Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 212
“The problem of living begins, in fact, in the way we deal with envy, greed, and pride. What is first at stake in the life of man is not the fact of sin, of the wrong and corrupt, but the neutral acts, the needs. Our possessions pose no less a problem than our passions. The primary task, therefore, is not how to deal with evil, but how to deal with the neutral, how to deal with needs.” (God in Search of Man pg. 383)
We are witnessing the wisdom and truth of the third sentence above, “our possessions” are, possibly, more of a problem than our passions, we have become more passionate about our possessions than we have about how to live in ways that are compatible with being God’s partner! When Harlan Crow responds to a question about his ‘friendship’ with Justice Clarence Thomas with the statement that if Thomas wasn’t a Justice, they probably would not be friends, we see the passion Crow has for his possessions and his power; he will make friends with a Black man while extolling dictators and loving Hitler, while believing in consolidating power.
We are witnesses to the tax cuts for rich and corporations that Republicans passed in 2017 which promised wealth for everyone in order for the ‘base’ to buy into it-and once again the Republicans were liars. We are witnesses to the lies they keep telling their constituents and voters and blame everything on ‘the democrats’ all the while looking to consolidate and safeguard their power and their possessions. We are witnesses to the rulings of the Supreme Court to favor rich, to favor dark money in politics from Corporations, to favor injustice when they will not stay an execution of an innocent man because “due process” was followed. We are witnesses to the myriad of draconian laws being passed in some States to make it harder for ‘those’ people to vote. We are witnesses to the denial of bodily freedom to women. We are witnesses to cruel and unusual actions towards young Black men by police. We are witnesses to mass shootings being the norm in our country and “you will not take my AR-15 away from me” being the rallying cry from politicians who are beholden to the gun lobby! The Republicans are passionate about their possessions all right, just not passionate about their fellow human beings, even their own constituents! The constituents are passionate about having power over their women, power to carry their guns and meekly go along with the lies and deceptions of their elected officials while wallowing in poverty, poor health conditions and options-this is how dangerous self-deception and mendacity is; it gets us to extol and support the very policies and actions that enshrine those in power and make our own lives worse. These childish, boorish, power-hungry despots have no concern for what is best for our country nor the majority-they are playing to their rich constituents and backers.
We are witnesses to the Democrats who are planning to vote against the debt-ceiling bill, calling it hostage taking, calling in ‘giving in to terrorists’. They are correct, this crisis has been caused by terrorists, it is a hostage negotiation, so what? When their is hostage taking, police, FBI and other agencies have hostage negotiators, should they not negotiate to free the hostages? In Iran we negotiated a hostage release, we have done the same with the Soviet Union-remember Gary Powers, we have done the same with Russia! These Democrats are playing for their crowd, they are not interested in what is best for our country-they are able to preen like spoiled children because there are enough votes to pass the legislation-rather than act like statesmen/women, rather than act like adults, they are excited to go in front of the cameras and display their loyalty to ‘progressive ideology’. They are being as childish and disloyal as their Republican counter-parts!
In recovery, we are aware that each possession comes with great responsibility. The more we amass, the more responsible. Rather than bemoan what is, we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those less fortunate- “there are no dues or fees for membership”, we welcome people and let them know we will love them until they can love themselves. We follow the teachings of the Bible, “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, “care for the stranger, the needy, the poor” with passion and fervor, we know that we have to change the narrative of life, ours and society’s to these passions, to these principles, to get out of the neutral, to stop with the lies and deceptions of self and another(s). We, in recovery, are forging a new path, one that on which we “trudge the road to happy destiny”, and one that is a beacon to those who want to deal with “the problem of living.” God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark