Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 59

There is an evil which most of us condone and are even guilty of: indifference to evil. We remain neutral, impartial, and not easily moved by the wrongs done unto other people. Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself, it is more universal, more contagious, more dangerous.” (Essential Writings pg. 86)

Immersing ourselves in the second sentence above, in light of current events as well as historical events, causes us to look inside of ourselves to judge our way of being. The word for prayer in Hebrew means to look inside/judge ourselves. Asking ourselves when we have remained either “neutral, impartial, and not easily moved by the wrongs done unto others” can be/is a long list. Rev. Martin Luther King, a friend and partner with Rabbi Heschel, said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We have forgotten this truth just as we have forgotten the anguish of the prophets at the slightest injustice and harm done to anyone, even though society accepts it.

Be it the war with Hamas, the war with Putin, the war with Iran, the civil war in Syria, the war against terrorism across the globe, we have to remember and be moved easily by the injustices. “War is Hell” according to General Sherman, and there is no ‘moral’ way to conduct it. Israel is a land that both Palestinians and Jews have a claim on since Biblical days, it is not an either/or proposition. Being indifferent to this truth, on either side of the equation, is evil and produces more wars, more “wrongs done unto other people.” This is the issue for the world and for Israel and Palestinians that want a solution. While this is unpopular in many circles, a two-state solution is the only moral, spiritual and logical response. If we are not crying about the innocent people in Gaza who are being uprooted, dying, then we cannot claim any moral ground. If we are saying everyone in Gaza who is dying is an ‘innocent civilian’ and not accounting for the myriad of deaths of Hamas people, we cannot claim any moral ground. If we are not rooting out the cause of this war, Hamas’ evil and terroristic attacks on innocent Israelis, the raping of women, the killing of babies in their cribs, we cannot claim any moral ground. If we are not moved by the slaughter of people by Russian drones for no reason other than Putin’s desire for more, we cannot claim any moral ground. If we are not moved by the Russians who are dying, we cannot claim any moral ground. When we only seek to blame, when we only want to look at ‘one side’ as ‘the bad guys’, we are remaining “not easily moved by the wrongs done unto others”. When we forget the hostages taken by ISIS, Al Qaeda, Russia, Hamas, and blame the response, which at times is over the top, we are being neutral to the horrors perpetrated upon these people.

When we see the wrongs done by our criminal justice system and do nothing, when we “remain neutral” about the plight of people fleeing the oppression of their native lands for freedom in the United States, we are remaining indifferent. When we see the homeless and complain about them ‘being in my neighborhood” we are “not easily moved by the wrongs done unto other people”. When we sit idly by while legislators enact laws that discriminate against women, people of color, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, we are guilty of indifference. When we say we don’t have an opinion, nor do we want to get involved, we are being “impartial” which is another form of indifference when it comes to “wrongs done unto other people.”

In our boardrooms, in our schools, in our Halls of Congress, in our communities, in our homes we have adopted an attitude of indifference that is sometimes overt and sometimes covert. No matter what “side” we are on, no matter whom we are rooting for, we have to be aware, involved and stand against any of the “wrongs done unto other people.” Rabbi Heschel asked: “How can I pray when the death of thousands of innocent Vietnamese are on my conscience?” How can we say that our Bible, our Koran, our New Testament gives us the right to perpetrate wrongs onto another human being? How can we not see every human being as a Divine Image, a Divine need, a Divine reminder as Rabbi Heschel teaches? By being indifferent!

In the Recovery Revolution, that was begun some 3000+ years ago, and enhanced some 88 years ago by Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson, there is no place for indifference. While AA per say “doesn’t have any opinions on outside issues”, it speaks to the individuals need to not be indifferent to the harms we have perpetrated and may continue to perpetrate unto other people. We are calling ourselves to account every day, just as with the practice of T’Shuvah, and holding ourselves to the standard of morality, decency, repentance, change, new responses. In the Recovery Revolution, we follow the path of wholeness that any and all spiritual disciplines have given us-we recognize the worthiness of every human being including ourselves and we realize we are here to serve not be served, we are here to help the needy, the poor, the stranger, etc-not take advantage of them.

I am guilty of standing idly by at times, thinking it wasn’t my fight on rare occasions. Most of my life, I have been engaged, I have railed against indifference, I have been told ‘mind your own business’, ‘stay in your lane’ and I have responded by taking actions that show it is my business and the whole world is my/our lane. I have been abrasive, loud, overbearing in my passion, in my fear of being indifferent, and, no matter the consequences, hiding is not an option, quiet is not my jam. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark