Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 60

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)

The last sentence above rings in my soul and, as Rabbi Heschel says earlier a, “disturbance in relationship between God and man.” What did the prophets rail about, what was their core message to the powerful and the rich, the people and the priests? It was to stop our “indifference to evil”. We humans have practiced our indifference in a myriad of ways going all the way back to Cain and Abel. The midrash around the Tower of Babel, where the builders were more upset about a brick falling and shattering than when men fell off the tower and were shattered. There is a midrash that up to 80% of the Israelites stayed in Egypt because they were so used to slavery, they were so indifferent to the evil being perpetrated upon them, they decided not to leave slavery and hardship! Throughout the Bible, we are told to be concerned about the plight of every human being, to care for everyone, to “not stand idly by the blood of our neighbors”, yet, we continue to be indifferent to the evils that were perpetrated by humans upon humans from antiquity till now. In listening to Rabbi Heschel’s words, his voice, I am disturbed, I am constantly looking inside myself to root out my own “indifference to evil”, my own “indifference” to the plight of another human, another people, to the members of my community and even my family. Are you aware of your own “indifference to evil”?

The word insidious comes from the Latin meaning “lie in wait for”, “an ambush”, “cunning”; Rabbi Heschel’s use of this word in describing “evil” warns us against our arrogance, is a reminder of God’s admonition to “remember what Amalek did to you on your journey…how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary.” (Deuteronomy 25:17-18). Our “indifference to evil” lies in wait for us, it ambushes us much like Amalek did, it cunningly convinces us that we are not indifferent, we are taking a stand, all the while we are “not making any difference” between what is good and what is evil, not taking a stand for God, for decency, for spiritual values the prophets called us to, not being responsible for our inaction, for our ‘going along to get along’, for diminishing what truly is with the ‘it’s not so bad’ and/or ‘they get what they deserve’ and/or ‘white people should rule’, etc. Indifference is so cunning that we believe the charlatans who tell us what they are doing is not evil, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed tells us to take advantage of ‘those people’.

Even the phrase “the other” is an evil we have become indifferent to. There is no “other”, there is only another, we are all human beings made in the Image of God, all of us have infinite dignity and worth, all of us are unique and bring something different to the world. All of us are a “divine need” and a “divine reminder” as Rabbi Heschel reminds us elsewhere. Yet, our “indifference to evil” has become so “insidious" that even the people who are called “the other” have adopted this misnomer as their cause! Rabbi Heschel’s march for civil rights, his campaign against the Vietnam War, his going to the Vatican during Vatican II, all point to his unwillingness to allow “indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself” be true for him and for the millions of people he was standing with and for. We, the people, are called to care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the poor and the needy, it is demanded that we ransom the captive and we are commanded “when you encounter your enemy’s ox or ass wandering, you must take it back”(Exodus 23:4)! This is how much the Bible is aware of our propensity to “indifference to evil”.

We always have to be on guard against our “indifference to evil” and that of all human beings. We have to wake up and realize the disguises this evil takes, we need to be aware of it “lying in wait” for us, how it ambushes us and the cunningness of “indifference”. We are being called by Rabbi Heschel to remember our obligation to God, to our faith, to truth, to justice, to goodness, to kindness, to truth, to love. I hear him screaming in my head and in my ears to be aware of the myriad of lies we tell ourselves to cover up our “indifference to evil”, to mask the “insidious” nature of our “indifference” and ‘rest easily’ with the evil that is going on around us as “that’s just the way the world works”. NO, it isn’t the way the world is meant to work, NO it is not the ways of the Bible, the Koran, the New Testament-no matter what the Ayatollahs, the Imams, the Priests, the Ministers, the Rabbis, the far-right settlers, the far-left progressives say to make themselves right. It is time for people of faith to stand up and say NO to our practice of “indifference to evil”.

This is what the Recovery Revolution is all about; saying NO to “indifference”, saying YES to being aware, to making mistakes and repairing the damage, to seeking justice, truth, kindness, faith, goodness, to love. We are in a constant state of flux because we are always learning and growing, we are always uncovering and discovering old patterns and new ways of being. We practice our spiritual values and principles in all our affairs, which makes being indifferent, almost impossible.

I lived “indifference to evil is more insidious” for a long time, until my recovery, until my return to Judaism and decency. I can’t stand it now, in myself nor in another, I am afraid of it because it is another way to hide from God and from me. More tomorrow, God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark