Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 2 Day 259
“In addition to our being uncertain of whether our motivation prior to the act is pure, and to our being embarrassed during the act by “alien thoughts,” one is not even safe after the act. We are urged by Jewish tradition to conceal from others our acts of charity;(Mishnah Shekalim 5,6) but are we able to conceal them from ourselves? Are we able to overcome the danger of pride, self-righteousness, vanity, and the sense of superiority, derived from what are supposed to be acts of dedication to God?”(God in Search of Man pg.388)
Rabbi Heschel is calling to our attention one of the greatest dangers we face each and every day. We all fall prey to “the danger of pride, self-righteousness, vanity and the sense of superiority” to a greater or lessor degree. When we do things that could warrant these dangers we have some safeguard for falling too far into them; namely, our sense of embarrassment from our “alien thoughts”, our memory of our motivation and a commitment to remember whom we are serving, another human being and God and trusted people to help keep us on the right path and get back on when we drift.
We are witnessing, participating in, and being subjected to “the danger of pride, self-righteousness, vanity and the sense of superiority” from people who continue to seek power for its own sake, act cruelly for the sake of cruelty, extol their evil acts as good ones, who constantly seek to publicize their greatness just to please themselves, rather than to motivate others to do the next right thing. We see this in Israel with the latest attack on democracy by Netanyahu and his far-right wing co-conspirators who want to have rule and dominion over everyone else and run rampant over freedom, even though they purport to be ‘religious’. Of course we have Jim (I never saw my friend molest those wrestlers nor heard about it) Jordan, Kevin (who’s tuchus do I have to kiss to keep my speakership) McCarthy, Marjorie (I never saw a truth I couldn’t manipulate) Taylor Greene, and so many of their cronies proclaim their heist of democratic values and principles, their bastardizing the very constitution our founding fathers fought and died for, with great zeal and pleasure. Like in Israel, the far-right has taken over the Supreme Court and expect “their judges” to shield them from any liability and allow them and their wealthy donors do as they please and say this is the way to “proclaim liberty throughout the land and to” some “of its inhabitants thereof”.
How difficult is it to raise money for charity when you don’t publicize the donor? We use the names of people who are influential and important in our communities to influence people to give to the charity of our choice. Some donors have not learned from Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom; they believe their donations give them the right to tell the professionals how to do things, they believe their charity infuses them with even more pride than they had prior to giving and expect the charity to serve them instead of them serving it! So many people begin to believe they have something coming because of their charitable actions, some are so self-righteous they believe they are the experts as to how to run the charitable organization better than the founders and the people who are working to make their corner of the world a better place. They are so full of vanity (read emptiness) they need to exert power over people to do what they want instead of helping the institution further their mission to the most vulnerable. They are so full of a sense of superiority that when questioned or they experience pushback, they threaten to take their money away and, effectively, blackmail the institution into doing it ‘their way’.
While the Anonymous in AA was/is to shield the person seeking recovery from being identified so as to not cause shame, notoriety, etc; we also stay anonymous in our good deeds as much as possible. We know we should only publicize what we are doing when it will serve God and another(s) human being. We work hard to stay right-sized, “we are but trusted servants” “we do not govern” are watch phrases for us and embedded into every meeting and every bit of service we engage in. It is a task that none of us are perfect in and we do the best we can each day to lessen the pride, etc from our daily living.
I am guilty of failing to heed Rabbi Heschel’s warnings at times. I have been self-righteous and prideful, I have engaged in an inner sense of superiority, and each time, God sends me a reminder in the form of some awakening; usually a difficult one. While I have been vilified for so long for the past errors, I also know how often I have not engaged in these “alien thoughts” after the action. I am grateful that God, Rabbi Heschel, AA, my trusted advisors help me stay right-sized and tell me when I am not. I am sorry for the people harmed when I have been out of proper measure, not been right-sized, and, as we approach Tisha B’Av, I ask for forgiveness and mercy, as I forgive those who have harmed me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark