Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 114

“The prophet disdains those for whom God’s presence is comfort and security; to him it is a challenge, an incessant demand. God is compassion, not compromise; justice, though not inclemency. The prophet’s predictions can always be proved wrong by a change in man’s conduct, but never the certainty that God is full of compassion.” (Essential Writings pg. 63)

The first sentence above is a theme found throughout Rabbi Heschel’s writings. It is not just a historical observance by him, though, this sentence encases the theme of his life, the way he lived-always responding to “a challenge, an incessant demand” he experiences from God, from living as “a descendant of the prophets”. We hear a lot of people proclaim; “follow ____(fill in the bland) and you will find inner peace” yet Rabbi Heschel is teaching us that ‘inner peace’ is not necessarily the goal of being human. Hearing Rabbi Heschel in my mind and in my soul this morning, I know my attempts at ‘inner peace’ are selfish and self-serving; how can I be at peace when innocent people are dying all over the world, when racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Gender bias, and a myriad of other discriminatory paths are so prevalent in our society? How can anyone believe that God is happy when God’s children are at war over land, property, prestige? How can anyone believe God is comforted by the ‘false’ prayers, tithes, bastardizations that so many ‘religious’ people perpetuate?

We have been given the gift of the books of the prophets for a reason. What is the question this gift is the answer for? I believe the question is: How are we truly living into God’s will, how are we letting go of the facades, falsehoods, mendacities and deceptions we have employed to make ourselves feel good, important, in charge, are but two of many. Yet, most people don’t ask themselves the right questions, we succumb to the conventional notions of society and go along to get along. We spend billions on “self-help” books that preach spirituality and give up before the miracle happens, just like our New Year’s resolutions, our latest diet attempt/fad, etc. We give up, I believe, because we are unwilling to immerse ourselves in the teachings, the guidance of the prophets, of spiritual guides and masters like Rabbi Heschel, Dr. King, Thomas Merton, Parker Palmer, the Baal Shem Tov, etc. We are a society that, as Moses predicted, “grew fat and kicked” God out of our lives, relegated God to a Temple, Mosque, Church and believed the people who are Clergy and Spiritual ‘Gurus’ are the true emissaries while they preach hatred and separation, forgetting to care for the poor and the needy in material as well as spiritual ways, succumbing to allure of the money the rich can donate and giving them ‘special dispensation’ because of their wealth and power. Just as many clergy hid themselves when the Civil Rights movement was beginning with Dr. King, they are hiding from the truth, from the demand, from the challenge that God through the prophets give to all of us.

God’s comfort comes when we respond to God’s challenge, God’s “incessant demand”. It is only when we are engaged in the work the prophets proposed to us can we find comfort and ‘inner peace’, ‘inner peace’ I am defining as the relief one experiences when one knows they are doing the next right thing. It is a fleeting experience because the demands are ongoing, there is no “one and done” when we respond to the answers the prophets provide us with. There is only a respite knowing we are on the path God has called us to, on a path of wholeness and fulfillment of meaning and purpose, living passionately for the sake of heaven instead of for our own selfish desires. We become a people that recognizes our authentic needs and seeks to fulfill them rather than constantly deflecting from authenticity to chase the newest and best ‘shiny object’. Our lives are spent seeking truth and giving no quarter to falseness, no longer supporting the lies and liars like Trump, Bibi, Orban, Putin, the MAGA and religious zealots who preach war, hatred, fascism, etc.

We are in desperate need of our clergy, our elected officials, our business leaders, our parents and children learning the way of the prophets. We need to rededicate ourselves to the truths they speak, the ways they teach and the comfort they offer. We need to turn back to God not for comfort but for truth and guidance, for our ‘marching orders’ on how to be human and how to fulfill the divine need we are created for. It is time for our spiritual leaders to call out the lawlessness of ‘law-abiding’ citizens who still seek to engage in prejudice, who continue to act as if the Golden Rule is: ‘the one with the gold rules’. We are in desperate need of a renaissance of prophetic teaching, of learning how to live Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom, Rev. King’s wisdom, the wisdom of the Dalai Lama, etc. We have the teachers like Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Rev William Barber, John Pavlovitz, etc -it is we, the people, who seem to be too fat to seek them out and learn from them!

Recovery is based in the wisdom of the prophets, we surrender our “self-will run riot” by “turning our lives over to the care of God as we understand God”. We are constantly seeking to find ways to serve rather than be served, we seek serenity/clarity as to what we can change and what we can’t, we know we need to be able to discern the truth and let go of the false self, the deceptions of another and be connected with a community of seekers.

This has been and continues to be my quest. I am not perfect and I see the progress in how I live into the words and ways of the prophets and Rabbi Heschel. I am grateful for his wisdom that is a guiding light for living well. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.