Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 68

“God is always concerned. He is personally affected by what man does to man. He is a God of pathos. This is one of the meanings of the anger of God: the end of indifference!” (Essential Writings pg. 86)

There is much discussion as to the validity of the first sentence above! Many people believe that God is too distant, too ‘busy’ to be concerned. Many people believe God is so hidden that God has ‘washed His hands of us’. Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above comes to refute these lies. In 1968, in his introduction of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Heschel said: “Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us.” I believe Rabbi Heschel and his teachings, brilliance is also a sign that God hasn’t forsaken us as well. Rev. King, Rabbi Heschel, the prophets, all of the disciples and students of these people and so many others before and after them are the proof that “God is always concerned.”

Yet, it is not enough to just acknowledge God’s concern, many charlatans, many idolators do this as well. When Donald J. Trump is hailed as the messenger of Christ, of God, we witness the bastardization of Rabbi Heschel’s teaching. When the name of God is used to oppress the poor, unwelcome the stranger, imprison the needy, control women, enslave people of color, engage in Islamaphobia, chant “Jews will not replace us”, support, defend, celebrate terrorists who rape, kill, take hostage, innocent men, women, children at a concert, in their homes, just because they live in Israel, just because they live in Ukraine, this is the antithesis of Rabbi Heschel’s teaching. When people who support white supremacy, use anti-semitism as an excuse to debase people and we applaud them, we are falling into the trap of the idolator, the web of the deceiver, the well of mendacity. We have to call out the deceivers, the idolators and never go along with “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, as Bibi Netanyahu did with Hamas because they were against the Palestinian Authority!

We learn that God cries when the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, saying “My children are dying, My children are dying”. We learn that God cries every night because “My children are in exile”. In the Bible, we learn often that God cares about the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the poor, the needy. God considers each person as important, as holy, as worthy; so much so that God promises God’s wrath upon those who take unfair advantage of them. God teaches us to ransom the captive, to redeem our own people, to care for one another, to treat the women we take captive in war with concern and care. God teaches us to care for the corner of the garden that we are privileged to tend. The entire Bible is God’s book of love, care, concern, and desire to be in relationship, in a covenantal relationship with humankind. Yet, we use it as a club instead of a love story, we use it to have rule and dominion over one another, to set up a hierarchy of people so we can ‘have our own way’. There is nothing in the extremes that is Godly, there is nothing in the far right nor far left agenda which mirrors “God is always concerned.”

How have we gotten here, one may ask. We have forgotten the wisdom and teaching of Rev. King, Rabbi Heschel, Elie Weisel, Martin Buber, the Rabbis, the Desert Fathers, Christ, Moses, Mohammed! We have not only forgotten their wisdom, we have bastardized their teachings to suit our selfish, narcissistic desire for power. This happens because people are lazy, we don’t study the Holy Books, we don’t study the myriad of literature that speaks to our need to be concerned about truth, justice, mercy, kindness, love, etc. We have forgotten the words of the prophets for the sake of the words of Tik Tok! We believe the words of Putin, of Iran, of Orban, of Trump over the words and thoughts of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Biden, Kennedy, Bush, Reagan!

We are susceptible to the deceivers because we have not let go of our own self-deception. We are willing to go along with “on advice of counsel” rather than speak truth, rather than act with compassion, rather than see the nuances and grey of any and every experience. We are willing to be told to follow, to believe the liars, rather than think for ourselves because thinking for ourselves, going against the majority could leave us stranded, alone and without people of courage to ‘have our back’. We witness this with Liz Cheney and, yet, she is sought after as a speaker, as a teacher, as a true patriot. While most of the people she speaks with in the media are diametrically opposed politically, all of us are in awe of her willingness to stand up for democracy, for freedom, for the rule of law. Liz Cheney’s example is not too far from the rest of us, we have to have the same courage, the same dedication to truth, to justice, to mercy, to love so we can overcome our willingness to believe the idolators, the charlatans, the mendacious ones.

This is one of the principles of the Recovery Revolution! God is concerned so we have to be. God is calling out to us so we have to respond. In recovery, we realize we suffer from a “soul sickness” and the only way to heal is to see a physician of the soul, a person who wants to know our soul and can reflect it back to us. We know we can heal because others before us have and we lean on their wisdom, the suggestions to help us begin to heal our “soul sickness”. We are constantly seeking to be more responsible, more helpful, more receptive to the needs of another(s), let go of our self-deceptions and end our buying into the mendacity of another. Integrity, acceptance, clarity, grace, truth, love are some of the pillars of our healing self and we live them gusto and dedication. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark