Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 3 Day 291
National Month of Repentance and Change
“Does this demand - the essence of Jewish law - signify an esoteric symbol, a mystical act? It signifies a close, this-worldly and everyday act. The establishment of the kingly dignity of God occurs now and in the present, through and in us.” (Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity pg.68)
The “demand” Rabbi Heschel is speaking of is “to take the yoke of the kingdom of God upon ourselves”, which I wrote about yesterday. This quote above reflects both the grandeur and audacity of the Hassidic Movement which Rabbi Heschel was brought up in, his audacity and grandeur, and the grandeur with which Jewish law is being described. He calls upon us to see taking this “yoke” is not some “mystical act” which will transform us into a new sphere/level of spiritual life, it is not some “esoteric symbol”that we can discuss and meditate on, rather it is a way of living in the here and now, in the present and without hiding, without blaming another, without complaining, etc. He is calling upon all of us for “the establishment of the kingly dignity of God” right here, right now.
Isn’t it sad at how badly we fail to follow through on this demand, on the call of Torah, of Jewish living to establish ‘the kingly dignity of God” “now and in the present”? We are witnessing instead, led by mendacious clergy people the denigration desecration of the dignity of God by some Rabbis here in America and in Israel, the bastardization of the teachings of Jesus by the “prosperity gospel” deceivers and the so-called “christian” nationalists, the power grabbing of the Imams and Ayatollahs rather than surrendering to Allah and seeking peace. We are being led to the slaughter by the very people who are supposed to be leading us to “the Promised Land”!
As Rabbi Heschel said to President Kennedy; “We forfeit the right to worship God…Churches, synagogues have failed. They must repent.”(June 1963). We still have not repented, in fact, we have grown our failure exponentially through so-called ‘religious actions’, which are nothing more than a power grab, a way of establishing autocracy, theocracy, etc-not even attempting to “proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants therein”(Lev 25:10), which I quote a lot because it is part of the essence of being a priest, a clergy person! Yet, we continue to fail, we continue to blame, explain rather than repent. We claim to “take the yoke of the kingdom of God upon ourselves” and we are really just giving the “kingly dignity of God” lip service and worshiping at the altar of Boards of Directors, Church elders, and other intermediaries that proclaim ‘I know God’s will’ while they let women die because of abortion bans which are not talked about in the Bible at all!! Yet, these ‘holy rollers, these men and women who claim to be messengers of God and are really just idolators who proclaim Trump is the anointed one of their god and they are dragging the world to a bloody battle.
The Rabbis in Israel who are calling for the death of the Palestinians, who support the terrible settlers raids and killings, who want Gaza to be part of Israel, are just as bad as the christian idolators! They read the same Bible as I do, as many of us do and they fail to see what happens when they promote senseless hatred, when they are so close to power and want so much power that they bastardize themselves and prostrate themselves at the false altar of idolatry. When they constantly and consistently denigrate the “kingly dignity of God” by their actions against fellow human beings, other people who are also created in the image of the divine, who also have infinite worth and dignity. Their hunger for power, their lying about what the Bible says, their ignoring of the words and warnings of the prophets will bring about the ruination of Israel as a democratic state if they are not stopped = of course BIbl doesn’t want to stop them for his own personal gain and neither Bibi nor these Rabbis and their followers give a damn about the Hostages.
And, of course, one is not allowed to say these truths in Synagogue or Church or the Mosque because it would “upset the donors” so Rabbis, Priests, Ministers, Imams are being controlled by their Boards instead of looking out for and promoting the “kingly dignity of God” in the here and now. Rather than screaming about the idolatry and blasphemy being done in the name God, clergy are too busy worrying about what someone is going to think of them. They are too worried about which identity group is going to be offended. Rather than lead the people out of slavery as Moses did, rather than live among the whores, the thieves, the homeless like Jesus did, many of the clergy of today are more interested in living among the rich, of staying enslaved and putting down any revolts by masses so the rich stay in power, they keep their money and give their leftover ‘change’ to the Temple, Church, Mosque. When clergy forget that God is their employer, when they forget that the “kingly dignity of God occurs now and in the present, through and in us“ they have lost their way, lost their ability to hear the call of God and the universe and the cries of the poor, the stranger, the needy, the widow and the orphan. They NEED TO REPENT! RIGHT NOW!
I am guilty of not always honoring the “kingly dignity of God” and I also have never lost sight of my obligation to do so. My failures, my ‘sins’, all begin with losing sight of the “kingly dignity of God” in every experience of daily living. I also know I will never not fail at times and this is important for all of us to recognize so we don’t just say “fuck it-I can never be perfect, I can never get it right”. I said this and used this way of thinking to validate the criminal life I lived prior to my recovery. In my study yesterday with Rabbi Danny Maseng, we looked at the last chapter of Samuel I which describes the death of King Saul, Jonathan and the his other sons. I realized that the actions that defy “the kingly dignity of God” cause a plague not only on the person, King Saul, but on everyone around him-in this case, Israel. Because of his jealousy, David had to flee and he didn’t have his best fighter, commander to go into battle with. Because of the actions I took, my whole family was infected. Because of the fear of my fellow Clergy, our world is suffering from a plague of indifference and mendacity. I didn’t let the Board tell me what to say, I was audacious, too much so at times, and bold, sometimes offensively, and I spoke the truth that my soul, my spirit put into my mouth without fear or favor. I became a liability because of my inappropriate way of expressing my intolerance of mendacity. A true both/and-I was wrong and I was correct. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark