Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 2 Day 289

“The prophet complained, “They never put their heart into their prayers, but howl away for corn and wine beside their altars” (Hosea 7:14). According to the Book of Proverbs (11:20), “they that are perverse in the heart are an abomination to the Lord.” Yet the prophet seems to have realized how hard it is not to be perverse, not to be an abomination.The heart is deceitful above all things, It is exceedingly weak—who can know it?”(Jeremiah 17:9) (God in Search of Man pg 391)

Last week I heard John Kasich say that what we need in our country is a “spiritual revolution”. He was speaking about our current political climate, our current climate of violence, hatred, racism, anti-semitism, and the fact that the Republican Party’s first debate was about hatred, violence, etc. Yesterday I heard Clarence Jones, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s attorney and the person that helped write the “I have a Dream” speech say: “I am telling you that there's a level of violence, and there's a deep level of antisemitism in this country. I'm not trying to cry wolf. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just telling you what I see.” We are experiencing what the prophets saw and called out-the deceitful heart of human beings being acted out in real time, in our time, in all times.

The spiritual revolution that Mr. Kasich and Mr. Jones are speaking about is being ignored, is being co-opted by the “religious right”. We, the people, no matter what faith or non-faith we are a part of, need to stop being “they that are perverse in the heart”. Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke just prior to Dr. King at the March on Washington, said: “When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not '.the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.” Silence, unfortunately, is what is happening today as it did in the 1960’s, as it did at the times of the destructions of both Temples in Jerusalem, as it is in Israel. Not that people are not speaking out, not that legislation is not being proposed, it is the silence of some of the people in power, it is the silence that allows us to “go along to get along”, it is the silence of ‘thank God the anger isn’t directed towards me. This is how deep the deceitfulness and perverseness of our hearts runs. Where are the spiritual leaders, where are our elected officials who can deliver on “the promissory note” of the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, who can deliver on the “promissory note” of the spirit of our Constitution? They seem to be in short supply and this is the tragedy of our time as it has been the tragedy of all the times in history when men decided to stay silent while witnessing the destruction of freedom, witnessing and participating with the charlatans claiming to speak in God’s name. Is it any wonder people are leaving our Houses of Worship when they “speak in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion”, as Rabbi Heschel begins God in Search of Man with?

It is time for all of us to rise up, to speak up, to listen to the call of our souls, to listen to the calls of our neighbors crying out for justice, for freedom, for truth. The way to cure our diseases of perverseness, of deceitfulness, of heartlessness, is to speak truth to ourselves, listen to the truth of our souls, allow truth to defeat our petty and dangerous rationalizations. The way to cure our “exceedingly weak” heart is to surround ourselves with truth seekers, with “spiritual friends” who will help us “circumcise the foreskin of our heart”(Deut.10:16). The cure has to come from within, it has to begin with a willingness to seek out people of truth rather than surround ourselves with “People of the Lie” as M.Scott Peck speaks about in his book of the same name. Each time we give in to the perverseness and deceitfulness of our hearts and of the hearts of those around us, we become “people of the lie”! Judaism and recovery have a solution: T’Shuvah and Inventory. In both spiritual paths we are told to take inventory/do T’Shuvah each day, seeing where we are hitting the mark and where we are missing the mark. Our obligation is to enhance the good, repair the not so good, learn from both and “grow along spiritual lines”.

In this month of Elul, I realize my own surrender to the deceitfulness of my heart  at times. In my recovery, these times were much less and yet, they were more covert as well and no less harmful. I allowed myself to be deceived out of financial fears, aka keeping my job. I allowed my deceitful heart to be in charge because of a deep desire to be accepted and loved. Each time, I and many people suffered the consequences of my choices. I wasn’t aware of my deceitful heart until after the consequences fell. I also know thy myriad of times I did not give into the deception of my heart, I stood up for truth as I still do today. I am not silent, I will not be silenced. I will not stand by the anti-semitism, violence, racism, hatred being spewed by ‘good people’, by ‘spiritual leaders’, etc. Rabbi Heschel, Judaism, recovery will not let me buy into deception any more nor will they allow me to be silent. I pray they do the same for you. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark