Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 194

“Indeed, the major activity of the prophet was interference, remonstrating about wrongs on other people, meddling in affairs which were seemingly neither their concern nor their responsibility.”(Insecurity of Freedom pg. 92)

Rabbi Heschel is reminding us of who “will plead the case of the helpless” in days gone by. I also hear him remonstrate us as well. The word “interfere” comes from the Latin meaning “to strike between”, in the English it means “to prevent”. “The major activity of the prophet was” to strike between/to prevent “wrongs on other people”. What a concept, what courage, what a calling, what a way of living into the principles of holiness, of Godliness, of seeing every human being as having equal dignity and worth.

While the time of the prophets has gone, according to some, their words and their deeds are very much alive in the souls of everyone! We, people of faith,  are all descendants of the prophets, thereby having the same calling to run “interference” for those who are wronged, regardless of faith, creed, ethnicity, color. We are being called to continue the work of the prophets instead of retarding their work. We are being called by the universe to stand up for what is right and true, to leave behind the false claims of the authoritarians and the deceivers, go past our fears “to prevent” the further erosion of the rights of another, to “strike back” against the wrongs being perpetrated in the name of authority and perverted ‘justice’. We are in the midst of the same affairs as the prophets were and it is now our privilege to respond in their name, in our own way.

When protestors in this country are chanting the same slogans as terrorists in the Middle East, we are in trouble. When people in government repeat the same propaganda as Vladimir Putin, we are in danger. When the Supreme Court parrots and decides cases based on power and ‘christian nationalists values’ our democracy is in danger. When Jews are blamed for the ills of the world, when minorities seeking a better life are blamed for the crime in the United States, we are hearing the breaking of glass as happened on Kristalnacht. The warnings are here, we can see them as clear as day when we study history, when we immerse ourselves in the stories of the prophets. The question Rabbi Heschel is posing, as I hear him today: will we respond to today’s crisis’ as the prophets did ‘back in the day’?

“Remonstrate” means “to plead in protest” which is what the prophets did and what we are in dire need of. When we put together “interference, remonstrating” we find a path for our energy, a way to express what we know to be true and right, what is just and righteous. We have to “meddle in affairs which were (are) seemingly neither their (our) concern nor their (our) responsibility.” It is time for us to wake up and realize the cause of everyone who is wronged is everyone’s cause. The need to stand in the breach between the powerful and the powerless is everyone’s need. The call to respect the dignity and value of every person no matter their status nor wealth is everyone’s call. It is beyond time for us to take seriously the lives of the prophets, the teachings they have left behind, the words of divinity they preached and the actions they took.

Their protest was a protest against tyranny, against mendacity, against deception, against bearing false witness and the practice of “Avodah Zarah”, idolatry. They pleaded in opposition to the authoritarians and the liars and, while they did not carry the day, their words are still with us. Their way of being and acting are a clarion call to us to take action, to stand in between the powerful, the despots, and the people who are being taken advantage of, the people who are being wronged mercilessly.  “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country” is a phrase in typewriting class and it is a phrase the prophets could have spoken. As Rabbi Hillel says, “if not now, when?”

We, the people, have to get over our fears and take the next right action. Getting over our fears doesn’t mean getting rid of them, it means climbing over our fears, acknowledging them and making a decision to serve a purpose greater than our fears. We, the people, have to end our need to be right, our hunger for power at any and all costs. We, the people, have to rise above our desire to be deceived and our wish to deceive, so we can see what really is happening. We, the people, have to remove the blinders, stop putting lipstick on a pig and stand up for and stand with those who are wronged. We have to “meddle” in the affairs people tell us to stay out of, we have to be responsible to right the injustices people in power are promoting and we have to say NO to those charlatans in our own time.

I have heard this call of Rabbi Heschel for years. I have done my best to run “interference” for people who have been wronged by the system, by life’s happenings. I have stood up in protest and meddled in “affairs that were neither my concern nor responsibility” according to some. I love the ideas above because it reminds me we are all “our brother’s keeper”. We all call God “Our Father” so we are cousins, brothers, sisters, etc-we are all “kin under the skin”. Which means I/we have to stand up for and stand with our brothers and sisters when they are attacked, I/we have to stand up for and with one another when anti-semitism, hatred, authoritarianism first rears their ugly heads. I/We have to rebuke our kinfolk when they fall under the spell of the deceivers. It hasn’t made me popular and I can live with myself and the universe. Now is the time for action and you are the actors needed. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark