Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 16

“Tanks and planes cannot redeem humanity, nor the discovery of guilt by association nor suspicion. A man with a gun is like a beast without a gun. The killing of snakes will save us for the moment, not forever. The war has outlasted the victory of arms as we failed to conquer the infamy of the soul: the indifference to crime, when committed against others. (Man’s Quest for God pg. 150)

I saw this posted by Dr. Susannah Heschel, Rabbi Heschel’s daughter, yesterday and was struck by how prescient this passage is, as it was originally delivered in Frankfort-am-Main, Germany in March 1938! These words are vitally important to us today as they were in 1938, they give us a moment to reflect on our actions, on our times, on this moment. Today, there is a call for a worldwide Jihad, attacks on Jews, Jewish Institutions all over the world, and there is no complete protection from terrorists who want to kill, maim, destroy. We have failed to heed Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above and we have failed to live into his teachings and brilliance, instead we quote to prove our points instead of learning them to live God’s call to us.

While the war with Hamas rages, while planes are bombing, the IDF is massing at the border of Gaza and Israel, we all need to think about and take action on what will redeem humanity. Let’s stop lying to ourselves, let’s stop buying into the mendacity of some leaders that they are the only ‘strong person’ who can protect us. Last Saturday was another example of the power of evil, the resolve of evil, the degradation of the human soul by/thru evil. We have witnessed much of these ‘events’ in the past 100 years, be it Nazi Germany, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, the Saudi killers of 9/11, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Syria, Hamas, and we still erroneously believe that “tanks and planes” will redeem us, will stamp out evil. While I understand Israel’s desire/need for revenge, I agree that Hamas has to be destroyed, I know their destruction will not “redeem humanity”.

The “discovery of guilt by association” will not redeem us either. While it is important to find out all the allies of Hamas, all the enablers of evil, all the bankers of terrorist activities, it will not redeem us, we need to do our research, we need to hold these allies, enablers, and bankers responsible and this will not redeem us. There is no redemption for the evil that has been perpetrated by Hamas, by terrorists and their allies. AND, we have to not take joy in the destruction that “tanks and planes” will bring. We cannot pat ourselves on the back for ‘fighting evil’, for bringing terror to the people of Gaza, just as the people of Gaza cannot be considered completely innocent as they have allowed a small minority of people, Hamas, to be their government, they have cheered the kidnappings, the rockets shot into Israel, they have allowed Hamas to use the billions of dollars it receives every year to be spent on themselves, on weapons rather than on infrastructure, rather than on business and schools, hospitals and supplies, their own power plants, etc.

We all have to remember that the killing of snakes(Hamas) will save us for the moment, but not forever.” We have to move forward with a plan to recognize the good in our Arab neighbors, not just the evil of the few. We have to find ways to “conquer the infamy of the soul”. We have to stop our “indifference to crime, when committed against others”, we have to engage in and with the words of Rabbi Heschel, the words of the prophets, the words of our Bible, the will of God for another(s) as well as for our selfs. We have to end out reliance on power, on “tanks and planes”, we have to end our belief that we are better than a beast when we walk around with guns lying to ourselves that the gun protects us. It enhances the “infamy of the soul” and harms the people. Yes, it is necessary to defeat evil, yes it is necessary to have “tanks and planes” and “guns”; however it is also necessary to stop relying on these as our first line of defense, lest we destroy our souls, we subject our souls to “bad repute”, the Latin root of infamy.

Recovering our souls, recovering our decency, recovering our humanity is the goal of Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc. Our different paths are not at odds with one another, they are here to speak to us in ways we can understand, ways that help our souls grow and come out of the prison that “tanks and planes”, that “the killing of snakes” lock us in. Recovering our humanity is the only path to ending terrorism and it takes everyone to engage in their own recovery. Last night at an AA meeting, the question was: Why do you stay sober? My response was that before recovery I was a terrorist, I terrorized family, friends, people I did not know, everyone I came into contact with. Recovering my connection to God, my decency, my humanity, my soul has changed me from a terrorist to a partner with God, from a hater to a lover, from a ‘victim’ to a preacher of the word of God. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark