Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 29
“Turning from the discourses of the great metaphysicians to the orations of the prophets, one may feel as if he were going down from the realm of the sublime to an area of trivialities. Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of definitions and demonstrations, one is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and affairs of the market place. The prophets make so much ado about paltry things, employing the most excessive language in speaking about flimsy subjects.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 9)
Digesting and immersing myself in the wisdom above today, the day after so many norms have been broken, so much of the chaos sowed by Project 2025 is being reaped, people convicted of sedition are being released so the autocrat can have his “private militia”, many people are in spiritual turmoil over what is happening, and today is the 59th anniversary of my father’s death, according to the Jewish Calendar; I am overwhelmed, volcanic, awed, and determined.
Remembering that these words were delivered and written in 1958, which supposedly were “the good old days” and Rabbi Heschel is speaking at a conference on “Religion in a Free Society”, dealing with the problems of the moment like the execution of the Rosenbergs because they were Jewish, not because they were spies(we know Ethel was innocent and the government which fried her also knew). He had witnessed the House Un-American Activities Committee’s fascist ways, seeing the McCarthy Hearings and, I imagine, watching with horror the persecution of people with no real proof, just innuendo and made up stories by people who did not want to suffer the same fate, like Elia Kazan. At the same time as these horrific actions were happening, slums were being maintained as slums, people of color did not earn the same as white people, and the “great metaphysicians” were dealing with “timeless issues”, especially the white clergy in this country. By and large, Jews had become assimilated and, just having been relieved of the quotas put on them at universities but not for immigration nor medical schools, they were reluctant to “rock the boat”.
I hear Rabbi Heschel reminding us of our heritage, of our obligation to fulfill what we are “chosen” for-to promote the message of the prophets, to rail against the mistreatment of the widow and the orphan, to abhor and throw out the corrupt judges, to regulate and create a level playing field in the “affairs of the market place”. This is what we Jews are chosen for-not some bullshit that makes us any more special than anyone else, than any other group, it is for the promotion of the words and deeds of the prophets, it is to spread a way of living that honors the dignity of each and every human being without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity. Our “chosenness” is to “make so much ado about paltry things” and to stop trying to curry favor with the Klan, the white supremacists, the power brokers. Our “chosenness” is to have a seat at the table, like the prophets did in order to call the government, the powerful, the wealthy, the clergy to task for their lying, mendacious ways. I hear Rabbi Heschel’s words about having reverence for life from his interview with Carl Stern and how that is at the core of his writing above. While the “metaphysicians” are important and their discussions are interesting, if they don’t lead to action-they are a waste of time and energy. The prophets did not engage in these types of pontifications because they were/are concerned about what is happening here and now, what person is being mistreated because doing this makes the abuser feel good? This is true with abuses of power, abuses of equality, sexual abuses, financial abuses, etc, this is the fear of being ruled by an autocrat and his/her oligarch friends-we will all get screwed over, especially the people who voted her/him into office.
In thinking of my father, z”l today, I think of the abuse he suffered because he was Jewish, both in the marketplace and in the Army. I think of the dignity that he showed to Black Men when he took over a business, where the white Jewish owner conveniently forgot to mention that he had taken a $20,000.00 loan out against it, he raised the pay of Black men to what white men were making for the same job-every white man quit and no white man would go to work for him because he was a N lover! I think of how he taught his sons, my sister wasn’t old enough to understand, to treat all people with respect and dignity, be it our aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbors, or a stranger on the street-all people had value and were important. He believed that you have to do 1.5 day’s work each day as a show of gratitude for having a job, for making a living. He taught us the importance of knowing our inner life, he knew mine and my brothers. He was a salesman, he had a smile for everyone, he was welcomed in the places where he did business and hardly anyone had a bad word to say about him. In his own way, while we did not have money, he taught us the importance of giving and standing up for principles and values-we gave Tzedakah every week and we helped anyone who needed it. My father has always been a giant figure for me, he had flaws, he was far from perfect and he knew how to and lived being human.
This brings me to today, Rabbi Heschel’s Yahrzeit was last Saturday, MLK day was yesterday and today is my father’s Yahrzeit-all observances of people who cared, who took action on their principles and values, even if it went against their own self-interests. Yesterday, the wanna-be autocrat decided he could change the Constitution he had just sworn to uphold, he proclaimed his love of ‘law and order’ and ‘police’ while pardoning and commuting the sentences of 1500+ people who attacked the Capital Police on Jan.6, 2020! He is doing everything he can to test the will of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and us. We the People must not falter, must not fail in our opposition to oligarchy, to kleptocracy, to autocracy. It is time for all of us, Jew and Christian, Muslim and Buddhist, to stand together to “care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, the needy” “to welcome the stranger because we were strangers in Egypt” and in America-Donald Trump-your grandfather was an immigrant, asshole. We, the People have to stand together to fulfill the words on the Liberty Bell, to make the intentions of our founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence come alive-“all people are created equal” and all of us have “certain unalienable rights…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I pledge allegiance to the constitution, to the Bible, to the words of the prophets and am asking you to as well. My father did, MLK did, Rabbi Heschel did- will you? God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark