Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 204

‘We worry more about the purity of dogma than the integrity of love.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg 93)

Rather than hear and possibly heed Rabbi Heschel’s words above in 1963 up till now, his words are even more true and widespread now than they were when he wrote them! No matter what spiritual discipline one follows or studies, there are members within all of them who are more concerned and worried about the “purity of dogma” than anything else. They are the ones who have “segregated God”, seek to make the sacred, their dogma, Uber Alles for everyone in everyday life.

“The literal meaning of dogma in ancient Greek was "something that seems true." These days, in English, dogma is more absolute”(vocabulary.com).  How far have we fallen into the abyss of self-deception that we twist a word that demands we explore more, “something that seems true” into an “absolute”! Rather than return to the original meaning and wrestle with the truth, we have taken the lazy person’s path and just made it absolutely true, because of our need to be certain, because of our fear of mining the depths of inquiry and, of course, our desire to be deceived and lulled into knowing The answer. We are witnessing the fruits of “we worry more about the purity of dogma” in the move to authoritarianism on both the left and the right, the ‘covering one’s ass and the ass of the boss’ at all costs, the filing of lawsuits for our own errors against anyone and everyone who has deep pockets, the need for scapegoats to blame for our sins as opposed to admitting our sins and putting them on the head of a goat that we send to the wilderness in order to separate ourselves from them.

Be it Putin or Tliab, the Ayatollah or Bibi, Trump or Xi, the 2025 project people or the Alito/Thomas coalition, all of these people have a “purity of dogma” that they are protecting at any and all costs. This is for their very survival emotionally, egotistically, and spiritually. They are not the people Rabbi Heschel nor I are speaking to; we are speaking to the followers, to the people who are, in essence, their victims and the  victims of their own self-deceptions, the victim of some misguided belief that certainty is possible and good. Herein is the issue for me today-will we let go of our need for certainty and purity so we can engage in the wrestling with our inner lives with the desires of our earthly inclinations and our higher inclinations, and one another as Rabbi Harold Kushner, z”l, calls our inner war?

It is crucial for all of us to remember any “purity of dogma” is man-made and a disguise for control. The Rabbis of the Talmud could not agree on one way, hence the myriad of opinions and ‘arguments’ in the Talmud and since then. The High Priest was to offer  his own sacrifices for his sins and missing the marks each year at Yom Kippur because he made errors and needed to admit them. The Orthodox who claim to be ‘following God’s will”, those who study day and night in Yeshivas and only seek to be more ‘pure and dogmatic’ are denying the truth of the words above. The far left Jews who call band together with the protestors calling for the demise of Israel and Jews because Hamas is so wonderful, deny the truth of the words above.

There is more ways we “worry more about the purity of dogma” in our daily living. The Republicans who go to New York to support Trump rather than actually do the “people’s business” in the “people’s house” are more interested in “the purity of dogma” of Fox News, Trump, Heritage Foundation, etc than in what is best for the country. The myriad of people who run companies and institutions who cover up their misdeeds because the “purity of dogma” is more important than truth, they are worried about the ‘optics’ more than the truth, more than love. These good people, who do much good in the world and bring great inventions and discoveries to light, who help the needy and spread good works are also able to lie to themselves that the “ends justify the means”.

We have seen the coverup of the sexual transgressions by Priests, Rabbis, Imams, for years and years and it still happens today. We have heard of the cover-up of the Santa Susana Nuclear Accident in 1959 and even since it’s revelation has been downplayed. The city of Simi Valley and especially the neighborhoods surrounding the lab have been found to have high levels of radiation in the groundwater and when things like the Woolsey Fire of 2018 occur radiation spreads. Yet, the people who run Brandeis Bardin camp, which is a great camp, say nothing to the people who have been there, do no studies to see if their campers were impacted with higher levels of cancers, etc because they were swimming, eating the fruits and vegetables grown on the land there. The dogma of keeping secrets, not ‘airing our dirty laundry in public’, not being shamed and not being sued overrides “integrity” for these powerful people. “Purity of dogma” is the “crime of the millennia”.

I have always been a dogma breaker, as dogma is used today. I have always sought to investigate that which “seems to be true” to test the validity and then use this way of being to enhance my life and the lives of another(s). I believe deeply in finding the middle ground. I do have my passionate way, the voice I inherited from the prophets and when I use it people think that I am too radical, too difficult, and too dangerous. I have ignored this in pursuit of truth, not always being right, just pursuing it and losing my place and some people. Yet, I have to be true to me, follow my higher inclination and live with integrity rather than dogma. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.