Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 242
“The years of old age may enable us to attain the high values we failed to sense, the insights we have missed, the wisdom’s we ignored. They are indeed formative years, rich in possibilities to unlearn the follies of a lifetime, to see through inbred self-deceptions, to deepen understanding and compassion, to widen the horizon of honesty, to refine the sense of fairness.”(Insecurity of Freedom pg.78)(Bold is used to highlight the sentence I am writing on)
Since the beginning of my study of Rabbi Heschel’s teachings, I have read a page, gone on to the next and then had to go back to the page I understood one way only to realize the power of his words and teachings anew.
Today is Independence Day, as is everyday if we choose to leave the narrow places of false ego, our minds, our self-deceptions, etc. In America we celebrate the courage of the Founding Fathers to issue a document that states that all people are created equal, all people have certain unalienable rights; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which most of us have come to believe applies to people of color who were enslaved, discriminated against, etc. I would like to offer that all people also includes “old age”! Even though the emphasis on youth has always been strong, modernity has reached higher levels than previous societies in its disdain for people who are considered “old”. Ergo, the words of Rabbi Heschel above take on new and important meaning for all of us.
“The years of old age may enable us to attain the high values we failed to sense…” is a response to modernity’s treatment of “old age” as a ‘disease’. I underlined “may” because it takes those of us who are considered in and/or entering “old age” to do the inner work to “attain the high values…the insights…the wisdom…” we “failed to sense, missed, ignored”. It is up to the young to sit at the feet of the older generation and listen to these errors, to learn from the failures of the previous generations, not waiting for the failures and/or clean ups to be written in history books. In real time, it is imperative for “old agers” to do their own inner work, to admit their failure “to attain the high values we failed to sense”. Of course, we have to admit to our own self-interest in failing “to attain the high values” because we were more worried about optics, self-promotion, wealth, and power than in our inner life and adopted the “dog eat dog” mentality of societal norms. Then we can begin the work to repair our spiritual life, to repair the damage we have done to the inner and outer lives of those we impacted, change our ways of being so we can “attain the high values” we believe in and “teach our children” as the Bible instructs us to do both in Deuteronomy and in Proverbs.
What are the “high values”, the “insights”, the “wisdom” Rabbi Heschel is speaking about? I believe he is calling out to all of us to realize the myriad of times when we had the opportunity to “be human” we were not. Instead we were self-serving, self-centered, and selfish. We bought into the lies of the people around us, the deceptions of societal norms and cliches, so we could ‘succeed’ and, in our “old age”, we are realizing the futility of our actions. While they may have brought us financial security, they have also wracked our inner life with anxiety, with loneliness, with a “hole in the soul”. I believe Rabbi Heschel is demanding we hear the call of the prophets; the 10 sayings at Mount Sinai; the 36 times we are told to care for the stranger, the poor, the needy, the widow, and the orphan; he is calling us out for not being true and acting on the “high values”, “insights” and “wisdom” found in the Bible, in history, and in the Declaration of Independence. Just because the Founding Fathers could not bring to fruition their acknowledgment of what should be doesn’t give us license to do the same. As Jewish wisdom teaches; “it isn’t our job to finish the job, neither are we free to not engage in the work”.
As we begin to celebrate our Independence, it is, I believe, crucial that we take stock of ourselves and our community, our country and our “high values”; see where we are on the continuum, make a decision to learn from people who we consider in “old age”, and repair their errors of ignoring their “insights”, pushing aside the “wisdom” of their elders, and failing to attain the “high values” they were taught. Rabbi Heschel’s words are a challenge to all people, old and young, to end the myriad of ways we fool ourselves into believing our lowest way of being is necessary and just ‘business as usual’ for humanity. They are calling us to raise our standard of living to match the stature we are imbued with just because we are human beings. So far, we have failed to answer the call-from Moses to the Prophets to Christ to Mohammed up till today-will we answer it today, will we achieve the Independence that was declared on July 4, 1776?
I am heartened by the teaching above because it means I am not a failure, I still have time to engage in the “high values”, “insights” and “wisdom” I have within me. I still have the opportunity to repair old damages and even see the ones I have repaired in a new light. I am using this time in my “old age” (which doesn’t feel old) to reach higher levels of being-not hold onto resentments, allow hurts to pass quicker, see how stuck some people are and hang out with people who help me grow and learn even more. I am using this time to honor my insights instead of allowing myself to be talked out of them, I don’t need people to agree with me, I know what I know and what I don’t know (which is a lot), I am willing to learn. I am reflecting on the wisdom I ignored and using it now to enhance each day while continuing to learn more. This is my actions of Independence this day and every day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark