Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 34
“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)
Rabbi Heschel’s comparison, call for us to “be as fine and sacrificial…as our soldiers on the fields of battle” is especially poignant in this moment. It gives me pause and has caused me to look at elected officials, dictators, authoritarians, and all of us in a different light. There are soldiers, citizens called upon to fight really, in Ukraine and in Israel/Gaza. Hamas is not an army, they are not soldiers nor are they ‘freedom fighters’; they are determined, as was Germany and so many other countries throughout history, to “kill all the Jews”, just as Putin is not a “freedom fighter” looking to ‘protect the Russian people of Ukraine”! Yet, they both are crying over the devastation of the people who are defending their land, their very existence, and parts of the world are buying their bullshit, forgetting that everything happening is because they started these wars! Why is it that world leaders cannot “be as fine and sacrificial…as our soldiers on the fields of battle”? Why is it we are more worried about our economic ties, we allow ourselves to be held hostage to the oil of the Middle East, the cheap factories of China, than we are about what is right, what is good, what is freedom? Are we aware of how we are “slaves of evil” because we are more worried about our wallets than our souls?
We are engaged in, witnesses to, participants of the Chaos Theory of life, as perpetrated by Trump, Gaetz, Tubervile, Johnson, Jordan, Hamas, Qatar, Putin, Orban, Xi, Bannon, Cruz, Netanyahu, et al. Matt Gaetz, because of a personal beef, help the entire US Government hostage for over 3 weeks-where was his sacrifice to meet the sacrifice “as our soldiers on the fields of battle”? Tuberville, who has finally been scorned by his own fellow Republicans in the Senate, has held up all promotions, necessary military promotions, because of his hatred of women being able to choose what they do with their bodies. Neither Gaetz nor Tuberville have ever served in the Military; neither one understands sacrifice, yet both believe in being “apostles of force”! In Israel, Netanyahu is unable to take responsibility for what happened, he is unable to remember what he learned in the Army as a Captain, he seems to be unable to be a leader who sacrifices himself for truth, rather than sacrifice another for his lies. Jordan, Trump, Mike Johnson, et al, never could imagine being “as fine and sacrificial… as our soldiers are on the fields of battle”! They would rather be the bomb throwers, the ones who glide in and take advantage of innocent people who want to believe they are sincere, they want peace, they are capable of being decent, people; only to find out they are idolators, deceivers.
WE, THE PEOPLE, must end the reigns of terror! We must demand our leaders stop being “apostles of force” and making us into “slaves of evil”. It is time for Israel to accept the truth of a two-state solution. It is time for the Palestinians to accept the same truth and POLICE their own extremists as Israel must to with theirs. It is time for the Arab world to end their dance with Chaos and Iranian backed terrorists and recognize, partner with Israel-no longer believing they are capable to dictating terms to the world because of their oil reserves. The citizens of this country, the USA, have to demand our leaders stop enslaving us to chaos and lies, end their alliances with “apostles of evil” like Putin, Fascism, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Anti-Asian, Racist actions, etc. WE, THE PEOPLE, have to stand up and be counted as “ministers of the sacred”, we have to be willing to “be as fine and sacrificial… as our soldiers are on the fields of battle”!!
We have to follow the examples of people in recovery and practice the principles of our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, the Bible, the Prophets, Jesus, Mohammed, in all our affairs. This is about how we live by the examples of “our soldiers on the fields of battle”, not any particular religion nor any particular bastardization of religion. It is following the example of millions of people who left a life of mendacity, self-deception, a life of being an “apostle of force” and a “slave to evil” so we can find our authenticity, be responsible and transparent in all our affairs! We are not perfect so we “continue to take personal inventory and promptly admit when we are wrong”, we do this so we never sink into being “slaves of evil” again. This is what is needed in each of us and in all of us! God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark