Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 161

“The sense for the realness of God will not be found in insipid concepts; in opinions that are astute, arid, timid; in love that is scant, erratic. Sensitivity to God is given to a broken heart, to a mind that rises above its own wisdom.” (God in Search of Man pg 159)

In Psalms 34:19 we learn “God is near to/approaches the broken-hearted” and Rabbi Heschel’s words above make me remember and think about this verse. Leonard Cohen wrote and sang: “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”, which also points to the validity of Rabbi Heschel’s teaching above. Yet, we also learn from God’s interaction with Pharaoh that God doesn’t want us to surrender only when we are weak, rather, I believe, God strengthens Pharaoh’s heart so Pharaoh’s (and our) connection is everlasting. In Deuteronomy we are told to “circumcise the foreskin of our heart”, and I believe this is the broken heart Rabbi Heschel is speaking of.

Living in the world with the anger, hate, mendacity, idolatry, reverence for wealth and power makes anyone who is aware of “the realness of God” broken-hearted! The Psalmist cries out often to God for help, the Psalmist recognizes the truth of his situation and knows he must open himself up to God, must ask God for help and allow the wisdom, the light, the love of God to enter his heart and heal him, strengthen him so he can live in concert with God, meet his ‘enemies’ and prevail rather than join in the negativity that pervades the world. The world has not changed that much since the time of the Psalmist, as I read Rabbi Heschel’s wisdom above and look at where humanity is right now.

Yet, most of us are afraid of “a broken heart”, most of us are afraid to truly have “sensitivity to God” because it means giving up our desire for power and our ‘need’ to make everyone adhere to our way, the ‘only right way’ to worship, to live, to serve! So many people speak the words of the Psalmist, sing the lyrics of Leonard Cohen, quote the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, etc and live the exact opposite because of their fear of having a “broken heart”. This, I believe, is one of the reasons our spiritual leaders, our elected officials, the wealthy, the powerful, claim to be acting in the interests of God, doing what “God tells me to do” and, are actually using the words of the Bible to close their hearts, to deceive themselves and the rest of us.

Rather than fear our “broken heart”, Rabbi Heschel is calling to us to embrace it. I hear him calling out to us as the prophets call out to us; stop our deceptions, end our mendacities, let go of our idolatrous practices, have a practice of T’Shuvah and return to God, make our amends to those we have harmed and plan a new way of being that is in concert with being a partner of God rather than continue to believe we can make God into our image, we can use God to validate our closed hearts, our selfish desires, our false need for power and dominion over everyone else.

Having a “broken heart” is not a sign of weakness, it is not a copout, it is not a path of misery, it is not a way of staying stuck in sadness, God forbid! As we immerse ourselves in Rabbi Heschel’s brilliance, we realize that having a “broken heart” opens us to have clear eyesight, it gives us the opportunity to share the vision of living that God gives us in the Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, from the Buddha’s teachings, etc. A “broken heart” gives us the opportunity to be in truth with ourselves and with humanity, it allows us to end the lies we have been telling ourselves about “keep a stiff upper lip”, “don’t let them see you cry”, “be a man and men don’t cry”, and other such bullshit. Having a “broken heart” is the only path to letting God in, to being sensitive to God’s call to us, to be able to respond to one of the ultimate questions God asks: “Where are you?”

To have a “broken heart” we have to surrender our false beliefs that God only wants perfection, that we have to be perfect. To have a “broken heart” we have to end our indifference to the suffering within ourselves and the suffering of another human being, another group. To have a “broken heart” we have to desire freedom for all, we have to recognize the intrinsic worth of our self-no longer engaging in/allowing the negative self-talk to overwhelm us, and the intrinsic worth of all human beings. To have a “broken heart” we have to have joy for the success of another(s) and sorrow when someone falls down. To have a “broken heart” we have to “help our enemy when his ass falls down” and we need to see people as people, not good guys/gals and bad gals/guys. Having a “broken heart” gives us divine pathos, great compassion for our self and for another(s).

This is the revolution that Judaism began, that Jesus and Mohammed continued, that the Buddha expounded on-living with a “broken heart” so we can have “sensitivity to God”. Without this “sensitivity”, without a “broken heart”, we fall into the world we are living in right now-where idolators and charlatans of all faiths and ways proclaim the ‘word of god’ while actually seeking their own power and control. A world where the rich and powerful few decide the fate and freedom of the many, a world where decency, morality, kindness are laughed at and seen as weakness rather than Godly. We need to return to the words of the Psalmist, the wisdom of Leonard Cohen, the brilliance of Rabbi Heschel so we can make the world ready for the coming of the Messiah-whether one believes it is the 1st time or the 2nd time is of no consequence. Elijah lives among the poor and the strangers, just as Jesus calls ‘the outcasts’ his people, it is imperative for us to allow our hearts to be broken so we can follow Moses and Joshua to our Promised Land. Happy Easter, God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark