Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 322
“We must not underestimate the difficulties of moral living. It takes great courage, wisdom, defiance, and depth of faith to remain moral. We have been guilty of oversimplification. We maintain that virtue pays, we forget that vice pays more.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg 57/58)
Rabbi Heschel’s words are ringing throughout the land today. Our arrogance, our obliviousness, our self-deceptions and mendacity have hidden these “difficulties of moral living” so badly that many people have come to morality as immorality and visa versa. We are a country, a world where the words of the Prophets are ignored, forgotten, or bastardized to fit the particular immorality being espoused. We see this way of being in some of our religious institutions, in some of our elected officials, in some of our homes, schools, business’, etc and we are blind to the long-term consequences and we are so arrogant as to believe what history has taught us about immorality and its consequences won’t apply to us!
People complain about the verses in the Bible that speak about what will happen when the people Israel “goes astray” calling God “Vengeful” when in fact, Israel is told of the consequences of immoral behaviors in any and all facets of living, work/employment, worship/religion, governance/caring for the people around us. These verses are n-t “vengeful”, they are prophetic. Just as the prophetic words of Deuteronomy which caution us against following a “False Prophet” call to us to stay moral, just as Moses reminding us that we will not last if we give lip-service to moral behaviors while plotting how to be immoral, how to lie with a smile and destroy the goodness within another person, We, the People, have to be aware of the deceptions of another as well as the lies we tell ourselves about the ease of “moral living”.
In Germany, the religious right, the Catholic Church supported Hitler and the Nazis, and the ones that didn’t stayed silent as Martin Neimoller’s poem depicts: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” We saw Father Coughlin and other religious leaders support Hitler in the 1930’s with large gatherings of the German Bund at Madison Square Garden! We see the same type of support for MAGA, this time instead of Hitler, Trump and Musk are promoting Putin who we all know is the ‘most moral of men’-NOT! Yet Jews, Latinos, Blacks will vote for him because he is a liar who appeals to their lies, they are both immoral and get away with it so people think they will also, they spew hatred which appeals to the ‘downtrodden’ when Trump, Musk, and their cronies and thugs are “The Man” who has spread hatred and kept their knees on their necks! “The difficulties of moral living” are so vast and subtle, so nuanced and apparent, that most people are oblivious to them and believe the lies of liars to their own peril and ruin-just as the prophets, as Moses, as the Bible teaches and we fail to learn.
“It takes great courage, wisdom, defiance, and depth of faith to remain moral” is a truth that we underestimate often, precisely because we underestimate the “difficulties of moral living”. From Abraham till now, to be a moral human being has always taken these attributes and most of us ignore the necessity to develop our “courage” in the face of societal conventional notions, the necessity to develop our inner “wisdom” in the face of the societal pull to ‘be like everyone else’, to develop our “depth of faith” and “defiance” in the face of ‘religion-lite’ practices and teachings. We have lost the words and actions of our ancestors the prophets because the people entrusted with their teachings and models of behavior; the Rabbis, Priests, Ministers, Imams, have given into their own fears, have cozied up to the powers that be too much and have been co-opted by the bribes they have been given and the fears that overwhelmed them. The Rabbis who were killed by the Romans have been immortalized and their ways have been forgotten and or used as ways not to be courageous, defiant, faithful and wise because one could die from it. Rabbi Heschel, Rabbi Prinz, Rev King, the Berrigan Brothers all demonstrated these traits in calling out the immorality of Racism and of the Vietnam War. Rev Barber and others are calling out the immorality of Racism and poverty today and not being heard in the chambers of power as Rev King et al were in the 1960’s. Instead, Musk and Trump have more sway over the Republican elected officials than the needs and interests of their constituents! Instead of standing courageously and defiantly against the isolators who want control over women and their bodies, against the white supremacists who believe only white ‘christian' people should rule these elected officials, even Black, Jewish and Latino ones just go along to get along!
We, the People, have to stop looking the other way, we have to stop hiding our heads in the sand and we have to pull our heads out of our asses! The time is NOW, we have put up with the lies and deceptions for too long and we are at the tipping point-either we stand for Goodness, Truth, Kindness, Wisdom, and Faith in God’s ways or we surrender to the bullies, we go along with the deceivers, we relinquish our moral and spiritual heritage. It is not too late! Vote for decency and democracy, freedom and faith in the dignity and worth of every human being, vote from the divine image you are created in rather than the false ego, the evil that has been taught you. We can return to the goals of the Bible, we can get closer to the goals of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan- we are being called to exhibit the “courage, defiance, wisdom and depth of faith” we have within us.
I come from a poor family who lived these ways of “moral living” faithfully, no matter the outer cost to them. Decency and kindness were the only ways my grandfathers did business and raised their kids. We were taught to argue for truth and not to be right, to respect every person no matter their religion or skin color. Morality was the number 1 rule in our homes and it is #1 for me in my recovery. No matter the cost, I have done my best to live a moral life in all my affairs and to be satisfied no matter the outcome as long as I am moral. I am not perfect and it is what I strive for, I refuse to stay silent in the face of immorality and I ask you to listen to my podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f-your-feelings-with-rabbi-mark/id1587525986?i=1000674219137 or https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DIT7Ls3Gp8GM0mVooOXcK?si=970f92e0de55406c God Bless and stay safe and Moral, Rabbi Mark