Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 186
“It is true that the commandment to be holy is exorbitant, and that our constant failures and transgressions fill us with contrition and grief. Yet we are never lost. We are the sons of Abraham. Despite all faults, failures, and sins, we remain parts of the Covenant.” (God in Search of Man pg. 378)
Rabbi Heschel’s declaration and reminder to us: “Yet we are never lost. We are the sons of Abraham” is to bring us back to the reality within which we ought to be living. We are all children of Abraham, descendants of Adam, no matter what western faith we follow, no matter which Eastern discipline we adhere to, no matter which spiritual paths we practice, no matter even if we deny all spiritual practice and faith! “We are never lost” no matter how many times we fail, no matter how many times we transgress, we are not lost according to Rabbi Heschel.
Yet, we know when we have gone off the path of the holy, the good. We are acutely aware of when we have colluded with evil, with the deception of self and another(s) to “get ahead” all the while falling behind in our quest for inner peace. Being children of Abraham is telling us that we have the power and the possibility to return to a path of being holy, a path of decency, a path of truth, a path of love, a path of non-compete with another unique soul and a path of living authentically our self, our divine task, our joyous gifts and being part of a community to which we belong rather than have to fit in.
Rabbi Heschel is giving us a new way to understand ourselves and one another. Rather than shunning those of us who have forgotten we are all children of Abraham, rather than living in the shame of “failures and transgressions”, Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom and teaching gives us a new paradigm to understand ourselves and one another. Shunning is not going to help anyone! Locking them up and throwing away the key doesn’t serve God nor anyone society. Fighting the “woke wars” of DeSantis, Greene, et al isn’t going to give any of us surety nor safety. Yet, rather than understand, incorporate and live into Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom, these mendacious ‘god-fearing’ men and women and their clergy are using being a child of Abraham as a club against other children of Abraham. No where in Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom teaching above do we hear anything about an individual or a small group. The use of the plural WE, is to teach us to stop believing we are the only ones who “know”. We, the ones who have swallowed the ‘red pill’ as Jeff Sharlet writes about in his book, Undertow, are the true children of Abraham and the rest of us are imposters, and other such nonsense. Rabbi Heschel is calling out to us to remember that even when we fail and when we transgress(screw up), we are still in the world, we are still on a path, we are still part of Abraham, we are still worthy, we are still valuable, needed, loved.
The myriad of ways so many of us think about being lost, being alone, being despondent over life’s travails, are anathema to Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above. I am struck with how often I have used the language of being lost, of losing rather than experiencing God’s guidance, people reaching out, a new way of seeing what is, etc. Lost, alone, despondent are all ways of reacting to the world through our mental process’ and emotional lives. We have, as Eastern teaching as well as Jewish wisdom teach, become attached to the suffering, attached to the ‘winning’, attached to the various emotional states we cycle through and get stuck in some. This place of being stuck gives us the illusion that we are lost, that we are failures and transgressors rather than the truth: we fail at times, we transgress, we take our eyes off the road in moments, AND we are not failures, we are not “sinners” beyond repair, we are not lost and we are have a lineage of love and kindness to follow and enhance.
In recovery, we readily admit our imperfections and find ways to improve without needing perfection. We accept God’s love, forgiveness, embrace through our interactions with our brothers and sisters in recovery. We constantly see our failures and transgressions as opportunities to move forward, to learn and to grow. In recovery, we know we are home, we are not lost, and we are belong.
I am in awe of Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom, all the time, and certainly today. Realizing that I have a heritage that can guide me, an imperfect patriarch and matriarch, a history of failing and getting up, a history of transgressions and Tshuvah/amends, being forgiven by God and another(s) and forgiving everyone who has hurt me, failed me,(at least in my experience and understanding) gives me hope and knowing that I am never lost, I always have a path inside of me to follow, a path that another(s) can help me find and get back on, gives me hope and strength to persevere. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark