Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 185

“Our standards are modest; our sense of injustice tolerable, timid; our moral indignation impermanent; yet human violence is interminable, unbearable, permanent. The conscience builds its confines, is subject to fatigue, longs for comfort. Yet those who are hurt, and He who inhabits eternity, neither sleep nor slumber.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 91)

The issue Rabbi Heschel raises about “human violence” strikes at the heart of our existence, for me. How do we define “human violence” is important because many people mis-define it, in my opinion. “Human violence” happens whenever and wherever we categorize another human being as “the other”. Whenever we ignore the plight of those who are suffering, we are committing “human violence”. Whenever we fail to recognize the divine image of another human being, we are committing “human violence”. When we need to make someone else bad so we can be good, ie comparison, we commit “human violence”. When we need to rule over ‘those people’ we commit “human violence”. In other words, all of us are guilty of committing it.

The words Rabbi Heschel uses to describe our consistent engagement in “human violence” are soul-shattering, hopefully. “Interminable” means “without end”, “unbearable” means “not able to be endured or tolerated”, and “permanent” means “lasting indefinitely”. Since the days of Cain and Abel we have been confronted with “human violence” and we continue to engage in it even though it harms our souls, it harms the souls and bodies of another(s), and ew have seen how it ravages our humanity. It seems to be enjoyed by some people so much they are surprised when they are held to account for their violence towards another(s), the MAGA crowd is bewildered by the fact they are being held accountable for Jan. 6th when they believe their “human violence” was a just and good cause-the end of democracy! We, the people, have to come to terms with our inner life, with our need to compare and compete to such an extreme that “human violence” is the norm and is celebrated.

Putin, Sinwar, G’vir, Netanyahu, Orban, MBS, the Ayatollah, are but the faces of physical “human violence” we read about and hear about today. What they all have in common is their ‘people’ have gone along with the physical violence they have perpetrated. In the case of Netanyahu and G’vir, as well as with Sinwar, the Israelis and Palestinians in the ‘streets’ do not all agree with their tactics, Israelis are demonstrating and arguing with their government to end senseless violence, the people of Gaza who disagree with Hamas and Sinwar are still too afraid, know the depth of the “human violence” Hamas and Sinwar engage in, using human shields, hospitals, Mosques to hide in and store weapons in. Hamas decided to end the Cease-Fire on Oct. 7th and are not willing to admit their crimes while some in the world condemn Israel for its retaliation, which can be argued is devastating. When Putin condemns Israel for defending itself when he invaded a sovereign country, Ukraine, we see the effects of the permanence of “human violence”, we witness the cover-up, clean-up of the “interminable” and “permanent” nature of it.

The student demonstrators on College Campus’ decry what is happening in Gaza right now, and it is devastating. They also call for “from the river to the sea” promoting the extermination of Jews, the end of the State of Israel and are unaware of how they claim “human violence” is “unbearable” and at the same time promote it - as long as it is against “the Jews”. Why is “human violence” bearable when it is against the Jews, as we have seen throughout history. Just as in the early days and throughout the Second World War, people don’t want to go to war to save the Jews, so too today-the attack on the Israeli people who reached out an olive branch, who helped the people of Gaza navigate check points and helped them get to hospitals, gave them work in their homes and their fields, were the ones who were killed, tortured, raped, taken captive! The student demonstrators seem fine with this situation-only Israel should stop the fighting- not Hamas. This is how subtle and “interminable” “human violence” was, is and always will be until we put an end to it.

The only way to end the physical “human violence” is to heal the soul sickness that causes it. We live in times where spiritual illness is rampant, our solutions for it have been alcohol, drugs, work, blame, shame, violence-just as the Bible stories about Cain & Able, Adam & Eve in the garden, Pharaoh in Egypt, and so many more stories of “human violence” found in the pages of the Bible-not to validate this way of being, rather to decry it, to inform us as to the causes and the truth that “sin couches at our door and we can master it”. Isn’t it time to “turn our swords into plowshares”? Isn’t it time for “men learn war no more”? We have the power to do this, we have the technology, we need, as Maimonidies teaches, a physician of the soul to help us heal our spiritual maladies and “grow along spiritual lines”. We need a program of spiritual recovery and we need to engage in it today!

I have committed “human violence” in my recovery and I am remorseful for these acts. While my way of being is bombastic and loud, I am sensitive to the lies people tell themselves, I also have engaged and indulged in missing the humanity of people, missing the need and cry of people at times and for this I make my amends and do better each day. I also have helped many people end their inner violence towards themselves, doing so lessens the “human violence” we commit towards another(s). I continue each day to let go of the hurts and the arrows I have experienced, I continue each day to appreciate the joy of connection, the lessening of inner violence. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark