Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 19

“For evil is indivisible. It is the same in thought and speech, in private and in social life. The greatest task of our time is to take the souls of men out of the pit. The world has experienced that god is involved. Let us forever remember that the sense of the sacred is as vital to us as the light of the sun. There can be no nature without spirit, no world without the Torah, no brotherhood without a father, no humanity without attachment to God.” (Man’s Quest for God pg. 150)

Reading and re-reading the second sentence above causes me to shudder! As is stated in a footnote in the beginning of this chapter called: “The Meaning of This Hour”, “the essential part of this essay was originally delivered in March 1938(bold my addition) at a conference of Quaker leaders in Frankfort-am-Main, Germany. “Man’s Quest for God” was published in 1954 and we have continued to fail our “greatest task”! The Terrorist Attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 that the world seems to forget about because Israel is made up of Jews and Jews are not supposed to retaliate, Jews are not supposed to defend themselves, their country, Jews are not supposed to have a country, etc, according to the will of Iran, of terrorists like Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad in Syria-all who help their people flourish, help them be innovative, help them build vibrant business’ and lives-NOT! These ‘leaders’ have taken their people deeper into the pits rather than “take the souls of men out of the pits” because it serves and satisfies their need for power. Yet, in the middle of the desert, with no oil, Israel has built a vibrant, raucous, society.

We are witnessing the depth of the pits “the souls of men” are in with the numerous reactions calling Hamas “freedom fighters”, “heroes”, celebrating the killing, hostage-taking of men, women, children, bullet holes in babies! This is FREEDOM FIGHTING according to many people, yet when Israel holds Gaza responsible for these atrocities, when Israel says return the hostages-not caring what their nationality is in exchange for power, etc as a bargaining chip, the world condemns the Jews. When Russia attacks Ukraine for the sole purpose of Putin’s savagery, the world responds with aid and comfort-when Israel fights a war for its very existence-it is attacked in the media, by the left and the right, because  it is Jews who need the aid and comfort and anti-semitism has been around since the Romans, aided and abetted by the Church. We continue to fail “to take the souls of men out of the pit” as Rabbi Heschel spoke to the Quakers about some 85 years ago because so many of those needed to lead the “souls of men” are themselves in the pit.

Why does it seem so impossible “to take the souls of men out of the pit”? I believe it is because we are afraid of our souls, because we “learn evil from our youth” because we have forgotten to “honor our father and mother” because we have forgotten and twisted the words of God in the Torah, in the Bible, in all Spiritual texts to fit our needs, our whims, our ‘evil urge’. We witness this in the ways workers are paid, those at the top make up to 200 times what the lowest worker in a company makes in some companies. We witness this in our Churches, Mosques and Temples/Synagogues when Clergy proclaim to be speaking for God, speaking in the name of the prophets and propagate injustice towards “those people”, speak in prejudicial terms of “those immigrants/strangers” causing a cancer to grow in the souls of their flock, promote the segregation of men and women, the segregation of people based on the color of their skin, the religion they practice forgetting the commandment to care for the stranger in your midst, there should be one law for stranger and citizen alike. Listening to charlatan fundamentalists wrap themselves in Mohammed, Christ, Moses is the same as Eve listening to the snake in the Garden of Eden story-calling us all into the pits to become a snake-against the nature of our souls.

In recovery, we are engaged in this, “the greatest task of our time” each and every day. We are so aware of what much of the world ignores, the myriad of ways we are lured back into the pit, the uncountable methods people, our own rational minds, and our emotions use to keep us ‘down in the pits’. We have been in the pits, we lured so many into the pit with us in the ways we held people hostage in our addictions to perfection, substances, mendacity, etc.  Today, we know we have to engage in the task Rabbi Heschel is demanding us to do else we will end up back in the pit, surrounded by snakes and being a snake again.

I have much more to write on this subject. I am looking at the ways I have allowed myself to stay in the pit, through self-pity, through ‘not fair’ through anger and frustration, etc. I know, with God’s help and the help of many, I have climbed out of the pit in many ways, I have helped others to climb out of the pit. More tomorrow, God Bless and stay safe, pray for Israel, Rabbi Mark