Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 116

“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)

Thinking and experiencing the last sentence above brings the story of Jonah to mind. God gave Jonah a prophecy to take to Nineveh and, Jonah knowing of God’s compassion, had an inkling that God would not follow through on the destruction of that “great city”. While Jonah was angry and upset that God spared Nineveh, he forgot to take into account how well he delivered the prophecy. The people of Nineveh from the King to the water carrier repented for their deeds and were spared. It was “a change in man’s conduct” that caused the prophecy to not be fulfilled, it was the power with which Jonah delivered the message that caused the change, which is proof of Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above.

The issue humanity faces today is whether to take the words of the prophets seriously, whether to experience the prophets words, teachings, demands in our time or continue to think of them as only applying to “those people”. We are facing the same issues that Ancient Israel and Ancient Judea faced, we are facing the same issues the Romans and the Greeks, the Assyrians and the Babylonians faced: will we continue to thrive as a civilization or will we self-destruct from our own hubris. It seems as if hubris is winning!

When the zealots run a country, when the people go along with the ‘strongmen’ because they want certainty and they are willing and ready to be deceived, we find ourselves shunning the call of the prophets, dismissing their words and their demands we repent and return to Godly ways of being and to the call of our inner lives. We are witnessing this happen around the globe, we are watching people lose their freedom because they lack the courage to stand up for what the prophets called us to do-care for the stranger, the widow, the poor, the orphan and the needy, allow God to heal our backsliding and accept the love and compassion God gives us. What is so confusing to many is these zealots and ‘strongmen’ invoke religion, use the Bible, the Koran, the New Testament to validate their deceptions, their mendacity, and their grab for power!

Be it ‘good christian’, ‘religious jews’, ‘devoted muslims’ all of these charlatans promote the same lie; God loves them best and only they know God’s will; follow me and I will lead you to the promised land no matter how many of you have to die, you are dying for the sake of God. Bullshit! These liars seek power and prestige, wealth and fame for their own sake, They do not heed the words of the prophets though they quote them. Be it Mike Johnson, Rashida Tliab, Sinwar, Netanyahu, Ben G’Vir, Donald Trump, et al all have only one goal-their survival and their power grab. Rather than show the compassion that God has for all, they use the vulnerabilities of their followers and their enemies to promote lies and subterfuge. We have to say NO to them and their ilk if we are to survive as free people.

This is the goal of the prophets after studying them through Rabbi Heschel-to call us back to a path of freedom, to demand we end our self-deception and return to God so we can strengthen our free will and serve something higher than ourselves-compassion, truth, kindness, giving power to the powerless and voice to the voiceless. This is one of the experiences the prophet brings to those of us who still have some agency over ourselves and have not “drank the kool-aid” of the deceivers. We have the gift of the prophets from Amos to Micah and can use their words and their deeds to redeem ourselves, our neighbors, our countries, our people. Yet, we have to engage in these words, we have to exemplify the actions of Nineveh, not Israel or Judea when hearing the prophets’ words. It is time for us: a) to put on sackcloth, b) to recognize our similarities with all humans, c) to submit our souls to the cleansing they yearn for so we can override our false egos and let go of our false pride and return to God so God can heal us!

In recovery, we experience “the certainty that God is full of compassion”. Without God’s compassion, we would not have the strength to surrender to truth: we are addicted to______(fill in the bland) and we falsely believed _____ would save us, would help us ignore/escape the pain of being human. Whatever substance or process gets us into recovery, the root of our dis-ease is our misguided belief that we can be spared the horror of being human, we can escape the reality of  the uncertainty of life, etc. Yet, in recovery, we heed the words of the prophets, we heed the teachings of a myriad of spiritual texts and we experience the compassion of God and we are restored to sanity, to wholeness and to life.

I am able to write and have been able to live a life of relative freedom because “God is full of compassion”! An ex-con turned Rabbi, a thief who becomes CEO of an organization, an empty shell who is brought back to life by the teachings of Torah, of the Bible, of the prophets, of so many Rabbis-especially Rabbi Heschel, a man who continues to make mistakes, do T’Shuvah and be reconnected with many of the people I have harmed; all are examples of God’s compassion because we know humans say “a leopard doesn’t change its spots”. Yet, my return has been accepted, God has healed my backsliding and taken me back in love. This grace that God continues to bestow upon me continues to inspire me and many others, this grace is the basic ingredient of my freedom and my desire to strengthen my free-will moral choices so I am more human each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark