Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 350
“We maintain that just as it its important for a person to select a particular objective for his own life, such as a career, it is important for him to live in the awareness of a meaning which transcends all particular objectives, the loyalty to which is ultimately even more important than the success and failure in the pursuit of his particular objective.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.64)
The beauty of Judaism is that it doesn’t deny our personal objectives, it doesn’t say wanting sex is bad, wanting to succeed is bad, pleasing one’s personal desires is bad, it does say that our pleasures have to coincide with an “awareness of a meaning which transcends all particular objectives”. We are being called upon to live in two worlds, the world of physical satisfaction and spiritual sustenance and joy.
In our pursuit of our “particular objective”, we have to remember the commentary of the Ramban-Moses Nachmanides-saying that a person could “be a scoundrel within the bounds of Torah”. We have to satisfy our “particular objective” and our physical desires and never be a “scoundrel” in doing so. We cannot take unfair advantage of another person in our pursuit of our “particular objective” because doing so would deny our “loyalty” to “a meaning which transcends all particular objectives”. We are called to live our lives being loyal to both our authentic self, desires and needs as well as a calling that is higher than the one for self. What an order! And, without doing both, we are just shells of human beings-by only concerning ourselves with the transcendent, we neglect the personal for ourselves and miss opportunities to help another-by only concerning ourselves with the personal, we neglect the higher calling which is constantly nagging us in our inner life, in our soul. By living in only one realm, we are constantly being pulled in the other direction and without living in proper measure, we find ourselves living on the edges of the extremes, being less than human.
Today is Thanksgiving in America, a day fraught with good and not good memories. The story of the Pilgrims is a nice one and makes us feel good yet, the ways we treated Native Americans then and how we treat them now is disgusting and degrading. Rather than have an “awareness of a meaning which transcends all particular objectives” the Pilgrims and their descendants only cared for their “particular objective” and killed, massacred tens of thousands of Native Americans in their thirst for land, control and power. While the Native Americans lived into their “loyalty” of their “awareness”, these fine “christian” folk did not. They were not loyal in their dealings with Native Americans, nor did they fulfill their duty to have “the loyalty to which is ultimately more important that the success and failure in the pursuit of his particular objective.” We are still unable to learn and live into the truth of Rabbi Heschel’s words above, we are still unable to live into the words, actions and deeds called for by the Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, the Buddha. We are still unable to let go of our need to satisfy our “particular objective” even when doing so goes against the call for loyalty to something greater than ourselves. We are still unable to let go of our rationalizing being “a scoundrel”, whoring ourselves while wrapping ourselves in the Holy Bible, like Trump, the Republican Party, the MAGA crowd do.
We, the People have to stand up for what is right and good. We have to call out the lies and mendacity that is constantly spread. We have to see and amend the bullshit and self-deceptions we have been promoting as well. It is time for us to take a real inventory, truly take stock of our lives and see where we have wrapped ourselves in the flag, in the Torah, in the Bible, etc to validate doing the next wrong thing. It is imperative that we recognize these moments and the paths we take to do this otherwise we cannot change and we are the same as the people point our fingers at!
We, the People have to find ways to live in both the immanent and transcendent worlds in the same moment, at the same time. This is the life-long struggle and challenge of what it means to be human. We need to remember, at all times, that we get to be grateful for what we have and, as I learned from a member of my former congregation, be grateful for what we don’t have! The wisdom above is calling upon us to live and care for our authentic self and the authentic self of another person, another group. We are being called to live loyally to the words of God to Adam and Eve; take care of my garden which you call earth and all the creations I have created. We are still hearing this call each day, it is the call of HEAR, you who wrestle with one another and with God, God is Oneness, part of you and your are part of me-ACT LIKE IT!! We have both a lower consciousness-the one that has the physical needs to be satisfied-and we have a higher consciousness-the one that is loyal to that which is transcendent. Both have to be tended to, both are necessary to fulfill the obligation to care for the earth and all its inhabitants therein. We are called to proclaim freedom, to love our neighbor, to care for the stranger, the poor, the needy, to violate the Sabbath to save a life, etc. We are called to live justly, to pursue righteousness and to combine righteousness and justice so we are not blinded by the bribe of another person nor by the bribery of our desires that are out of proper measure. We have the path to live in both worlds, we need leaders to help us and the will to go against the call of the narcissist, the call of the liar, the call of the autocrat, the oversized call of our lower self.
This is an area where I have fallen down numerous times and each time I get back up and learn how to not give into the subtleties of my lower self, the disguises of my Yetzer Hara. I am also guilty of not being aware of the loneliness of staying loyal to a transcendent meaning and purpose when the people around you say one thing and do another. I have a few priors in doing this as well. In fact, this is what my recovery has been centered on-alcohol and crime were merely symptoms of this underlying dis-ease of my higher consciousness arguing with my lower desires and not knowing how to integrate them. This has been the story of my recovery and I am not totally there yet and I no longer have to deny the truth of my errors, my getting it right, my hurts and my joys. No longer living as “a scoundrel within the bounds of Torah” has given me a freedom I thought impossible. My learning since 1987 continues to “set me free” with truth and joy, justice and redemption, unafraid to speak truth to power and willing to suffer the consequences. God Bless, stay safe, Happy Thanksgiving, Rabbi Mark