Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 203
“The problem of living does not begin with the question of how to take care of the rascals, of how to prevent delinquency or hideous crimes. The problem of living begins with the realization that all of us blunder in our dealings with our fellow man. The silent atrocities, the secret scandals, which no law can prevent, are the true seat of moral infection.” (God in Search of Man pg.383)
We are in the throes of a moral infection, a moral pandemic if you will, right now. We have so many events bombarding our sense of morality, our sense of spirituality, our sense of what being human actually entails. While it is both fair game and an easy target to rail about the politicians who want to bastardize the word of God, who want to be as unmerciful, unwelcoming, unholy as possible while wrapping themselves in the flag of the US and in the name of Christ, it is more important, correct, and holy to look at us, the people who have empowered them, the people who support them, the people who have been either willfully blind to them and/or indifferent to what they were/are doing.
It is time for us to engage in some redemptive inner work, whether you call it confession, t’shuvah, amends, or some other practice, and we have to do it throughly, fearlessly, in truth, transparency, and authentically. We have to take the blinders off, we have to stop our indifference, stop making our self more important than God’s will, than the plight of another human being, than the fate of our democracy. The experiment called the United States is only 247 years old, it has so many possibilities for growth and we, the people should not be indifferent to what so many have given so we can be free, or at least freer than any other country on earth. Yet, we, the people, have been asleep while some autocrats, some wealthy people, some liars and deceivers have been at work to undermine our morality, to undermine our freedoms, to undermine our ability to discern that we have a moral infection.
We have been asleep for a long time and did not watch what was happening with our Supreme Court and our laws. We have been blind to what the far right, the UnChristian Right, UnChristian Nation, UnAmerica Firsts, have been planning and implementing to stop free and fair elections, to end a woman’s right to choose, to deny freedom of expression to anyone not like them. We have been indifferent to the calls for moral leadership, for spiritual practices to be lived out, for congruence between our faith and our actions, for adherence to our constitution rather than a dismantling of same. We have been indifferent to the calls and cries of those less fortunate, we have been deaf to the screams of the powerless and voiceless, we have been too busy ‘getting ahead’ to care for the stranger, the poor, the widow, the orphan, the needy. We have abdicated our morals and contributed to the “moral infection” that is pandemic size right now.
It is not too late, however, to admit our wrongs, to do the t’shuvah, the confession, the amends to reset our compass, morally and spiritually. It is not too late to take off the blinders we have worn so comfortably, it is not too late to shake off the indifference we have engaged in. It is not too late to get into action. Rabbi Heschel teaches “A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of faith”, because as we all know, “faith without works is dead”. We have to respond to the call of God that we hear through our prayers and meditations, the call of God we hear through our study of Rabbi Heschel, Rev King, St.Francis, Pastor Niebuhr, the prophets, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed. We have to respond to the call of God that we hear from the poor, the needy, the stranger, the powerless, the voiceless. These are the “leaps of action” that are needed right now. It is time to take our own inventory instead of taking someone else’s. It is time to make amends for our part instead of blaming someone else. It is time for us to repair the damage to our souls, to our spiritual health and repair the damage we have done to another’s soul. It is time!
In my recovery, living into the principles of recovery, I find the nuances of my actions becoming clearer and clearer. I do not blame anyone for my life, I do give a lot of credit for what I do well to God, to Rabbi Heschel, to Dr. Susannah Heschel to my father, to the teachings of Torah, to Rabbi Feinstein, to my family, to Harriet. I continue to spread the word through my teaching, my living, my being of service. I also do not blame anyone else for anything ‘bad’ that has happened to me, I own my part, do my t’shuvah, and pray for those people that need me to be ‘the bad guy’. I ask God and another for forgiveness each day, I heal my “moral infection” each day through this writing and I am grateful to all who read and hear me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark