Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 73
“The shock of radical amazement, the humility born in awe and reverence, the austere discipline of unremitting inquiry and self-criticism are acts of liberating man from the routine way of looking only at those features of experience which are similar and regular, and opening his soul to the unique and transcendent.”(Insecurity of Freedom pg. 15)
Tonight is the Rabbinic holiday of Purim, when the Jews were saved from Haman (boo) and Mordechai (Yay) was honored by the King and Queen Esther saved the people Israel from extinction in Persia. It is a troubling holiday for many people because rather than show grace and compassion, when they had the opportunity, the Jews of Persia killed tens of thousands of people, a real “I’ll show you, you anti-semite”. It also is a holiday that ‘celebrates’ getting drunk as the Talmud says, “ad lo Yodea” “until you don’t know the difference between Mordechai and Haman”. Reading the words above, reading Jonathan Greenblatt’s ass-kissing praise of Trump’s arresting Mahmoud Khalil, I realize to celebrate the disastrous actions by the Jews of Persia and by some Jews ever since, like Baruch Goldstein, Meir Kahane, Netanyahu, the West Bank Settlers, we have to be drunk and not know the difference between good and evil not know the difference between right and wrong. Which is exactly what Khalil’s arrest shows, exactly what Trump’s administration is promoting and what a USEFUL IDIOT Greenblatt and other ‘good jews’ are!
Rather than having “the shock of radical amazement” change and motivate these assholes and know-it-alls to understand, see and fight for what is right and good, they are oblivious to even noticing the wonder that surrounds them because they live in a world of certainty and sureness-‘only I can fix it’, said by the one who is intent on breaking everything that makes us free and democratic. Yet, there are jews, christians, muslims, blacks, hispanics, who claim to be ‘god-fearing’ people who go against the dictate of Hillel: “ Be careful with ruling authorities, they don’t befriend a person unless it suits them and serves them, they seem like friends and don’t stand by you in your hour of distress”(Pirke Avot 2:3) and another one: “A brute is not afraid of sin…nor is someone who engages in too much business, wise. In a place where there are no humans, BE HUMAN.” (Ibid 2:5) Given the world today, I am amazed at Greenblatt’s words and actions of kissing the asses of the people in power and calling this “jewish” when Hillel the Elder, a revered Rabbi in the Talmud, tells us it is wrong! Of course Greenblatt and other Jews will defend their choices and Trump to the death because he “resonates” with the people. Haman(boo) resonated with the people, Stalin did also at first, Hitler, Sabbatai Zevi also resonated, were they also to be praised???
“Radical amazement”, “awe”, “reverence”, “humility”, “self-criticism”, “unremitting inquiry” are the only paths to “having an authentic awareness of that which is” as Rabbi Heschel says in Man is Not Alone. These traits reside within each and every person and those who choose to live into them are often derided as ‘head in the clouds’, ‘unrealistic’, ‘not living in the real world’, stupid, easily manipulated, etc. Rather than seeing themselves as imprisoned in their rational minds, in their desires and fears, in their need to have power or be close to it, Greenblatt and the other ‘useful idiots’ who are supporting Trump, who want a dissenter like Khalil deported are forgetting Germany in the 1930’s, they are forgetting America in the 1930’s, they are oblivious that the law being used to deport Khalil is the same one that was used to deport and not allow Jews into America during the McCarthy years and that was a great time for freedom, for civil liberties, wasn’t it?
Only through the ways described above can We the People have the experiences which will get us out of the routine “same shit different day” attitude and way of being in the world. Only through wonder can We the People truly see what is, what could be, what should be and how to get there. Our rational minds are the servants to help us get there and out intuitive minds are the seer, the visionary, the pathfinders for us to fulfill our soul’s purpose, to live into the “self we were created to be” as Thomas Merton says. We the People are being called to “unremitting inquiry”, Rabbi Heschel is demanding that we never stop asking the right questions so we can be in the right solutions. It is a hard way to live, Socrates taught: “an unexamined life is not worth living” some 2400 years ago, Malcom X taught “an examined life is painful”. As the saying goes: “no pain, no gain” which makes it ridiculous that We the People keep running away from true “humility” which comes from “awe and reverence”, that we keep being adjusted to the conventional notions and mental cliches of societal norms rather than be maladjusted like Moses, Abraham, the Prophets, the 20% of the people who left Egypt, Rather than be like the Jews of Persia and enjoy killing, We the People are able to be “liberating” ourselves through letting go of these old ideas, being self-critical to learn and grow, find and live into our individual uniqueness and transcendence. WILL YOU??
As a devotee of Rabbi Heschel and radical amazement, as someone who read the entire sugya of the story of “ad lo yodea” where Raba invites Rabbi Zera over for Purim-they both get drunk, Raba slits Rabbi Zera’s throat and then prays and he is healed. Next year, Raba invites Rabbi Zera over and the response is: “a miracle doesn’t occur every single time”! To the Jews who don’t want to know the difference tonight, I offer more than a few words of caution! As a drunk who knows the damage I inflicted in my drunkenness, I am deeply remorseful. As a human being who fell into the clutches of not being self-critical at times and was blinded by it, I offer many words of caution! Radical amazement is such a gift that is open to everyone. It takes humility, not mealy-mouthed head down, begging for scraps, true humility, knowing who one is, living a “unique and transcendent life” and helping another(s) do the same. It changes how I was with my daughter, Heather, acknowledging her as a person, not just ‘my child’, giving her agency and doing my best to ensure she knew I loved her as a person. This way of being is the path to the loving relationship I have with Harriet, it is also the reason I have spiritual friends and also the reason I am not always liked so much. I am certainly not everyone’s “cup of tea”. I can’t ‘go along to get along” like Greenblatt and many others do-not in my nature nor nurture-my father didn’t and I am not ‘politically correct’! While I know I am not always right, I do live “an examined life” and it is painful and the pain leads me to living in radical amazement, awe, reverence, humility more and more each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark