Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 32
“Either we are ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil. Let the blasphemy of our time not become an eternal scandal. Let future generations not loathe us for having failed to preserve what the prophets and saints, martyrs and scholars have created in thousands of years. The apostles of force have shown that they are great in evil. Let us reveal that we can be as great in goodness. We will survive if we shall be as fine and sacrificial in our homes and offices, in our Congress and clubs as our soldiers are on the fields of battle.” (Man’s Quest for God pg. 151)
“Let us reveal that we can be as great in goodness” is the demand of God, it is the demand of humanity and it is the demand that humanity continues to ignore.
“The apostles of force” continue to flex their muscles, continue to be immune to the call to goodness, continue to wrap themselves in the ‘clothes of righteousness’ and continue to wage war with “goodness”. This has been true throughout the history of humankind and, while goodness prevails at moments, we have not found the strength to defeat “the apostles of force”. In this moment, when the terrorists of Hamas continue to have fuel and food, supplies and tunnels while denying the same to the people of Gaza, some of us watch in horror at the deaths of ‘civilians’ in Gaza, listen to the calls for a ceasefire while ignoring there was a ceasefire on October 6th and Hamas is the entity that broke it, and experience the hatred of Jews that has risen up to the surface after being ‘kept under wraps’ for a while. This is an example of one of the disguises that “the apostles of force” use-decrying the fight of Israel and Jews for our very existence. We have forgotten the 1930’s in Germany, Europe, the United States when Jews were vilified and our very existence was threatened and, “the apostles of force” almost won. We forget the history of Black people in America who to this day are discriminated against and the Jews stood with in the Civil Rights movement. We forget the discrimination of the Chinese, the Irish, the Italians, that was rampant and now is ‘under the surface’. We seem to be able to ignore the ways “the apostles of force” work hard to deny “that we can be as great in goodness.”
Even in Congress, Mike Johnson wants to help the rich avoid paying their fair share of taxes by tying the aid to Israel to defunding the IRS. He and his fellow Republicans, want to ignore the need of the Ukrainians in order to help Vladimir Putin and Russia! Yet, he says he is following the Bible while he seeks major cuts in funding for the poor, the needy, the children, the stranger. I am not sure what Bible he is reading and he does this with a smile, with ‘love in his heart’ portraying himself as a ‘good christian’ while denying “that we can be as great in goodness” as Christ calls us to be in the New Testament. Christ hung out with the poor, the leper, the hookers, the ne’er do well-not the rich, the famous, the powerful. This is an example of one of the disguises of “the apostles of force” take on.
We have “to reveal that we can be as great in goodness” as “the apostles of force are great in evil”. It is within us to do this, it is the call of our souls, of our inner lives, and it is the call of God to us. We do this by standing for what is right and good, by acknowledging our own errors, by repenting for our mistakes and changing our ways. We have to stop “hating our brother in our heart” as we learn in Leviticus, we have to stop turning to the “false gods” of power, lust, greed, force, which only empower the evil within us. We have to lessen the power of our self-deceptions and we have to be allies with one another in the fight for goodness, the war against “the apostles of force”. We can do this! We have the technology-prayer, T’Shuvah, introspection, meditation, study, engagement in and with our holy texts, letting go of our grudges, seeing the infinite dignity of every human being, etc. We have so many more similarities that differences, we do not have to fight one another ‘in the name of god’ because this is not what God wants! As the Torah teaches us: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”(Lev.19:18).
This is the goal of recovery! While most people go to and believe recovery is about an addiction to a substance or a process, the main thrust of recovery, as I experience it, is to “reveal that we can be as great in goodness”. Today, I celebrate 35 years since I left prison for a re-entry program. Torah, Judaism, Recovery have all led me away from being an “apostle of evil” and with the help of so many people, family, friends, strangers, I have been able to reveal I am capable of being “as great in goodness”. In our prayers when we return the Torah to the Ark, we say: “It is a tree of life.. all of its ways are ways of pleasantness and all of its paths are peace.” Let’s find our unique way to “reveal the we can be as great in goodness.” God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark