Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 85
“The vigor and veracity its ideas are perceptible under the rust and batter of two millennia of debate and dogma; it does not fade in spite of theology nor collapse under abuse. The Bible is the perpetual motion of the spirit, its waves beating against man’s abrupt and steep shortcomings, its echo reaching into the blind alleys of his wrestling with despair.” (God in Search of Man pgs. 241-242).
I hear Rabbi Heschel’s desire to remind us and teach us to not allow ourselves to “fade in spite of theology nor collapse under abuse” in the words above. We have made theology whatever we want it to be, or we have made it into human’s interpretation of divine speech, of divine inspiration, of divine prophecy. Theology, translated from the Latin means “God’s words/writings” not our interpretation of it, not our twisting of God’s words for our power, prestige, benefit, status, etc. Priests were to teach how to make “God’s words/writings” alive and part of the foundation of everyone’s living. Of course this doesn’t mean there is only one way, rather, as I have hearing Rabbi Heschel this morning, “theology” is to be vibrant, a response to the challenges of today, a constant hearing, discerning and acting on God’s words as they impact us today-not the impact of the idolaters, not the impact of the deceivers, not the impact of the myriad of false prophets, not the Rabbis, Priests, Imams, Ministers who make a “theology” out of bastardizations of “God’s words, God’s writing” and substitute their own lies, treacheries, desecration of God’s Name. We see what they wrought, Hamas in Gaza, mistreatment of the people in the West Bank, Hezbollah, Iran, and so many other terrorists, Putin in Russia, Trump, Banyon, Jordan, Johnson, Abbott, DiSantis, and the rest of the RINO’s who claim to be the real Republicans, This is how insane it is when we allow the Bible, the Truth, the Words and Teachings of God to “fade” through false theology!
Rabbi Heschel is also reminding us that we; people of faith, people of truth, spiritual seekers, people in recovery, do not have to “collapse under abuse” no matter how much comes our way from the liars, the people who like to look good while they do wrong, from the self-righteous mendacious ‘religious’ leaders. We are capable of withstanding the abuse, standing up to the lies and the fake religious fervor of these grifters. Be it Smotreich, Ben-G’Vir, Netanyahu, Trump, Johnson, and all the rest of the Ministers, Priests, ‘good-christian’ folk, the Ayatollah, Sinwar, and the rest of the Hamas leaders, the people of Qatar and the Arab world who wrap themselves in robes and promote anti-semitism, anti-western attitudes and send their kids to universities in America, England, France, etc. all have the same thing in common-Abusing the Bible, Abusing the words and thoughts, teachings and commandments of God! Yet, the Bible “does not fade in spite of theology nor collapse under abuse”!!(bold is my addition)
This is what is so important about joining the Recovery Revolution! We don’t have a theology that is abusive, we don’t have a dogma that makes everyone walk in lock-step, we don’t have a one-size fits all mentality. We seek to find new insights and clean out our ears to hear God’s words clearer and better, we seek to clean our our minds so we can ‘understand’ God’s words/writings with an openness of heart and spirit that controls our out-sized ego and our desire for prestige and power. We are constantly seeking advice, direction, studying with one another to ensure that our minds don’t wander, our emotions don’t overwhelm us and our souls, our spirits continue to lead us. We are committed to not abusing anyone with “god’s words” which are actually our lies. We are committed to standing up for the people God tells us to; the widow, the orphan, the poor, the needy, the stranger-i.e the most vulnerable in our midst. We, like the stories of Elijah, do not reject anyone who has a desire to change, not has already made the change, only has a desire to change. This is how we prevent abuse and fading of God’s words.
Today is the 58th Yahrzeit of my father’s death. Last Shabbat was the 51st Yahrzeit of Rabbi Heschel’s death. I am thinking about them both, as I do everyday, and today I am understanding the wisdom of my father a little better through this teaching. While not considered a ‘religious’ man, my father heard and understood “God’s writings/words” viscerally and lived them to the best of his ability. Not only did he live them, he taught them to his children and, by extension through us, to his grandchildren. No matter how poor we were, we gave Tzedakah at Hebrew School and we all knew we could not spend the money for charity on anything else-we have to give it away. He taught us to do our best and our best always changes-all we have to be able to do is look him in the eyes and say we did the best we could and together, we would figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. No amount of bullshit, no amount of riches and/or rewards could convince my father to lower his morality, to waver from his North Star of Godliness, of decency, of seeing every human being with dignity and value. He didn’t march with Martin Luther King Jr.-he made sure Black men and women got paid the same wages as white men and women for the same jobs-an act of blasphemy in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950’s. He didn’t know how to “daven”, he made sure his children did. He wasn’t rich and he made sure his parents never went without. He was a brother, a son, a father, a husband, a friend, a confidant and he was imperfect like all of us. Yet, he never collapsed under the abuse of anti-Semitism he received in the Army and in the work place, he did not collapse when he pointed out errors to people and they tried to heap abuse, punishment upon him. He did not fade in spite of the lies people told about life, about God, about how to treat one another, about what the Bible said. My father, Jerry Borovitz, is still my North Star and Rabbi Heschel is my teacher and guide on my journey to truth, to strength, to light and to joy. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark