Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 58
“Every child is a prince; every man is obliged to feel that the world was created for his sake. Man is not the measure of all things, but the means by which to accomplish all tasks.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 13)
In the Jewish liturgy there is a prayer, Avinu Malkeynu which translates to “Our Parent, Our Sovereign” which, I believe, is the foundation for the first phrase above. Thinking about this prayer, it shows how much Judaism thinks of the human being and of God. God is sovereign, aka higher consciousness, power greater than ourselves, prime mover, whatever one calls the creative energy in the universe; and human beings are in the palace, we are children living in the palace, we are royalty and we have a purpose to fulfill. Each of us, as the Talmud teaches, has infinite worth and dignity, equal to everyone else in worth and dignity, and, finally, we all possess unique worth and dignity-we all are different and have unique qualities that separate us from one another while uniting us because we need one another’s uniqueness to ‘finish the job’. These two ideas are meant to, in my opinion, fuel the life of the Jew and non-Jew. Knowing we are all “princes and princesses” gives us a sense of duty, a sense of responsibility as it is used in the Jewish tradition-not entitlement! While there are many Jews who see their status as entitlement and create havoc, antithetical actions, because of their ‘entitlement’ status, this is not the intent of the first phrase above. It is a bastardization of the teachings of the Bible, of the Talmud and it is a sin against God.
The second half of the first sentence above is a tricky one. In fact, it can and has led to great catastrophes perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to understand the meaning of this phrase, who are supposed to be living examples of the wisdom, beauty and awe of this concept, yet they don’t. Instead, the rich, the royalty, the learned use this phrase to keep the masses in line, to invent the “prosperity gospels”, the validation for occupying the West Bank, taking of Ukraine, wanting to take Greenland, Canada, etc. Pastor Joel Osteen pays himself an annual salary of $54,000,000 from his church profits. Donald Trump’s idea is for America to take Gaza and develop it while the Palestinians who lived there are dispersed to other lands-like the Assyrians did with the Jews, like the Holy Roman Empire did in 1492, like so many countries have done to the Jews throughout the millennia. Vladimir Putin claiming that Russia was attacked by Ukraine and Trump, some Republicans going along with this LIE now, etc are examples of how this beautiful teaching, this grand idea can be abused, bastardized, and prooftext for evil!
The real meaning of the second half of the first sentence above is that human beings have an obligation to experience the world as being created for their sake in order to use their uniqueness, their talents to improve it-not rule it! This seems to have escaped the Clergy who preach it, the powerful who abuse it, the rest of us who willingly fall prey to the lies of the Osteen’s, the Prosperity Gospel pushers, the Bannon’s, the Miller’s, the Vought’s and 2025 projects. People seem to forget wisdom of Rabbi Simcha Bunim of P'shiskha who used to say that: “everyone should carry two slips of paper with them. On one we should write, “For me the whole world was created” and the other should say, “I am but dust and ashes.” We have to look at them when we change pants each day, when we reach for our money, for our keys, etc-i.e at least a few times a day. It is time for We, the People to demand the leaders of the world, the leaders of our faith traditions return to living an obligated life rather than an entitled life! We the People must change our ways, deciding to be an active participant in our life, in the life of our cities, states, countries and no longer allow the atrocities that these entitled bastards are perpetrating, those in the past that have become ‘ho hum’, those in the present and the ones in the future. It is way past time to put “throw the bums out” and we have to see this as one of the infinite tasks which we are measured by. It will not be easy, it will be frustrating, painful, dangerous, it will entail going against the grain, standing firm in the face of ridicule, an onslaught of hatred, possibly going to jail (think of Alexei Navalny) and even death. However as Patrick Henry said: “Give me liberty or give me death”.
We the People are being called to our obligation to live up to and into the lessons and actions of our ancestors, using the errors of our Biblical figures and in our history since the Bible was canonized. These lessons include the knowledge that the Maccabees defeated King Antiochus IV, Kings Saul and David protected the kingdoms of Judea and Israel (yes they were separate for a time before the great split) from the Philistines primarily, the American colonies defeated the British, the Baal Shem Tov and Hassidism prevailed over the objections of the ‘mainstream’ Jewish community leaders, Israel defeated the Arab Nations that attacked it in 1948, 1956, 1973, etc. We, the People have to demand the end of the reign of terror of King Donald, Co-King Musk, Putrid Putin, Bad Bibi, etc. We, the People have to rise up against the Reprehensible Republicans who are acting entitled instead of obligated. We, the People have to stand with and for one another’s uniqueness as badges of honor, recognize the princely nature of all human beings, all genders, all colors, all races. We, the People are being called in this moment to stand with one another against the arrogance and entitlement of the rich and the people in power. We are being given strength and purpose in the words above. To paraphrase Socrates: “An unobligated life is not worth living” and to paraphrase Malcolm X: “an obligated life is painful”. Both of these statements are true and We the People need to live into them both, walk thru the pain and reach the joy of being a “prince”, of fulfilling our need to be “obliged” and make our corner of the world better. We, the People need to answer the question: what were doing while the world burned, while the Fascists, the Deceivers were ruling? God forbid we say we did nothing. We the People also have to remember the words of Rabbi Tarfon in Pirke Avot 2:16: “We are not obligated to finish the work, neither are we free to desist from it”.
I believe it is time, past time to get into action! I have lived an obligated life for the past 36 years, I lived an obligated life for my first 15 and I was obligated even in my 20 year hiatus from decency in all my affairs. I believe in the royal nature of every human being, I believe we are all obliged to live into our infinite worth and dignity and to treat one another dignity. I also know I fall short and when I do there is T’Shuvah to get back on the path. I am screaming to everyone DO YOUR TSHUVAH and get on the path of being spiritual warriors and lets save our corner of the world together. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark