Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 121
“Public safety was not merely the supreme law, as indeed it has remained, it was furthermore proclaimed as such; whereas today we should not dare to lay down the principle that it justifies injustice, even if we accept any particular consequence of that principle.” (God in Search of Man pg.373)
Immersing myself in these thoughts above has brought me to question what public safety truly is. I know the societal definition, anything that keeps order and the status quo, yet I have come to believe that public safety is totally dependent on how we treat one another. After the 10 sayings in Exodus, we are confronted with how to treat one another, the social ordinances that will create, nurture, grow and enhance our individual spirits and living as well as our communal spirit and living. Using this definition of public safety, I believe we can change the status quo to a way of being that is more compatible with being partners of the Divine, more compatible with our higher consciousness.
Leaning into radical amazement, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, is a “prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is”. To do this, we have to stop reverting to, falling back on our old ideas of “public safety”. We have to, as we learn in the Bible, respect the dignity of every human being, even those who are indentured servants. Today we have to respect employees by paying them living wages, making sure their working conditions are conducive to growth and health. We have to respect the people who are serving us in stores, offices, our outdoors, maintenance, etc. We have to end looking down our noses at people we are considering less than us, people we say are unskilled laborers. Have any of us tried to pick the fruit and vegetables from the fields in which they grow? Meeting and speaking with people from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and being a witness to their ground breaking agreement with Jon Esformes and Pacific Tomato Growers, I saw the difficulty, the skill, the care with which our fruits and vegetables are harvested and I know this is truly skilled labor. Yet, until Jon and Pacific signed their agreement, the other farmers in South Florida treated their laborers as less than human! Acknowledging their humanity, their dignity, ensuring good working conditions has contributed greatly to “public safety” in South Florida and for all of us who eat fruits and vegetables.
The entire Bible is about how to live as free people and live with one another no matter our differences. “Public safety” has to encompass these principles, not be used to validate cruelty, racism, “Jim Crow”. “Public safety” has to stop being used to validate mass incarceration, denial of Civil Rights, the killing of Emmett Till, the hanging of Black people for some trumped up charge. “Public safety” does not give license to people in power to gerrymander voting districts, make decisions about women’s reproductive choices, stop or it make incredibly difficult for people of color, poor people, people of a different party to vote. Yet, this catchall phrase is used to do so many of these horrifically demeaning and dehumanizing actions.
When we are in radical amazement, we are constantly aware of how much we have to learn, we are in awe of the surprise of living and we take nothing for granted. When we reach out our hands to help another person be freer, to help another person see their own infinite worth and dignity, when we let everyone around us know how much they matter, then differences of opinion are welcome and solutions are arrived at through conversations, through give and take, through a coming together of spirits to do what is the next right thing for this current situation. Living in radical amazement, letting go of our need to hide behind “public safety” as an excuse for injustice, brings us closer to taking our proper place as a co-creator with the divine to make our corner of the world a little better each day.
In recovery, we learn to hear the call of our higher power, our higher self, the call of another human being who is in need and those who want to reach out to us in joy. We let go of our suspicious tendencies to rejoice in the coming together of a group and/or another human being to raise our spirits, our hopes and help us achieve the dreams that God has in store for us.
I know that I have been a part of the status quo at times and I deeply regret it. I know I have fought against the status quo and I am grateful for the spirit and light, teachings and leadership of people who show me this path. I know that I have lost many of the battles against the status quo and I am grateful that I have not lost the “fire in the belly” to continue this fight against injustice in the name of “public safety” and continue to move the battle forward inch by inch. I believe we all can be freer each day and I know that radical amazement, gratitude, t’shuvah are the paths for me to achieve this goal. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark