Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 126
“The words the prophet utters are not offered as souvenirs. His speech to the people is not a reminiscence, a report, hearsay. The prophet not only conveys, he reveals. He almost does unto others what God does unto him. In speaking, the prophet reveals God. This is the marvel of the prophet’s work: in his words, the invisible God becomes audible. He does not prove or argue. The thought he has to convey is more than language can contain. Divine power bursts in his words. The authenticity of the prophet is in the Presence his words reveal.” (Essential Writings pg. 64)
“He does not prove or argue” is such a beautiful description of the prophet by Rabbi Heschel and it goes against most of Western dialogue. Experiencing this truth calls us to appreciate the prophet as one of the great orators in history. There is no need for him to offer proof of his words, there is no reason to argue with the people as he comes to give us direction, he is sent to help us return to a primordial state of being connected to something greater than ourselves, to come home to satisfy our deepest need; connection to God, connection to our authentic self. Yet, even up to today, we argue with the words of the prophet, we continue to seek proof that he existed, that there is God, that we can actually live and thrive when following his words, his call, his demand. Be it the Rabbis, the Priests, the Ministers, the Imams, the secularists, all use the prophet’s words to validate some bastardization of the Bible that they believe serves them, rather than live into the prophet’s warnings, the prophet’s exhortations to us for our return. The acceptance of truth seems to be the hardest stats of humanity today and forever in our history, the changing of our ways, the repentance needed so we can humble ourselves before the words of the prophet and before God seem to constantly elude us because we want to prove ourselves right, argue against the eternal truth of the prophet’s words and call for our return.
We are engaged in a great battle in our society, we are repeating the days of Ancient Israel and Ancient Judea once again. We have despots who rule countries, want-to-be authoritarians seeking to take control of democracies, wealthy people who want to gain more and more power, and a large portion of the people in these democracies who, through their own fear of being irrelevant, go against their own interests to support these deceivers and liars. Listen to the news, read a paper, magazine, hear the dialogue between people and arguing for or against the words of the prophet, the call of God, is rampant. Yet, even many of those who argue for the words of the prophet do so for their own selfish desire for power, for control rather than for the sake of Heaven and humanity. It is so sad and distressing to witness the uplifting of Fox News, the shouts of the ‘progressives’, the splintering of people into “identity politics”, the twisting of the words of the prophet and the Bible itself by ‘spiritual leaders’ who have their own agenda-keep the masses coming to church, temple, the mosque; keep them paying for the upkeep of the clergy; and hold onto to control of and shape the narrative they are being paid for, in either money or fame, keeping the people in line. Rather than heeding the words of the prophet, rather than staying ‘in line with the divine’ the leaders of the battle against the simplicity and truth of the prophet want us to follow the leader to our ruin.
Not needing to argue or prove is anathema to most of us. It is hard to live in acceptance of the truth of the words of the prophet. We want to find the loopholes, we want to bend their words to fit our needs rather than bend our selves to fit the needs of God as they speak the divine message to us. The difficulty, I believe, comes from our fear of saying we are wrong, we have made mistakes, we must change our ways. These admissions, we falsely believe, make us weak and vulnerable so we argue with the prophet, we argue with their descendants like Rabbi Heschel, Dr. King, et al, or we ignore them completely. “Oops, I made a mistake” are the 5 hardest words to put in one sentence for most of us, even when we say them, we come up with excuses, arguments, reasons why it wasn’t completely our fault. Rather than live into the words of the prophet, rather than not argue or need proof of the truth and validity of his words, we find ways to soothe ourselves by calling him “abrasive, difficult, out of touch with reality, unyielding, not accepting our half-truths, etc”. We run away from the words of the prophet, possibly, precisely because he offers no proof nor countenances any arguments-something we engage in constantly so we can feel better than, we can find the ‘reason’ we are right. It just seems to hard to repent, return, and have new responses to the words of the prophet, to the call of God.
The recovery movement is based in the acceptance of truth, a new/different way of translating the words of the prophet into action. We “come to believe that power greater than ourselves can return us to sanity” and we “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God”. Having first admitted our powerlessness over people, places and things, we begin to become responsible to God for both our deeds and our misdeeds. Because of being in recovery, many of us experience the words of the prophets more personally, with greater hope that return is possible, that we ‘leopards’ can and will change our spots, we will be forgiven, and we can live differently. Everything the prophet demands of us, we in the recovery movement adhere to. While many in recovery protest against ‘religion’, upon closer examination, we all become willing to a greater or lessor degree to follow the spiritual path of the prophet, the values and principles of the Bible. Only through acceptance of the truth of the prophet, not needing to argue or seek proof that a path of recovery improves our life immeasurably, can we find a peace and a way of living that is compatible with being a partner of God. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark