Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 20

“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)

It seems impossible for us “to take the souls of men out of the pit” without involving God, without involving “the sense of the sacred” in our daily affairs, in our daily dealings, in our daily prayers, in our daily living. Yesterday a great tragedy happened in Gaza and what was the response of people-blame Israel, cancel meetings to end the crisis, demonstrate against Israel and it’s allies, disrespect President Biden and the United States who they all get aid from, by cancelling a summit. Rather than waiting for proof, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian Health Organization, a Hamas puppet in Gaza, blamed Israel because there was a beginning again of hope to end the Hostage’s plight, end the blockade of Gaza, end the atrocities of Hamas, end the support of terrorists by Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, etc. This is not to say that war is not hell, it is and much suffering has occurred and will occur while Hamas continues to occupy Gaza, while it continues to terrorize Israel as it did on October 7, which none of the Arab countries who are so self-righteous have acknowledged.

Herein lies the distinction that Rabbi Heschel has drawn before, “religious behaviorism” is not the same as “God is involved”, it is not the same as “the sense of the sacred is as vital to us as the light of the sun”. In many cases, on the contrary, “religious behaviorism” takes “the souls of men” into the pit! We are witnessing this in America, in Israel, throughout the Middle East, in India, etc. We are all in desperate need of remembering “the world has experienced God is involved”, Adonai Ehad, one God of all people, higher consciousness of humanity! While we fight wars, polarize nations and families over ‘whose god is God’, we fail our “greatest task to take the souls of men out of the pit”! And, it seems, we have become accustomed to this bullshit, this deflection, this hatred, this mendacity and the idolatry that is found in the pit! Rather than help one another out of the pit, we seem intent on proving the pit is not a pit, rather it is heaven, we are on the ‘right path’ in our pits. We seem intent on keeping anyone besides ourselves in the pit. As the Arab leaders have proven, as Hamas has proven, keeping the souls of their people in the pit allows them to have control, wealth, comfort and power over them and a ‘strike force’ willing to attack a straw enemy that ‘is the source of their problems, not us your faithful leaders’. Rather than do God’s work, rather than have “the sense of the sacred” for human life, the charlatans in all religions, the “religious behaviorists” in all faiths and spiritual practices have only the sense of self as they bastardize God’s name and “the sense of the sacred”.

We have to look inside of ourselves before we point the fingers at everyone else, blame and shame are the playgrounds of the pit, they are fertile soul of the spreading of lies to ourselves and to one another. Rather than wait for proof, rather than wait for more information, many have condemned Israel, even though everyone knows Israel warns before they drop bombs, even though everyone knows that Judaism values the human life above all. Rather than seek ways to help one another out of the pit, rather than go to the source of this war-Hamas, people are ready, able, and willing to blame the Jews and blame anyone else rather than be responsible. . The more Jews, Blacks, Asians, LGBTQ+ reach down into the pit to “take the souls of men out of the pit”, the more the charlatans want to pull us all into the pit, the more the deceivers seek to discredit, blame, shame people of truth. This is Hamas, this is their Arab supporters by giving them BILLIONS to build tunnels and buy/create weapons of destruction rather than build cities, resorts, business to help the people of Gaza.

In recovery, “the sense of the sacred is as vital to us as the light of the sun” describes our entire program of recovery-as we say at the end of the beginning of Chapter 5 in the Big Book, “God could and would if God was sought”. We know our recovery is dependent upon our spiritual condition, it is what allows people of varying backgrounds, disciplines, status, to join together and bring God back into our lives, to “experience God is involved”. Yes there are ‘behaviorists” in recovery as in all spiritual disciplines, and because of our involving God we can tolerate them and not have them pull us down into the pit of either/or. IN recovery, we don’t count good guys/bad guys, only human beings who are struggling to do the next right thing-this is what religion and God teach as well. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark