Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 108

“The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden on his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at man’s fierce greed. Frightful is the agony of man, no human voice can convey its full terror. Prophecy is the voice God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profound riches of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging in the prophet’s words…” (Essential Writings pg. 62)

The last two sentences above say it all. We, the People, make a decision each day to hear God “raging in the prophet’s words” or not. We get to choose a “form of living” each day. We are at a crossroad, a fork in the road each day-do we choose to live in God’s words, in the ways the prophets teach us or not. This is our daily conundrum and, as we can see from current events, we often fail to heed the way of the prophets, we ignore the “terror” of “the silent agony”, we abuse “the plundered poor” and we bow down to “the profound riches” that the powerful have.

We have ignored the terrorism of Iran and its proxies for far too long. We have ignored the terrorism of the extremists in Israel, in America, in Russia, throughout the world, foolishly thinking they would go away, it seems. People of ‘faith’ have ignored and misused the words of the Bible, the teachings of the prophets, the “raging” of God for our own brand of terrorism-winning at any and all costs. There is no moral equivalent between Hamas and the war in Gaza-full stop! The loss of any life is tragic-full stop! The war in Gaza is not of Israel’s making, however-it is a response to the terrorism of Oct. 7th 2023! I do not know of anyone who would gleefully live next door to a group of people who want to annihilate them, yet many people in America think that this is a good idea! We are witnessing a grand failure of humanity to hear and follow the words and deeds of the prophets, we are witnessing a grand failure to act in accordance with God’s “form of living”. Yet, we continually deceive ourselves into proclaiming we are living, speaking, and acting in God’s name, in the name of Allah, in the name of Jesus, etc. These self-deceptions, this buying into the deceptions of another increases “the silent agony” of “the plundered poor”, it adds power to the misguided responses to the terror and it gives strength to the “fierce greed” of humankind.

There is a better way for humanity to live, a nobler way for society to attain; live into the “crossing point of God and man.” This is not as difficult as it seems at first blush. It begins with a deep reading of the prophets’ words and actions. We get to relive the ways the people in power abused their power. We, like the prophets, can be “stunned at man’s/our fierce greed” and make a decision to change. Instead of terrorizing one another more with our lies, with our false accusations, we have the wherewithal to turn to truth, we have a pathway to repentance and redemption. We are capable of meeting God “face to face” in our prayers, in our studies, in our actions when we no longer seek excuses for our bad behaviors through using God, using false interpretations of the Bible, by blaming the victims, etc.

Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom and teaching above sends shivers up and down my spine, they pierce the armor that covers one’s soul and come as a welcome reminder of who we are as human beings. We can live in “a crossing point of God and man”, we are capable of hearing the rage in the prophets words as a rebuke, as a call to return to God and Godly ways. We can end the terrorism that we participate in and we can find refuge from the terrorism that is being perpetrated upon us. We can give voice to “the silent agony” and deal it rather than hide from it. We can be “stunned” into leaving our “fierce greed” and rejoice in what we have-God’s love, God’s belief in us, the care and concern of the prophets and our humanity, our dignity. The prophet came to us and “God is raging in the prophet’s words” not to terrorize us, rather to call us back. The prophets’ continually remind us that God wants our return, God accepts us back with love, God is willing to “heal our backsliding”, God knows our imperfections well and accepts us with them. The issue is our willingness to acknowledge our imperfections, our letting go of our “fierce greed”, our helping “the plundered poor”, no longer using “the profound riches of the world” for our selfish desires. Unfortunately, the way of the prophets, the “crossing point of God and man” is a “road less travelled” and we need to use the guidance of the prophets, of Rabbi Heschel, of Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Rev. King, Martin Buber, the Baal Shem Tov, the Bible itself to find it, of Rev. Barber, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, John Pavlovitz, Rev Cecil Murray, and all of their disciples to walk it and to be supported on this journey. The questions before us each and every day-which fork in the road are we going to take, what choices will we make at this “crossing point”?

Just as Jacob had a “dark night of the soul” as coined by St. John of the Cross, so too do each of us have at least one during our lifetime. It is a moment of surrender to the divine voice and a new awareness of purpose and passion. I had this for the first time in 1986 and have had many of these “nights” since then. Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom helps me navigate these blissful moments that allow me to live into the trembling awe of being human. I have failed to use the words of the prophets at times in these past 37+years and I have heeded them more often than not. I am unafraid to show my imperfections, I am willing to ‘be wrong’, I make my amends and I hear the prophets words pulsating within me. I have been accused of raging at times and some of these accusations are correct; what was unnoticed is that I did not rage for myself, rather I raged for people who were unable to hear the call of God, unwilling to face their own “dark night of the soul” and too terrified to let go of their acts of terrorism. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark