Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 329

“What man thinks of himself, of society, of humanity, determines his way of making a decision. Without an intimate awareness of the grandeur of living, the transcendent glory of justice and compassion, the earnestness and ultimate significance of freedom and responsibility, we will fail.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg.60)

What do we think of ourselves? What have we thought of ourselves in each generation and era? How has society impacted our inner thoughts and self-judgements? What does it take to buck the trend, abandon the status quo thinking, leave ‘group-think’, put up with ridicule and derision for our ‘different’ way of being?

We have witnessed throughout history how little “man thinks of himself, of society, of humanity” and suffered through great wars, discrimination, destructions for this way of being. Whether it is the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the Jews, the Persians, the Babylonians, the English, the French, the Spanish, all of these peoples made a decision to think so little of themselves and of their fellow countrymen, their fellow human beings and were so full of themselves that they laid the foundation for their eventual destruction and descent into oblivion and ruin. While the Jews, the Persians, the English, the French and the Spanish are still around, I wonder if they learned anything from their history-it doesn’t seem that way in this moment. Herein is the challenge: given our knowledge of history, given our experiences of societal discrimination, societal senseless hatred, societal neglect of the very people the Bible and Jesus tell us to care for, will we change our way of being from the hatred and vitriol, the fear of not being all-powerful and the rulers to one of “an intimate awareness of the grandeur of living, the transcendent glory of justice and compassion, the earnestness and ultimate significance of freedom and responsibility”?

Looking at the world over the past 65 years, I am 73 and didn’t really become aware until around 8 years old, I am tearfully aware of the myriad of times we have risen to this challenge and the myriad of times the backlash against this way of living has taken over and crushed freedom, justice, compassion, etc of anyone who is not in the white power structure. There is nothing wrong with being white, there is nothing wrong with being Black, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc, it is only when being part of any of these groups separates us from our humanity, stops us from seeing that we are all created equal and “have certain unalienable rights”, that we are “to proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein” that is the problem! It is when we put on blinders and follow the words of the despots who want to feel better about themselves by putting someone else down, it is when lying, cheating, being ‘above the law’ becomes good that is the problem!

We are in such a time. We are in a moment that is reminiscent of so many moments in history. It is not about good and bad, right and wrong that we are facing-it is about who are we as human beings. Do we think so little of ourselves that we are willing to vote for and live with a ‘wanna-be’ dictator, a friend of Putin, Orban, Kim Jung Un? Do we see ourselves as so threatened by modernity that we are willing to go backwards and deny women their humanity, deny minorities their humanity, deny any faith but ‘christian nationalism’ their humanity? Do we think so little of ourselves that we are willing to give up our freedom and agency as the Children of Israel did in Egypt some 4000 years ago? Are we so arrogant as to believe that we won’t be affected by the authoritarian in our midst who promises to be a dictator, who has shown affection for our enemies rather than for the hostages in Gaza like Bibi Netanyahu or Donald Trump who is telling Zelensky and Ukraine to give up land to Russia? How sad and how ignorant of history we seem to be.

Tomorrow, we go to the polls in America, today Bibi Netanyahu is the favored candidate for Prime Minister in Israel and Donald Trump is in a dead heat for the Presidential race in America. How is this possible? Is it because we are answering the questions I posed in the beginning of this blog with a resounding yes, a whimpering yes, a weakling yes? Both of these men have caused death and chaos, both believe they are above the law and both are supported by ‘good god-fearing men, women, clergy’ and their supporters think so little of themselves that they are willing to empower people who don’t have their interests at heart only their own. We are in desperate need of a solution.

The solution is to: A) cultivate our “intimate awareness of the grandeur of living” by remembering the world has been entrusted to us to grow and make a little better by our presence and our hard work. B) living in ways that “climb over”, go beyond the norm and reach the joy, light, “glory of justice and compassion”. Knowing that without compassion there can be no justice and without justice there can be no compassion. C) opening up our eyes and lifting them up to truly SEE that slavery, cunning, mendacity are not the way, nor are they permanent conditions unless we make them so with our surrender to dictators. Opening up our eyes and circumcising the foreskins of our hearts to allow the power of freedom to rise from our souls and see the truth that Sinai was not a one and done, that freedom has to be nurtured, fought for, cherished, honored, grown every day in society, in family, and within ourselves. D) we are responsible for one another, we are our brothers’ keeper, we do have to redeem the captive, care for the stranger, the poor, the needy because we have been in all of these situations either personally or it is in our ancestral history.

Having thought so little of myself as to puff myself up with bravado and bullshit for around 20 years  and to see who I truly am in the past 37, I have lived the teaching of Rabbi Heschel fully. Today I see humanity with hope, I believe and know that change is possible and will happen, just not always in my time:)! I have seen the light of hope and freedom in another person’s eyes when they realize that justice and compassion are part of their solution to living well. I have watched in awe when another person realizes the “grandeur of living” for the first time and makes the commitment to grow their own grandeur, to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, to see the glass as half-full. I know the joy of freedom from the lies, the deceptions that I tell myself and the ones that I am told and I know that my purpose is to speak truth, to acknowledge our human failings and push myself and another(s) forward rather than sit in our shit. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark