Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 95

“Its aim is not to record history but rather to record the encounter of the divine and the human on the level of concrete living. Incomparably more important than all the beauty or wisdom that is bestowed upon our lives is the way it opens to man an understanding of what God means, of attaining holiness through justice, through simplicity of soul, through choice. Above all, it never ceases to proclaim that worship of God without justice to man is an abomination; that while man’s problem is God, God’s problem is man.” (God in Search of Man pls 243-244)

Today is Day 100 since Oct. 7, 2023 and there are still 136 Hostages being held by Hamas and their allies in Gaza. The world is doing nothing to bring them home, the world condemns Israel and celebrates Hamas, terrorism, and hostage taking. The world is holding a trial accusing Israel of genocide-a false claim-while giving a wink, a nod, and silent acquiesce to hostage taking and terrorism! These ‘good christian’, ‘devout muslim’, conservatives and their close allies on the progressive left have failed to hear, heed, read, act on Rabbi Heschel’s teaching: “above all, it never ceases to proclaim that worship of God without justice to man is an abomination;”. The ‘religious zealots’ in the Jewish faith are guilty of ignoring this truth, this wisdom as well. In fact, most people in the world are guilty of this “abomination”!

We have laws and rules, we have customs and rituals that have their roots in the Bible and we pay lip service to them rather than truly engage with them. We have lost our spiritual and moral compass’ while proclaiming our self-righteousness by blaming another person, another group, another nation of the things we too are guilty of. The 136 hostages still in captivity are a stain on the souls of every human being. The hostages being held in Russia are a stain on the souls of every human being. The people being enslaved in Afghanistan, Iran, China, the United States, and every other country because of their gender, their sexual identity, the color of their skin, etc are a stain on the souls of every human being. When will we say enough is enough?

We, the people, have to stand up for what is right and true. We, the people, have to tell Rashida Tliab, Ro Khanna, Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, their allies, our neighbors, family, friends, communities that being a Zionist is not a crime, that standing for justice and truth, compassion and freedom, is true in each and every instance in life. We, people of faith, have to call ourselves out, the people who claim to be ‘Bible-thumpers’, and those of ‘no faith’ when we claim to be “people of God”, when we claim to be “humanists”, and we either turn a blind eye to injustice and/or participate in actions that are unjust. Rabbi Heschel’s words and teaching above are demanding a calling to account for each and every one of us-not to make ourselves feel bad-rather to make ourselves aware of the injustices that we turn a blind eye to, the injustices we have deceived ourselves into believing are just, the unjust actions we take in willful blindness.

I use the term willful blindness because we are all aware of what is justice and what isn’t. The Bible teaches us “Tzedek, Tzedek, Tirdof” “Justice/Righteousness, Justice/Righteousness you shall pursue”. We have the Bible to point us in the direction of justice, to tell us what is both just and unjust, so we all know right from wrong, we are all able to discern what is true and just from what is false and unjust. Therefore, every human being who participates in, who is a silent witness to, injustice is turning a blind eye to the teachings of the Bible, purposely and willfully closing their eyes to the plight of another human being in favor of their own gain, their own fear, and the detriment of their own soul. Yet, we are all witnessing this willful blindness this “abomination” on a daily basis, some of us are defending it by saying Israel is bad, Joe Biden is wrong and bad for responding to attacks by the Houthis, Hamas, the terrorists, are good and right in their hostage taking, rocket firing, etc. All this while praying to Allah, praying to Jesus, praying to Buddha? This is not to whitewash the claims of injustice against the Israeli government, rather, this is to hold these officials, these ‘spiritual leaders’ to account along with the other charlatans and idolators in every other country. AND, Hamas and their allies, like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran, need to be held accountable for the senseless taking of human life they do themselves and they have caused the people of Gaza. Had Hamas returned the hostages, we may not have seen the devastation that has taken place, had Hamas not used people as human shields, we may not have seen the same number of casualties. Had the world not turned a blind eye to all of this, had the world not openly and totally accepted the words of terrorists and their allies in the UN, their allies of UN workers, we might have a real accounting of what is happening in Gaza.

In recovery, we recover what is just, we end the abominations we have caused and take responsibility for them, repairing the damage as best as we can, vowing to not repeat these injustices and be of service to all who suffer from the injustices of another human being/group. We dedicate ourselves to pursuing justice, we let go of our judgmental thoughts and “we seek to understand”. We engage in our personal inventories each and every day so we can continue to grow in righteousness, and we end our relationships with “abominations” and people who seek to be willfully blind, who seek to abuse the Bible, the Truth, in order to satisfy their own egos, their own selfishness, their own grab for power. This is the call and the response of living a life of recovering our humanity! Pray for the return of the Hostages NOW. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark