Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 64
“The greater the man, the more he is exposed to sin. Piety is at times evil in disguise,, an instrument in the pursuit of power.” (God in Search of Man pg. 370)
The prophets of Israel called out how the ruling class kept getting greater and greater wealth and power which proves Rabbi Herschel’s teaching above. The more power, the more one is “exposed to sin”. The challenge here is the same challenge that Cain faced when in Genesis God said to him: “Sin couches at your door, it desires you much and you can master it”. Throughout our history, this challenge continues to be unmet by many of the ‘great men’. Prior to the flood in the Bible, we are told in Genesis Chapter 6: “Men of renown saw the daughters of men who were pretty and took as wives all that they chose”. Since the Bible was written/given at Mount Sinai, not much has changed and herein lies the trembling awe we all need to experience through immersing ourselves in the first sentence above.
Rabbi Heschel, along with Rev King and so many other clergy and people were calling out to us about the exposure to sin that people were subjecting themselves to each and every day through prejudice and fear, anti-semitism and hate while patting themselves on the back for their ‘I have a Jewish friend, I have a Negro friend, etc.’ We have seen throughout history what happens when people get to be greater and powerful without a sense of duty, a sense of owing, a sense of service and a sense of calling to care for those who are in need, those who are strangers, those who are poor. We become subjects of dictators, authoritarians, Tzars, and everyone is susceptible to falling into this trap as they gain some modicum of power, some recognition of fame, some taste/seat of power. Be they clergy who preach for their glory and not God’s, be they politicians who serve the special interests who have bought and paid for them, be they business people who believe they can do no wrong, even benevolent dictators fail to realize how much more sin they are exposed to as we climb the ladder of success.
We are seeing the truth of Rabbi Heschel’s brilliance above come to life in Supreme Court dealings. Justice Thomas is hearing cases where his wife has a stake and a claim to, where his wife has been outspoken about. Be it legal or not, this is a case where he should recuse himself and would demand a more liberal Justice recuse themselves, yet he has become so great in his role, in his mind, that he is not able to see “the greater the man, the more he is exposed to sin” in his own life. We watch how Jim Jordan has ‘rolled up his sleeves’ so he can investigate, impeach and impugn the integrity of good people with whom he disagrees, all the while denying his role in a fiasco at Ohio State University. He is unable to see his own hypocrisy while pointing out the false hypocrisy of another(s). Kevin McCarthy is willing to sell his soul, his dignity, his integrity for the power of the Speakership because he has been exposed to so much sin, it has overwhelmed him. Mitch McConnell can criticize Donald Trump days after another one of Trump’s idiotic behaviors, yet when he could have impeached him, he said NO, if Trump is the nominee in 2024, McConnell will support him! Rob Schenck, the evangelical minister who worked so hard to influence the Supreme Court conservative Justices to overturn Roe, to support Hobby Lobby, and other conservative/controlling issues had an awareness of how great his exposure to sin was/is and is doing his amends out loud and teaching us how insidious greatness can be and how dangerous it is to be overexposed to sin.
We are being called by Rabbi Heschel to stand up for truth. Rabbi Heschel, Rev King, Rev Barber, Rabbi Shulweis, Rev Mark Whitlock, Pastor John Pavlovitz and decent good people in and out of power, in and out of the pulpit, in and out of the ‘C’ Suites of business and Institutions are calling to and for our souls so we can change the exposure to sin that we experience. We are being called to search our inner lives and find the subtle ways sin has infiltrated our way of being by disguising itself as holy. We have the examples of how easy it is to buy into the false gods of people who are in or want to be in power. We have the consequences of what happens when “evil flourishes” because “good men do nothing” and we have the heroics of the prophets of Israel and our modern day prophets like Rabbi Heschel, Rev. King, Mother Teresa, et al. The call is for us to answer our exposure with more love, to rebuff sin with more service, to use our power to make our corner of the world better not just our own life.
In my recovery I am constantly on guard for the sin that I am exposed to, just as everyone else in recovery is. In retrospect, I realize how, at times, I bought my own press and acted in negative ways that I saw as good, my sight was blinded by my unawareness of my exposure to sin in the moment. I am sad and sorrowful for the actions I took while under the unwitting and unknowing exposure to sin that I was in. I also am aware of how often I exposed sin that was, at first, disguised as good/holy in my own being and the beings of another(s). I am also acutely aware of how unpopular this is, as Rabbi Heschel, Rev King, knew and Rev Barber is experiencing. I know hat remaining humble, remembering I get to serve God and humankind, constantly exposing the darkroom of sin to the light of goodness helps me live in wonder, awe and joy. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.