Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel

Year 3 Day 280

National Days of Repentance and Change

TO PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, THE WHITE HOUSE, JUNE 16, 1963

I LOOK FORWARD TO PRIVILEGE OF BEING PRESENT AT MEETING TOMORROW AT 4 P. M. LIKELIHOOD EXISTS THAT NEGRO PROBLEM WILL BE LIKE THE WEATHER. EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT IT BUT NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT. PLEASE DEMAND OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT NOT JUST SOLEMN DECLARATION. WE FORFEIT THE RIGHT TO WORSHIP GOD AS LONG AS WE CONTINUE TO HUMILIATE NEGROES. CHURCH SYNAGOGUES HAVE FAILED. THEY MUST REPENT. ASK OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO CALL FOR NATIONAL REPENTANCE AND PERSONAL SACRIFICE. LET RELIGIOUS LEADERS DONATE ONE MONTH’S SALARY “TOWARD FUND FOR NEGRO HOUSING AND EDUCATION. I PROPOSE THAT YOU MR. PRESIDENT DECLARE STATE OF MORAL EMERGENCY. A MARSHALL PLAN FOR AID TO NEGROES IS BECOMING A NECESSITY. THE HOUR CALLS FOR HIGH MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY. ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL” (Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity)

During the Month of Elul and every day of every month, Rabbi Eliezer says we should do T’Shuvah. Maimonidies defines T’Shuvah as a complete inventory of our actions that day, in previous days as well. Given this “atza tova”, good advice, I think it is crucial to look at how we have “done” something about the “Negro Problem” and all of the other problems that racism, xenophobia, fear and hatred bring about. I think it is important to balance our view of ourselves and our leaders, mostly however, ourselves. Many religious leaders have called for more tolerance, more understanding and more welcoming of the stranger into our communities and into our congregations. There has been more and more inviting of faith leaders of other religions to speak in Temples, Mosques, Churches, there is more interfaith work being done now than at any time in our past. We see the melding of faiths to march for civil rights again, we see the meeting of the spirits to call for lifting people out of poverty, of no longer criminalizing being poor and a tremendous outcry for reform of our criminal justice system that is both racist and anti-poor people. We all need to look at our own actions which have “done” something about racism, about injustice, about ensuring the rights of everyone because as Rev. King said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail. Seeing wherever and whenever we have stood for justice, stood against racism, welcomed the stranger, lifted a person up, done Tzedakah, is important for us to see the whole picture of our year, not get bogged down in what we didn’t do and see more of the whole picture of our ways of living well and not-so-well. Remember, seeing the good is important so we can continue to enhance the good as we lessen the not-so-good in our daily living.

“Demand of… Personal Involvement” is not just for “Religious Leaders”, it is for all of us. Looking at the past year(s), we need to see how we have personally stood up for the weak and the poor, the needy and the stranger in all of the subtle and not-so-subtle ways they have been ‘picked upon’, ‘bullied’, ‘blamed for society’s ills’, etc. When we challenge the ‘conventional thinking’ of people who blame all of the problems on ‘those people’, on “those immigrants who are poisoning the blood of our people, our country” we are getting personally involved in standing up for turner, standing up for one of the most, if not the most mentioned principle in the first 5 books of the Bible, “Care for the stranger, the poor, the needy, the orphan and the widow”. It is vital that we see how we have been personally involved in helping raise people up from being put down, how we have refrained from joining the crown that bullies, that blames and we stand firm next to, we support the stranger, etc from beside and we lead them to the same ‘promised land’ that our ancestors have led us to. The reason this is so vital is we tend to ignore the good we do as if it is no big deal and it is a big deal!! We have to be responsible for the good we do as well as the errors we make.

In our inventory we also have to see how we have honored the people around us and people we don’t even know. When we use an invention that was created by another human being for good and for the purpose it was meant for, this is a way of honoring the inventor. When we say hello to another human being, whether we know them or not, we are honoring the divine in them and in ourselves. When we help another person, open a door, let someone in while driving(even if we don’t want to:)), when we support the people around us in following their passions and purpose, when we donate to a charity that helps people realize their dreams, helps people recover their authenticity, we are honoring humanity. When we learn from our teachers, from our ancestors, when we study ancient wisdom without the commentaries so we can imbue what the words and the context mean to us without fear nor favor, we are honoring the gifts of those who have come before us. When we argue with the different interpretations and commentaries on history, on art, on spiritual matters for the sake of learning and growing, we are honoring our own spirits and minds. These are some of the ways we are not humiliating another! Our challenge is to find ways to enhance these positive ways of being and do more of them during each and every day.

I know the ways I have done both, I am proud that I have been able to take the next right action sooner rather than later in most of my recovery years. I am not proud of the times I have not. I am grateful for my ability to be personally involved in my life, in my family’s life, in the lives of those who sought my aid and comfort. I am humbled by the immense amount of teaching and learning I have gathered from so many other people-be they Rabbis, Priests, Drug Addicts, Alcoholics, Businesspeople, Artists, young and old. I am blessed to be able to learn from the Holy Texts I am privileged to read in their originals and to seek new experiences with these texts each time I engage with them. I am beyond joy because of being able to honor people for what they bring and not just see their flaws. I see my flaws daily and I am grateful to see the good I do each day as well. Enhancing the good is the goal today and every day! I have been listening to binary dialogue, either/or thinking and spewing for a long time and I know when I did my Chesbon, I realize the grey and the both/and of living. I know that there are no easy solutions and simplicity is found in our goodness and our ability to seek the higher plane of goodness for another and for me. No more binary-seek the whole picture is the path to Truth and wholeness for me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark