Daily Life Lessons From Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 96

“The Bible is holiness in words. To the man of our age nothing is as familiar and trite as words. Of all things they are the cheapest, most abused and least esteemed. They are the objects of perpetual defilement.”(God in Search of Man pg. 244)

Today is Martin Luther King Day and we celebrate this good friend of Rabbi Heschel’s spirit, deeds and words. Rev. King’s belief in the dignity of all people is essential for us to adopt/re-adopt as it is perfect harmony with Rabbi Heschel’s beliefs and actions, I believe. While his words and actions are being used by both sides in the war in the Middle East, it is important to heed the wisdom of Rabbi Heschel above: let us no longer make the words we use, “trite”, we need to stop making the words of the Bible  “the cheapest, most abused, and least esteemed.”

Both Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel marched for, worked for and lived the words of the Bible to have true meaning, to envelop us all in acts of holiness, in ways of peace, in actions of kindness and dignity. While the world rails against Israel and Jews for defending itself from Hamas’ attacks and hostage taking, while some in Israel call for destroying Gaza and pushing the people of Gaza out of their land, while some on both sides call for the destruction of Jews and Arabs living side by side, the words above and the actions of Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel demand we, the people, do the opposite.

It is high time for the leadership of America in the House of Representatives and the Senate, in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, for the leadership in Israel, in Russia, in the Arab world and in Ukraine to heed Rabbi Heschel’s words and the words of Rev. King. It is time for all of us to stop using words for our own agendas and use the worlds of the Bible for their original intent: to raise us all up to live into the the holiness in words that the Bible provides for us. Be it Bibi or Mike Johnson, MBS or Putin, Tliab or Haley, all of us have to end our “eye disease” of prejudice to the ‘rightness’ of our opinions. We have to end our ‘need to be right’ and our denigration of anyone who disagrees with us. Our world, our freedom, our souls are in desperate need of hearing and acting on Rev. King’s “dream speech” and Rabbi Heschel’s teachings and wisdom.

Advertising executives, spin doctors in the political world, salespeople and common folk like us have taken the Bible and turned the “holiness in words” into ways of idolatry. Rabbi Heschel, in his introduction of Rev. King to the Rabbinical Assembly in March of 1968, reminds us “Where does God dwell in America today?….Is He not rather with the poor and the contrite in the slums?…Where in America do we hear a voice like the prophets of Israel? Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America.”(Essential Writings, pg.84). Yet, we still fail to heed Dr. King’s words; both sides in any conflict misuse and abuse his words, his spirit to ‘prover’ their claims, to ‘validate’ their lies, to make “trite” the words of another and their own. Rather than raise our words and actions to the level of Biblical thought and direction, as Dr. King did and encouraged all of us to do, today people use his words and dreams, his aspirations and his prophecy to denigrate one another, to defile the dignity of one another, to bastardize the “holiness in words” that the Bible is.

Be it in the halls of Congress, on the campaign trail, in our cities and streets, in the Ukraine, in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem, in Riyadh, in Qatar, in Tehran, in Moscow, wherever, it is time for all of us to demand a return to living into the “holiness in words” of the Bible. It is time to end our “perpetual defilement” of the Bible’s words and teachings. It is time to hearken to the voice, the words, the calls of Rabbi Heschel and Dr. King to see every human being as a divine image, to respect the dignity and worth of every human soul, to end our need to enslave another for our sense of worth, to let go of our unholy desires to abuse another human being for our ‘betterment’. It is time for us to end our incessant need to conquer another group of people so they can ‘serve’ us, it is high time for us to stop using “The Bible is holiness in words” for our selfish desires, and use the Bible to serve God, to serve “the poor and the contrite in the slums”. It is time for us to, paraphrasing President Kennedy; ask not what God can do for you, ask not what the Bible can do for you, ask what can you do for God, what can you do to live the “holiness in words” the Bible gives us.

Living into the words of the Bible, no longer making them “trite” no longer making them “the cheapest, most abused and least esteemed” of all things is the goal and the path of recovery. Whether one lives the words of the Big Book of AA, the Biggest Book called the Bible, the words, wisdom, ways of Buddhism, etc all of us in recovery are letting go of our need to bastardize words, concepts, old ideas and cheapen our ways of living any more. We believe not only in the holiness in words”, we know we have to take these words, make them our own and live them in all of our affairs. We no longer blame another, we take responsibility for our part, we no longer reject people on sight, we welcome all who have “a desire to stop” being indecent, unapproachable, disdaining, hating, stereotyping, prejudice. Everyone needs to be in recovery, everyone needs to heed the calls and demands of Rabbi Heschel, Dr. King, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob.

I have been a fan of Dr. King’s since 1955 when my father introduced me to prejudice and how to combat it-through kindness and recognizing the value and dignity of all people, of looking at the soul, the heart of another not their skin color. Dr. King’s dream is still unrealized here and all over the world. Yet, I work to bring it to reality one grain of sand more each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark