Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 100

“How is it conceivable that the divine should be contained in such brittle vessels as consonants and vowels? This question betrays the sin of our age: to treat lightly the ether which carries the light-waves of the spirit. What else is the capable of bringing man and man together over the distances in space and in time? Of all things on earth, words alone never die. They have so little matter and so much meaning.” (God in Search of Man pg. 244)

“Words alone never die” is proven by the fact that the Bible is still studied, argued about, used as a path, a guide and a source of accountability. We still recite, learn from and engage in the words of Cicero, Greek and Roman Mythology, Confucius, Sun-Tzu, as well as the words of Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses. The words of the prophets still disturb many of us and we seek to understand and live into the meaning and wisdom of their words. Words are direct and vague in the same moment. While we used to have a shared understanding of what words meant, what meaning they conveyed, even then we were taught the study of the Bible meant understanding anew each year the words being read because their meanings would deepen the more we grew spiritually. The same is true today regarding the Bible and, unfortunately, there are many people who read the Bible to validate unholy actions, to hide their ‘crimes and misdemeanors’ by quoting Scriptures. Many people have surrendered to these ‘religious’ people who are actually the most irreligious people around!

Rabbi Heschel’s teaching in the last two sentences above call to us to account for the ways we use the words of the Bible, the ways we use the words of the US Constitution, the ways we use the words of the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, the ways we use the words of the Koran, as well as the New Testament. I hear Rabbi Heschel reminding us that these words that are written be they from 3000 years ago or today, have tremendous meaning and we can never kill them! We may take them back, we may apologize for them, we may exalt them and we may promote them AND, they will never die, we can and must be judged by the words we say and believe, the meanings we put to our words and the use, abuse, misuse, etc we create with our words, the words of another and the words of history.

Banning books, teaching that slaves learned skills from their enslavement which helped them later in life, calling Jews vermin, perpetrators of genocide, extolling Hamas and the slaughter they committed on Oct. 7th, mistreating the stranger, the poor, the needy, women, non-white people and using the words of the Bible to validate these lies, these horrors will not be forgotten. Just as Lincoln was wrong about his words at Gettysburg, so too will these “brittle vessels” be remembered for time immemorial. We have to hold ourselves accountable for our words, we have to hold ourselves accountable for the actions our words produce both by us and by another(s). Words have power as well as meaning. The words of the Bible and every spiritual discipline are to help us lean into their ways of “bringing man and man together over distances in space and in time”. By engaging in the words of the Bible, the Koran, the New Testament, the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Cicero, the Big Book of AA, etc we are able to effect time travel and hurl ourselves through space to their times and use their wisdom and experiences to enhance our ways of living today. We are able to use the words of the prophets as measuring sticks of our own being human. Yet, we have to engage in their words, the words of our spiritual disciplines truthfully, without seeking for their words to validate what we want to do, what we are doing, rather it is for us to learn from the words of our ancestors and from our Spiritual Disciplines what actions we are to take, what ways of being we are to adopt and live into. Danny Siegel wrote: A Rebbi’s Proverb (From the Yiddish) “If you always assume the person sitting next to you is the Messiah waiting for some simple human kindness —You will soon come to weigh your words and watch your hands. And if the person chooses Not to be revealed In your time —It will not matter.” This is crucial for us and is, I believe, an affirmation of Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above, “to weigh your words” so our actions are in line with the divine call of the Bible and of every spiritual discipline.

In recovery, we are still reading and understanding the words of the Big Book of AA. We study it over and over again, seeking new meanings and new ways of being, engaging with the text to glean the wisdom and the eternal from it. We are constantly seeking the wisdom and guidance of the words of the people who began AA as well as from the stories of people who have been impacted by being in recovery. We come to practice “restraint of pen and tongue” and, as Harriet Rossetto(my wife and founder of Beit T’Shuvah) says: “a good relationship is measured by how many bite marks one has on their tongue”!

I am guilty of misusing words at times. I have allowed my passion to get the better of me and it has turned into what seems like anger. While it is really frustration, fear, it has come out as anger and I pray these are not the only words of mine that are remembered. I am deeply remorseful for the negative impact my words of anger have had on anyone and everyone. I pray the words of wisdom, the words of Torah that I have taught, spoken and live are remembered and used, and from Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom today-I know they will never die and this brings me comfort and respite. The words of Rabbi Heschel, that I am keeping alive and well within me, and hopefully, for you are words of hope and belief in the goodness of humanity, the power of the human spirit and our ability to grow and change. I am grateful for Rabbi Heschel’s faith in us, for God’s faith in us, for the people who uplift me and support me because their words of direction give me a path of return and a path of freedom. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark