Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 169

““Race prejudice, a universal human ailment, is the most recalcitrant aspect of the evil in man” (Reinhold Niebuhr), a treacherous denial of the existence of God.” (Essential Writings pg. 66)

“Prejudice” comes from the Latin meaning “in advance judgement”. Reverend Niebuhr’s choice of this word speaks to our inability to be in the present, our inability to see what is in front of us. He is calling us out for our “advance judgement” of someone based on the color of their skin, the religion they practice, and/or the country they are from. He is also acknowledging how “universal” this “human ailment” is! Reverend Niebuhr’s description of “race prejudice” as “the most recalcitrant aspect of evil” should give us all pause, shake us to our core. “Recalcitrant” comes from the Latin meaning “kicking out with the heels” and is defined in English as “having an obstinately uncooperative attitude”. Both of these definitions perfectly describe the power of race prejudice and the seemingly endless ways people of faith see nothing wrong with it!

This “obstinately uncooperative attitude” is on full display across the world, it is happening every day here in America and across the globe. Unfortunately, more often than not, it is being stoked and energized by people ‘of faith’. It is, unfortunately, not limited to skin color; it has been enlarged to include people of different faiths-Jews, Muslims, Indians, Arabs, etc are now ‘races’ so we are subjected to the same prejudicial attitudes as Blacks and Hispanics. We even see the practice of racial prejudice between the groups that people of white European descent are prejudice against. The ‘minorities’ cannot see the value of joining together, they cannot see how they are doing to another what they hate being done to themselves! This is how “recalcitrant” “race prejudice” is. This describes in action what Reverend Niebuhr says above, it “is the most recalcitrant aspect of evil in man”.

We are witnesses to how “race prejudice” is poisoning our young, how it prevents us from celebrating people who accomplish or could accomplish life-saving miracles. We see how “race prejudice” has been used as a tool for authoritarians to gain power in countries across the globe for the millennia and how they have, eventually, destroyed these countries. We are in such a time right now. Be it Putin, who many right-wing ‘religious’ zealots and conservatives praise for protecting the ‘white race’, be it Orban who used Jews and immigrants to gain power and has taken control of government, business, etc, be it Trump and the MAGA crowd who call Blacks and Hispanics animals, who treat the stranger with suspicion rather than welcoming, who cry out “Jews will not replace us”, who placed a “Muslim Ban” in effect. All of these ‘good white people’ who follow and support these authoritarians, all of these  ‘good christian folk’ who worship at the feet of these liars and power-hungry “evil” men are also “recalcitrant” and obstinately defiant of facts, truth, kindness and the Bible they profess to follow.

Jews and Arabs at one another’s throat, is another example of “race prejudice” and, as we have seen, “a recalcitrant aspect of the evil in man.” Both groups have been taught of the wrongness, the evil, the fear, the need to throw them out of our country, from their youth. Yet, we are cousins, we are descendants of Abraham, we each have similar rituals and ways of living according to our different holy texts. Yet, because of ‘leaders’, because of the need for an outside enemy, both Jewish and Arab leaders have taught “race prejudice” to their people, both Jewish and Arab leaders have used “race prejudice” to keep the ‘war’ going since 1948! Hence we are where we are today-Gaza is decimated, the hostages are still in captivity, the leaders of both sides are more interested in their survival and ‘winning’ than in finding solutions. AND, all of this “evil” is supported by the religious zealots on both sides, all of this evil is promoted by these ‘holy people’!

In America, in Israel, it is the “religious”, the “zealots” on both ends of the spectrum that are promoting this “recalcitrant aspect of evil in man” for their own ends, for their own power. They are ‘relationship arsonists, they light a fire between people based on race, religion, gender and stand back in glee as the fire gets out of control. It is time for the rest of us to stand up and say NO! It is time for the majority of us to call a halt to “race prejudice”, to heal our own “recalcitrant aspect of evil”. It is time for the rest of us to follow the leaders who promote the truth of the Bible, the Koran, the New Testament, the Eastern Philosophies, and root out our own inner evil and heal our prejudices by seeing one another as all one race- the human race. It is time for us to end our incessant need to be in power, it is time for us to end our timeless tool of pitting one race/group against another for our power and control.

It is hard to remove our obstinate uncooperative attitudes. We are almost immune to them, living them without even realizing it. I was guilty of this when I would distinguish someone as a ‘goy’ or a ‘yid’, when I foolishly believed that ‘my people’ would never turn against me nor would I turn against them! I learned from my father and grandfathers to let go of these attitudes and they still rear their ugliness at times. When these thoughts come into my mind, I have to return to Reverend Niebuhr’s words and, because I have chipped away at the boulder that was on my shoulder, my mind, my heart, return to seeing everyone as a member of my race-the human race and act humanely towards them, letting go of the resentments that arise quickly and no longer drink the poison of “race prejudice”, hoping the other person will die! It is hard, I do this imperfectly, I still get angry in the face of “race prejudice”, in the aura of recalcitrance, and I do a little better each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark