Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 194
“The more deeply immersed I become in the thinking of the prophets, the more powerfully it became clear to me what the lives of the prophets sought to convey: that morally speaking there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings. It also became clear to me that in regard to cruelties committed in the name of a free society, some are guilty while all our responsible.” (Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity pg. 225)
While it is true that no one person can alleviate all of the “suffering of human beings”, I am hearing Rabbi Heschel’s description of “what the lives of the prophets sought to convey”: we all have to have concern for human suffering, we all must “feel for” human suffering. This concern and feeling will, hopefully, move us to alleviate the suffering in our midst, the suffering we are able to, and engage with community to eliminate the root causes of suffering. If not eliminate, at least mediate and lessen these root causes. “The suffering of human beings” has been with us forever, I believe and the Torah’s compassion for this suffering comes through over and over again. King David is called to account for adding to the suffering regarding his having Uriah killed, Abraham is lauded for his hospitality and openness to helping strangers and family alike. Jesus lives among the poorest and the most suffering.
Yet today, we seem to only care about our own individual suffering, we seem to have paramount concern for our self, our wants and desires, we have forgotten that Moses was sent to Pharaoh to redeem the slaves, we seem to have forgotten that Amalek is always waiting to attack us in our weakest spots, to surprise us and pick off the stragglers. Rather than having “no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings”, we seem to have no limit to our concern for self-interest, no limit to our appetite for ‘getting ours’, no limit to our self-deception, no limit as to how much pain we can inflict on those less fortunate, no limit to which we will not go to become Pharaoh, to be the authoritarian, to stop the freedom train. We see this in the discourse that people have, in the fact that there are no longer discussions/conversations, just dictates and talking past one another. We see this in the ways States are passing laws that ban freedoms that were fought for earlier for women, for minorities, for sexual orientation, etc. We see how people are willing to go against their self-interest in order to keep ‘the status quo’. We listen to the rhetoric about the “founding fathers” and rather than see their own incongruence; all men are created equal and I own slaves; and repair their wrongs, some people are intent on promoting their incongruence as a good thing and something we should follow. I wonder if these same people would support Britain going back to a monarchy as it was before the Magna Carta, if they would support the Russian Revolution. We know that many of these people support the policies of Hitler and the Nazis, as evidenced by their support of white supremacy and white supremacists.
While the ‘good old days’ of the 60’s and 70’s were not so good, while we made some strides and then got co-opted as Harry Belafonte, z”l, taught us, we were in the fight then, we marched against hatred and prejudice, we marched against war, we marched against “America love it or leave it”, we believed in and did our best to promote the “American Dream” of democracy and freedom for all. We are the “land of the free and the home of the brave”, for some and we have to be brave enough to expand freedom for and to all people of our nation. We can only do this when we are willing to see “the suffering of human beings” in our midst, when we are willing to acknowledge our own human suffering.
In recovery, we “made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God, as we understand God”. This decision for most of us is homecoming, it is our statement that we belong, it is a decision to be part of the human community as well as the recovery community. It is an action not of faith as much as commitment to “living these principles in all our affairs”. It is the foundation of our plan to “feel the suffering of human beings” and to be concerned about the suffering, the negativity, the enslavement in our midst. It is our covenant to stop engaging in activities that cause these problems and be part of the solution.l
I am well aware that I have and do cause my fair share of suffering. I also have “no limit to the concern” I “feel for the suffering of human beings.” I know that both of these statements are true. I work on my foibles daily so I not only feel the suffering of another(s), I do something about it. I have a good track record in doing something to relieve a piece of the suffering in our midst and I have to improve. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark