Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 181
“Jewish tradition, though conscious of the perils and pitfalls of existence is a constant reminder of the grand and everlasting opportunities to do the good. We are taught to love life in this world because of the possibilities of charity and sanctity, because of the many ways open to us in which to serve the Lord.”More precious than all of life in the world to come is a single hour life on earth-an hour of repentance and good deeds.”(Avot 4:17)(God in Search of Man pg.377-8)
Today is Israel Remembrance Day, we remember the soldiers who have died in the battle to form and keep the State of Israel. They gave “the last full measure” of their lives to keep a dream alive, to make the dream of statehood alive for the Jewish People. They acted in concert with “the grand and everlasting opportunities to do the good.” We, the beneficiaries of their sacrifices, have to honor their service by keeping the dream alive through expanding the democratic State of Israel. We have to take the actions that move us towards serving God, towards helping one another, towards seeing every individual as a divine reminder, towards being more charitable.Today, in the United States, we are facing the same challenge, as we have since 1789 when the US Constitution went into force. The ‘christian nation’ people are not acting as Christ would have them, the Supreme Court is acting more like a theocracy than a judicial body, the Congress is acting as opponents on a battlefield rather than a legislative body for all the people of this country.
What is the solution? Rabbi Heschel is offering one to us in the last sentence above. He quotes Rabbi Jacob from a part of the Talmud called: Avot, also know as Ethics of the Fathers, the only non-legally binding tractate of the Talmud. The solution is in “repentance and good deeds.” I have said this before and I say it again: we need a national day of repentance! This country, Israel, the world needs to take inventory of the ways we have missed the mark in fulfilling the promise of freedom, of democracy, of caring for one another, of being charitable rather than mean, of raising our standard of living to be more compatible with being a partner of God. We need to weep and mourn for the myriad of opportunities we have missed, the myriad of ways we have ignored our duty to serve rather than be served, the myriad of ways we have given into selfish desires and self-deception, the myriad of ways we have allowed ourselves to be deceived by the charlatans and liars in the media, in politics, in our religious institutions, in our homes, etc. It is high time for us to acknowledge our participation in the retardation of the promises of our Constitution, of the Israel Independence Document, of the Torah, the Bible, the New Testament, etc. We have to be responsible for our part, our actions before we can change, we have to accept our errors, learn from them and have a plan on how not to fall into them again.
Once we have repented for our errors, our missing the mark, we are able to move forward. Just as our good deeds do not cancel out our missing the marks, our errors do not cancel out our good deeds. Once we have done our T’Shuvah, amends, repentance, we can set our sights and our plans on how to live into the good deeds we are capable of, meant to do, and, truth be told, our souls are yearning to participate in. Doing “good deeds” is the spiritual solution to our hunger for connection, our hunger for ‘inner peace’, our response to God’s challenges and demands. In doing “good deeds” we are fulfilling a basic human need, the need to be needed, the need to be of service, the need to live with passion and purpose, the need to live a life of meaning. We cannot get here without a deep commitment to the here and now, without an awareness to our intrinsic worth and dignity, the intrinsic worth and dignity of every human being, without seeking the joy of being alive with possibilities to help another, to further the dream of the Bible, the dream of freedom, the dream of a covenantal life.
This is the life I have dreamed about forever. Yet, without being in recovery I could never approach it. In recovery, I have found repentance to be a strength for me, a way of being that helps me grow, be responsible, be vulnerable, and, at times, be subject to another using my vulnerabilities against me. What I have learned is that what someone else does is their business, I have to be right with me and with God and the people who know me and whom I know. I can’t worry about what someone else does with my admitting my errors. I also know that my plans for doing good are enhanced with each T’Shuvah I make because I lift one more piece of Shmutz off of me and my soul shines brighter and I hear it’s call louder and clearer. Each repentance and each good deed helps me move closer to hearing and experiencing Sinai, receiving God’s direction. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark