Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 182
“The idea with which Judaism starts is not the realness of evil or the sinfulness of man but rather the wonder of creation and the ability of man to do the will of God. There is always an opportunity to do a mitsvah, and precious is life because at all times and in all places we are able to do His will. This is why despair is alien to Jewish faith.”(God in Search of Man pg.378)
Rabbi Heschel teaches us the importance and necessity of wonder. Radical amazement, wonder are foundation aspects of Rabbi Heschel’s way of living, being human. In the first sentence above, Rabbi Heschel is again reminding us of who we are as human beings, how to approach our living and the world: through “the wonder of creation” and our “ability to the will of God”. Given the state of our world today and throughout history, this is a radical philosophy and an enormous task.
Many clergy of all faiths, practitioners of different spiritual philosophies and disciplines dwell on “the realness of evil or the sinfulness of man” to our great detriment. We hear in our churches, temples, mosques, about how we are all sinners, that the ‘devil’ is out to get us, etc. Yet, Rabbi Heschel is reminding us to immerse ourselves in the Bible as it is written, not as some have interpreted it. There is no “original sin”, there is a sense of wonder that creation even happened, there is a sense of wonder that Adam/human was created and from these two creations, all else has followed. The world was created and evolved, as I read Genesis, Chapter 1, it is amazing that the world still exists and we haven’t, as of yet, destroyed it. We can/should be in radical amazement that from the first human, “male and female he created them both”, we are all descendants. Yet, so many of us focus on the missing the mark of Adam and Eve as proof of our sinfulness and the snake as the realness of evil while forgetting the “wonder of creation” and our ability “to the will of God.”
The importance of adopting Rabbi Heschel’s teaching is for us to let go of our need to point our fingers at someone else for being evil, for us to let go of our need to denigrate ourselves for our imperfections, for us to let go of our need to by into the deceptions and mendacity of another, for us to be enslaved to the lies we tell ourselves. Those who dwell on “the realness of evil or the sinfulness of man” are people who are trying to deny the true foundation of being human, they are using the vulnerabilities of the rest of us against us and to have power over us, they find scapegoats for evil, they accuse another(s) of the very sinfulness they are engaged in. Remember Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Orban, and so many others? And we, the people, go along with these lies, believe in the ‘sinfulness’ of abortion, the ‘sinfulness’ of equal rights for all human beings, the ‘sinfulness’ of gun control, the ‘sinfulness of welcoming the stranger, caring for the poor, the needy among us, etc. We do this because, I believe, the megaphone of these deceivers and misinterpreters of the Bible, is so loud and we are so vulnerable to self-deception and to being deceived.
When we begin each morning celebrating and being grateful for being alive this day, celebrating and being grateful for the miracle of the sun rising today, committing to emulate God’s compassion and faith in us so we can do the same with everyone we encounter today, we are living in wonder/radical amazement I believe. When we carry these commitments with us throughout the day, we are less susceptible to the lies and deceptions of another(s) and our own self-deceptions. Beginning and living each day from “the wonder of creation” and the “ability to do the will of God” gives a new vision and way of being each day. We call out the lies of the charlatans, we give voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless, we cure our “eye disease” of prejudice and see each human being with awe and knowing they are worthy of our dignity and assistance. We seek to enhance the “unalienable rights” of every human being without regard to race, creed, religion, ethnicity, prior bad acts. This is not to deny the “realness of evil or the sinfulness of man”, rather it is the antidote to our living in evil and sin, it is the response to the pull of these negativities.
In recovery I, and so many other people, have found gratitude and wonder to be essential foundational building blocks for a good life, a life of sobriety, recovery, decency, and joy. Each morning we thank God for this day, we commit to make the most of this day, we know we will err and with wonder and gratitude, commitment to living along spiritual lines, we will recognize our errors quicker, repair the damage sooner and not hide from anyone. We are able to live authentically and joyfully, knowing there is a solution to every challenge as long as we stay in wonder and do God’s will to the best of our ability. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark