate my trembling awe of God to act Godly and my fear of being left out, unheard, irrelevant. This is a challenge that I face each and everyday. I know that I meet the challenge most days and there are times when I don’t. I agree with Father Greg Boyle that we have to erase the margins if we are to live with the trembling awe of being a partner of God. I also realize that I want to erase the margins because I have lived on the edge of what the “unrighteous believers” and “God-fearing believers” have determined to be acceptable and normal. I realize the threat that I pose to proper society, I realize the threat that all people in recovery pose to proper society, I realize the threat equality, freedom, seeing that each person matters poses to society. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark