Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 205

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

Continuing with the them in the first part of the sentence above, in Hebrew, the word “Dugma”, translates as “example, pattern, prototype, model-not absolute and not perfect. Only in English have we bastardized the word to mean what we want it to for our power needs/grabs. By making “the purity of dogma” a prerequisite for any position of power by whatever group one belongs to we have eliminated our search for truth, for validity, for connection.

We have substituted adherence to ‘the purity of dogma” for true authentic connection. We are so afraid of saying the wrong thing to ‘the leader’ or to the other ‘followers’, we deny our own truth, we deny our opinions and our desires, we deny our authenticity and our own connection to something greater than ourselves. We have replaced God, spirit, universe, nature with “the purity of dogma” being our higher power.

I, like all of us, have witnessed this in our politics, in our religious institutions, in clergy, in work, in our country clubs, in our streets, on our college campus’ and in the halls of governments across the globe. “Purity of dogma” can get authoritarians elected, look at Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. The most educated and open country in Europe with all types of scholars and thinkers, was susceptible to the “purity of dogma” of Hitler and his thugs. In Israel, another forward thinking and innovative country, the people are fighting against “the purity of dogma” of Netanyahu, Smotrich, Ben’G’vir, et al. In America, the jury is still out-we are waiting along with the rest of the world to see if “the purity of dogma” that Trump, the Heritage Foundation, the Republican Party are pushing will take a greater hold than it already has.

Our religious institutions also are promoting a “purity of dogma”, be it on the right or the left. One has to adhere to, or at least give lip service to, the dogma presented at the church, temple, mosque, one is going to or be ostracized and shamed. In the fundamentalist religious institutions, no matter progressive or conservative, not being into “the purity of dogma” will result in expulsion and, if one has children, a spouse, they will either be shunned by the community or the one who has doubts about the dogma will be banished from the community and not allowed contact with their children and spouse! “The purity of dogma” is so concerning that allowing ‘those people’ into our neighborhood is dangerous. It is so concerning to some that “those people”, ie anyone not like us, are an existential threat to our safety, our way of life, etc. And there are clergy who promote this, once a women told a group of women that she, a member of the Conservative Jewish movement, that she doesn’t let her children have play dates at the homes of members of the Reform Jewish movement because they could be fed cheeseburgers, because her Rabbi had told her so!

The protestors on college campus are so caught up in “the purity of dogma” most of them are unable to articulate what their slogans mean, what the truth of the current situation in the Middle East is, that Hamas, who they are celebrating,  murdered and raped women and children and this is cool with these “progressives” because it is in the name of ‘freedom’. Following this logic, I am curious as to why they are so against white supremacists who believe their killing black people is in the name of freedom and “purity of dogma”? I imagine that Asians and Latinos go along with the people who hate them and want to kill them because they are doing this in the name of freedom and “purity of dogma”?

Of course my statements are ridiculous, yet, they are logical conclusions of the actions of the protestors, they are the logical conclusions of the actions of the clergy, of the politicians who declare “dogma” above truth, above kindness, above compassion, above communication, above learning from one another. This is how far done the road to hell we have travelled as a result of “the purity of dogma”: Putin kills Navalny, MBS kills Jamal Khashoggi, Hamas murders and rapes Israelis and other nationalities breaking a cease-fire, Putin invades Ukraine, Assad gases his own people, nothing happens-Israel responds to an attack on their people proportionally greater than 9/11 and Jews are condemned, the UN gives aid and comfort to terrorists, and the deaths of civilians is promoted by Hamas, the deaths of these civilians is tragic, and Israel is blamed because Hamas won’t accept a Cease-fire and Qatar keeps giving them money and safe harbor- all in the name of “the purity of dogma”.

I am searching my self to see where I have been too dogmatic to accept the truth and validity of another way of being, another path that suits someone else better than the one I am on. I am, and believe, always have been, open to these other paths. I also know my dogmatic stance involves freedom, involves openness to something new each day, to not being stuck in yesterday or tomorrow. I know I have been an example of how to be in recovery and do one’s own thing. I know I have been denigrated because I have not and do not agree with everything in the Big Book, the Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament, etc. I am an nomad who belongs in every situation I find myself in, I know that the ones that are unhealthy for me, I leave because I no longer want to be around “the purity of dogma” that someone is spewing. I believe the “purity of dogma” comes from fear and ignorance, from a need for power and control. To the people who continue to protect “the purity of dogma” that they and their friends spew, I have compassion and sorrow for you along with my prayers that you will wake up one day and repent. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark