Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 2 Day 230

“It is not by the rare act of greatness that character is determined, but by everyday actions, by a constant effort to rend our callousness. It is constancy that sanctifies. Judaism is an attempt to place all of life under the glory of ultimate significance, to relate all scattered actions to the One. Through the constant rhythm of prayers, disciplines, reminders, joys, man is taught not to forfeit his grandeur.” (God in Search of Man pg. 384)

Each day we have reminders and joys, we have sorrows and trials, and when we “stand firm” in the “flow” of life, in the ups and downs of living, we can learn how “not to forfeit our grandeur.” The choice is made clear by Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above. There are countless examples of people who have, through “prayers, disciplines, reminders, joys” learned “not to forfeit” the grandeur that is inherent in being human, in being a “divine need, divine reminder” as Rabbi Heschel teaches us in other writings. The issue for all of us humans is whether we are willing to accept the responsibility of our grandeur, whether we are willing to choose to “stand firm” in the “flow” of the “reminders, joys” or whether we will keep ignoring the calls to us of “Ayecha”, where are you, whether we will continue to repeat Adam and Eve’s error of hiding and blaming, living in the shame of disobedience or use our trials, sorrows, reminders, joys as opportunities to immerse ourselves more in our prayers, in our disciplines, “stand firmer” in the “flow” of the introspection and inner life maturity that these bring. It is a choice that has faced humankind forever and, it seems, with each generation it becomes more and more important to “choose life” rather than death, to choose awareness rather than obliviousness, to choose “standing firm” in the “flow” of growth rather than retreating to ‘the good old days” and retarding the march of progress.

Grandeur comes from the Latin word for grand which means “full-grown, great”. It denotes a splendor and magnificence, an impressiveness. In Hebrew the word is Tifferet, the ‘place’ in the Kabbalistic chart where wisdom and understanding meet, it is, in my understanding, our gut instinct, our souls’ knowledge. Yet, we humans continue to ignore our own grandeur, our souls’ knowledge for the sake of reason, for the sake of getting ahead, for the sake of power, and Rabbi Heschel’s words are easily ignored, discarded, argued against by these seemingly overpowering enemies of grandeur. We have come to understand grandeur as beauty rather than see the magnificence of being human, the impressiveness of service God, the splendor of introspection, change, growth. We are witnessing a resurgence of anti-semitism, racism, senseless hatred, authoritarianism, hubris, fear-mongering, in our country and our world. We are constantly hearing one person/group blame another for the ills of the world instead of recognizing the awe, wonder, grandeur of every human being. Rather than “stand firm” in the “flow” of living, rather than “stand firm” in the “flow” of learning, rather that “stand firm” in the “flow” of our spiritual and religious disciplines, many have decided to close the canon, decide they know ‘the only way’ to serve God, to serve our Constitution, etc. Hence, we have Supreme Court Justices accepting large ‘gifts’ from wealthy donors and then ruling on cases where they are involved or interested by-standers. We have Congresspeople deny the truth of Jan. 6, we have these same people spending time, resources, money to persecute their enemies, which are anyone not ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ of MAGAism.

Yesterday, we went to the Reagan Library and experienced the traveling Aushwitz exhibit. While we learned new things about this horrific time and place, we also were educated as to how it could happen, how it is happening even now. The exhibit is an exhausting experience both because of the subject and the enormity of the exhibit itself. It reminds me of the work to be done, it reminds me of how easy it is “to forfeit our grandeur” and how important it is to keep telling the stories of those who did forfeit their grandeur and the heroism of those who refused to. We have been watching “Shiny, Happy Faces”, about the IBLP, religious people who are training the next generation to only see the grandeur of men, to deny freedom and truth to everyone else, to become the backbone of the legal system, our political system, business in order to make the US a “christian nation” that, of course has no relationship to Christ’s teachings! We are witnessing the outpouring of support for Donald Trump and even those who now are calling him out, somewhat, they support his policies of unwelcoming the stranger, making being poor a crime, and seeing the grandeur of themselves and “their kind”. We have to call an end to this way of being, we have to use the myriad of examples of heroism shown by “Righteous Gentiles” during the Shoah. We have to honor our own grandeur and that of everyone by “standing firm” in the “flow” of God’s Will. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark