Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 214

“In a community not indifferent to suffering, uncompromisingly impatient with cruelty and falsehood, racial discrimination would be infrequent rather than common.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 93)

While we usually equate “racial discrimination” with the color of people’s skin, “racial” is defined as “groupings which humankind is divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry”. The last phrase above is asking us and challenging us to end our “discrimination”, our “unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people.” Isn’t it ridiculous to separate people into different categories? We are all people, we are all created equal, we are all created in the image of the divine, we all bleed red, we are all kin under the skin. Given these truths, how can we categorize one another as less than or better than or in any other ways that could cause “unjust or prejudicial treatment”?

We are in the throes of a similar fear as took hold of the U.S. after the Civil War: equality for all, living up to and into the words of the Declaration of Independence, understanding and living with the nuances of the Bill of Rights, truly “proclaim Liberty throughout the Land and to all its inhabitants therein” as Lev. 25:10 calls on us to do. This fear is, once again, being led by white supremacists and white people who are afraid if people of color gain power they will do to them what the white people did to people of color! This fear is being used as a rallying point and with such deception that even people of color, even Jews and Muslims are going along with the goals of these white power people! It is completely baffling that the very people who suffer from the “cruelty and falsehood” of those who either are in power or are seeking power once again are supporting their oppressors!

In order to rise to a way of being where “racial discrimination” is “infrequent rather than common”, people have to rise up and live into their higher consciousness, their higher self, the true call of their souls. This is not to point fingers, this is to state a fact that we all need to do this, we all need to search our inner lives and root out the prejudices we still have, we have to end our seemingly endless need to blame someone else, to not take responsibility,. We have to live into Rabbi Heschel’s teaching “some are guilty and all are responsible”. We can do this, we have the power, we have the technology, we have the weaponry, do we have the will? The recovery movement is an example of the bolded phrase above, we don’t discriminate because we know and some of us have experienced the discriminatory practices because of our addictions, our crimes, etc. We welcome everyone who has “a desire to stop drinking” and we embrace all, one of our slogans is “let us love you until you can love yourself”.

One of the errors of the Rabbis was to make it hard for people to convert to Judaism, while the Bible teaches just a declaration of “your people will be my people” was enough for the ancestor of King David. Christianity, which welcomes converts and even forcibly converted people, still discriminates as does Islam. There are Jews, Muslims, Christians who have practiced “racial discrimination” against one another, against people within their own faith because of skin color, and been leaders of the myriad of groups seeking to discriminate. The current rise of antisemitism on the right and the left is an example of “racial discrimination”, there is a certain irony in the discrimination of the left towards Jewish women being raped and murdered, Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Oct. 7th, and their call for Black Lives Matter while saying Jewish Lives DON’T matter.

We are in a volatile state in the world and in this country and, as Lincoln says, “now we are engaged in a great civil war…that the dead shall not have died in vain”. We have a lot of people who died in our wars to provide the rest of us a place where “let freedom ring” is more than an empty call, it is the goal. We witnessed the conviction of an ex-President on May 30, 2024 and now we have to follow it up with ensuring that a convicted felon doesn’t become President again. We have to follow the courageous lead of the 12 person jury and the Judge and Court Officials and make sure that the lies and deceptions of Trump and his Republican ‘yes people’ as well as Alito and his allies on the Supreme Court do not pollute the Freedom that so many have died for, that we, the people, do not allow them to continue their “racial discrimination” and we take the necessary steps legally and spiritually to make “racial discrimination infrequent”.

We do this, as I have said, by looking inside of ourselves. We do this by cleaning our side of the street before pointing fingers. It is necessary for me to clean my inner life and clean up the chaos I have caused before rebuking another and it is important to point out to people when they are going astray, when they are taking actions that enhance discrimination of any kind, even discriminating against their best interests. I have learned the difference between discrimination and distinguishing, the former is about putting people ‘in their place’ and the latter is seeing each person for who they are and helping them be the best person they can be. I have spent years helping another person realize their dreams, discern the call of their souls and watch in awe as people soar. I don’t compare and I am happy for the success of everyone I know and suffer with those who fall, those who are the victims of discriminatory practices, those who are falsely accused, etc. I believe we can use our gifts to enhance the lives of those around us and not diminish our own, I believe we can live in the ‘both/and’ without needing to prove how ‘right’ we are. I believe we can created the community Rabbi Heschel is speaking about. I pray you will join me and so many others who are engaged in this work. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark