Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 2 Day 300

“The mind is never immune to “alien thoughts,” and there is no easy way of weeding them out. A hasidic rabbi, asked by his disciples in the last hours of his life whom they should choose as their master after his passing away, said:”If someone should give you advice on how to eradicate alien intentions, know he is not your master.””(God in Search of Man pg. 393/4)

Today is 9/11, 22 years after the Twin Towers went down, the Pentagon was attacked, and a plane of heroes died in Pennsylvania. Our country was challenged, attacked and we responded with unity of purpose, defending our democratic way of life. We didn’t do everything right, we discriminated against Muslims and lumped them all as terrorists, we went into Iraq with bad intelligence, we stayed too long in both places AND we brought together a coalition of nations to fight against the threat of “religious law”, we came together as a country to fight the “alien intentions” of false prophets of a Holy Tradition, we weeded out the “alien thoughts” of blame and shame to respond as a nation, as a world against terrorism. There is a generation growing up who doesn’t remember just being able to board a plane, doesn’t remember being certain of our safety, doesn’t remember not ‘being afraid of the stranger’, etc. It is sad that we have lost the ability to feel free and it is important for us to understand that certainty, safety were never real. Surety, power, safety, have always been a conventional notion and a mental cliche which has hindered growing in knowledge as Rabbi Heschel teaches. These are “alien thoughts” as the only safety is in our inner knowing, in our spiritual growth and this safety is the surety that whatever comes our way, we will be able to deal with, even if dealing with it is exile, as the Jews have done for over 2000 years.

Yet, we see over and over again how we fall back into willful blindness, into taking things for granted, into blaming someone else for our situations, rather than be responsible for our actions, be accepting of whatever comes our way, and having responses that come from our soul rather than the reactions of “alien thoughts”. Coco Gauff, the 19 year-old tennis sensation who just won the U.S. Open, is an example of one who finds a “way of weeding them out”. She talked herself out of the “alien thoughts” of negativity during her matches to reach the finals and then again in the finals. She focused her thoughts, her mind and spirit on the goal of winning, of doing the best she could and knowing that her best is good enough. In an interview I heard, this 19 year old sage expressed the spiritual truth that win or lose; life goes on, the people who love her are not leaving and all she can do is the best she can in the moment. We can all learn/relearn this lesson from her.

We also have to be aware of the “alien intentions” of the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11. We have to wake up and stop turning a blind eye to the “alien intentions” of those around us as well. The “alien intentions” of people, in power and who feel powerless, to make the majority subjugated to “christian nationalism”, to less freedom, to being indoctrinated into some form of being that resembles The Holy Roman Empire, a government that is authoritarian rather than democratic, a path of bastardizing the Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, etc, is growing because too many good people are remaining silent, being afraid to stand up and be counted, and we are allowing evil to flourish. This is true on a global level, in our own country, in our states, in our community and in our personal lives. The month of Elul is the opportunity, given to us by God, to examine our intentions, examine our thoughts, examine our actions and weed out the “alien intentions” and the “alien thoughts”.

This is the challenge I have accepted for the past 36 years, beginning in prison. I have not been totally successful, I have acted on my “alien thoughts” at times, less and less each year. I have not, however, allowed “alien intentions” to rule me, I have listened to guides and sponsors, loved ones and even those who haven’t loved me so much, in order to weed out “alien intentions”. I have studied Torah, I have prayed, I have immersed myself in Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom and brilliance to bring me back to proper intentions-aka serving God and another human being. I have not always been sweet and nice, I have tried and succeeded most of the time to be kind. I have been weeding out my “alien thoughts” that come about as of being hurt by people I have tried to help. I have never wanted to admit that I am hurt and this is an “alien thought” that has hurt me and many others. Being hurt is part of being human, just as being disappointed and disappointing another is, yet I didn’t want to show weakness because of the “alien thought” that showing hurt, weakness leaves me too vulnerable. I no longer believe this and I am sorry to the people I hurt by not being more vulnerable. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark