Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 27
“Yet the task of religion is to be a challenge to the stabilization of values…The mind of the prophets was not religion-centered. They dwelt more with the affairs of the royal palace, on the ways and views of the courts of justice than on the problems of the priestly rituals at the temple of Jerusalem.” ( Insecurity of Freedom pg. 9)
Religion is being used by the grifters and charlatans to be a cover for their irreligious actions. Some of us watch in horror the ways clergy of all faiths hail the idolators, the liars as ‘the anointed one’ and do whatever it takes to find and stay in the autocrats ‘good graces’. Whether it is Mark Zuckerberg, Rabbi Ari Berman, the myriad of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Catholics, who bend the knee and kiss the ring (and ass) of people like Putin, Orban, Trump, Bannon, Musk, Bibi, we are all “missing the mark” of our religious heritage! When our values become enshrined in stone, when the words of the Bible, the Declaration of Independence of the U.S., of Israel, the Constitution, become so accepted as true that people ignore the words and the spirit, we are no longer living up to “the task of religion”. This is the challenge and the tragedy of modernity. We have come to use and abuse religious life to be a salve for our wrong-doings, for our greed, our self-centeredness, our abuse of people and our grab for ultimate power. Instead of acknowledging our powerlessness, instead of embracing our imperfections, we see too many ‘religious’ people doing exactly what the Bible tells us not to; whore ourselves, murder our souls and the souls of another(s), steal from anyone and everyone we can, lie with reckless abandon, covet everything our neighbor has that is good, valuable and then take it from them. While this is not a new phenomenon in the history of the world, it seems to be on steroids in this century and, to people who know better, to people who have sight, we ask in the words of Pete Seeger: “When will they(we) ever learn?”
It is exactly this “task of religion” that the prophets were responding to-not the “priestly rituals”, not “religion-centered”, rather they railed agains the “stabilization of values” that was taking place both in the “royal palace” and the ‘cover’ the priests were giving to the rich and powerful. I am hearing Rabbi Heschel remind us there is no “religion” without the principles being lived out in all of our affairs, by all the people. King David was held responsible for the death of Uriah by God and Nathan, the prophet in his court; to his credit he did not deny it, he did not use his power to jail Nathan, he admitted his sin and was remorseful. The same is true when Judah admits that Tamar is “more righteous than I”. Yet, today, we find the same conditions as the time of the prophets Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, et al and the people dealing with “the affairs of the royal palace, on the ways and views of the courts of justice” are being fed excuses and encouragement by the ‘religious’ establishments, by the ‘religious leaders/clergy’ of all faiths. This is allowed to happen because We, the People have gone along with ‘those people’ taking care of the ‘religious’ tasks and not bothering us with the morality of our actions, not railing against our imprisoning of the poor, the needy, the stranger. We, the People have turned a blind eye to the values and principles of our faith traditions in favor of seeking wealth and power. We, the People have gone along with the people in power scapegoating the Jews, the Muslims, the Blacks, the Hispanics, the Asians, etc rather than be responsible for our actions, our perversion of the “courts of justice”. We have turned a blind eye to the “affairs of the royal palace” by electing and being ruled by the mendacious people who call themselves ‘christian nationalists’ and purport to follow the Bible while doing everything that Christ railed against, everything that Christ stood in opposition to!
Where are the prophets when we need them, some people ask. This, of course, is the wrong question. Where is the prophetic voice within each of us? We are descendants of the prophets, we are the ones being called “to be a challenge to the stabilization of values”. We are the people who have to focus on the perversion of justice, we are the people who have to stand up and say NO to the lies that we have been buying, we are the people who have to clean out the schmutz that is clogging our spiritual arteries and perverting the morality, the justice, the truth upon which every religion and spiritual discipline are founded upon. We the People have to engage in our own “dark night of the soul” so we can engage in T’Shuvah/amends and repair the damage both to our own souls, to our own minds and the souls, minds, etc of the people around us whom we have harmed. We, the People have to deal with the affairs that impact the voiceless and the powerless just as the Bible, New Testament, etc teach us. All these spiritual texts, which have within them eternal truth and wisdom and the most horrendous ‘sin’ that has been done throughout the millennium is the power-brokers use of the very spiritual texts that deny and denounce the actions they take in ‘god’s’ name. Is it any wonder young people want nothing to do with religion? Is it any wonder they are willing to go along with the autocrat because at least they know and the autocrat knows he is lying and will say and do anything for power, is shameless about it and the young people have exempted themselves from the mendacity of religion so the fact that someone is shameless in lying, knows they are lying becomes refreshing! HOW SICK IS THIS!!
This soul-sickness is something I suffered from the age of 15 till 35. It is the same soul-sickness that all addicted people suffer from, not just people addicted to drugs, gambling, sex, etc; also those of us addicted to the “big lie”, the “adjustment to societal norms and mental cliches”, those of us who are addicted to our apathy and have become “indifference to evil”. Those of us who are providing cover for the “royal palace” and “the courts of justice” are also suffering a soul-sickness. It was only after immersing myself in the words of the Bible have I been able to recover my authentic self, to find my voice and way so I am worthy of being “a descendant of the prophets”. Through the wrestling with the text, through the battle between my rationalizations and my “knowing in my bones”, I have been able to scream from the rooftops about the doings of the “royal palace” in my own home, in my own work, in my country and in other countries. I am at the most peace and serenity when I am living the words, the deeds, the actions of the prophetic message, when I am willing to be Nathan and not Rabbi Ari Berman. It is not pretty, I am a bull in the china shop, at times ‘politically incorrect’, and I stand for and with truth no matter who is in front of me nor the political and social cost. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark