Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 183

Another way of dealing with a bad conscience is to keep the Negro out of sight. The Word proclaims: Love thy Neighbor! So we make it impossible for him to be a neighbor.”(Insecurity of Freedom pg. 90)

Rabbi Heschel continues to give us ‘ways’ of dealing with a bad conscience. What is so remarkable is that he assumes people have bad consciences! As we have seen throughout history up to today, many people are immune to their bad consciences because they spend little, if any, time delving into their inner life. Today’s quote reminds us of “out of sight, out of mind”.

While Rabbi Heschel is addressing the issue of racism against Black people in 1963, not much has changed nor were Black people the only ones who were kept “out of sight” in the history of the United States. Today it is the homeless we are keeping away from the ‘good neighborhoods’, passing laws that allow law enforcement to move them off the streets even if they don’t want to be moved. We still restrict the people who are our neighbors based on economics and housing prices. Throughout our history, we have segregated the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Jews, anyone who is not ‘white like us’. It is a stain on America and a way of ‘solving’ the problem of our “bad conscience.”

In the Bible, “Love thy Neighbor” is in the context of one way to be holy. It is not just the neighbor next door or two doors down, it is everyone who inhabits the neighborhood, everyone who dwells in the city, county, state, country. All of us human beings are neighbors, all of us our related as we say “Our parent, our sovereign” in the Avinu Malkeynu prayer. Yet, we are constantly and consistently ignoring this truth, we are constantly and consistently seeking to “keep those people out” of our neighborhoods, our seats of power, our churches, Temples, Mosques, restaurants, etc. “No Irish need apply”, “No Jews allowed”, “Colored water fountain”, are all stains on our history, ways the WASPS and others dealt with their “bad consciences”. Today, it is the Jew, the Arab, the Muslim, the Hispanic, who are being isolated again, who are being kept out of college campus’, neighborhoods, who are being ghettoized because of not being wanted in ‘our neighborhood’. This is being done by ‘god-fearing’ people-imagine if they were pagans!

We are witnessing the effects of “out of sight, out of mind” as well as the effects of the lies we tell ourselves and. another(s) about “those people”. Be it the MAGA movement, the Christian Nationalists, the White Supremacists, the Progressives who are as intractable as the far-right conservatives, they continue to use a scapegoat to deal with their “bad conscience”. They are manipulated by the liars and the charlatans, the money and the power of outside groups who have an agenda-authoritarianism. The call of the students on campus’ around the country for a Cease-Fire in Gaza, their hailing of Hamas as “freedom fighters”, their portrayal of Israel as oppressors when Hamas could have built Gaza into something terrific and a destination like the French or Italian Riveras, is frightening. The fact that these protests began the day after the Oct. 7th massacre of over 1200 Israelis, the taking of over 240 Hostages, seems a little fishy to many of us. Yet, they wrap themselves in the flag of Hamas and extol authoritarianism, support the extermination of Israel as a country and Jews as a people. This is how they deal with their “bad conscience”, kill the ones we don’t like, do the bidding of their Iranian influencers who would never put up with these types of protests. How many of these passionate protestors want to live under Sharia law? We witness the lies of the far-right as they seem to be supporting Israel when, in truth, they also hate the Jews, remember these are the people who chanted “Jews will not replace us”!

The only real way of “dealing with a bad conscience”, as I ponder Rabbi Heschel’s words, is to invite everyone into our tent. The Passover meal which was eaten on Monday and Tuesday evenings, was to be shared with neighbors if our family could not eat it themselves. There was no ‘leftovers’ allowed. In the Haggadah, we invite the hungry and the needy into our homes to share in the meal and the liberation of the soul that the Exodus from Egypt represents. We have to invite the different parts of our inner life to engage with one another to wrestle out the differences between what we know to be true and right-“love your neighbor as you love yourself”, and what we know is wrong-“keep the_____ out of sight”. We have to deal with our inner conflicts, hear the call of our soul that gives us a “bad conscience”, hear the call of the prophets whose only job was to give a “bad conscience” to the Priests, the royalty, the wealthy as well as the rest of the people. We have to deal with our desire to be deceived and need to deceive another(s). All of this is the inner spiritual work that we are called to by every Holy day in every spiritual tradition as well as by the daily prayers and practices of every spiritual discipline.

I am guilty of dealing with my “bad conscience” at times with ‘out of sight, out of mind’. This year, I am being liberated from this way of being-I retreated after being wounded and feeling abandoned and this is wrong on my part. I made a mistake that profoundly impacted many people and while I disagree with the decisions of the people in power, I am wrong in my retreat from everyone. I am remedying this. I am seeing the choices made by people as them doing what they thought was best with their own “bad consciences” playing a role in their decisions. I, however, cannot blame them nor anyone for my decision to retreat. I am back, I am being more of who I truly am. This is my response to being brought out of Egypt this year. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark