Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 63
“Judaism is forever engaged in a battle against man’s deeply rooted belief in fatalism and its ensuing inertia in social, moral, and spiritual conditions. Abraham started in rebellion agains his father and the gods of his time. His great distinction was not in being loyal and conforming, buy in defying and initiating.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 14)
Reading these words, thinking about the world in 1958 and now, I am fearful that “Judaism” is losing its “battle against man’s deeply rooted belief in fatalism”. We are witnessing the destruction of the norms of democracy as we have known it, the destruction of the defense of the constitution as we have seen administrations protect it before, the cruelty of a wannabe “mafia don” and his henchmen who are using him for their gain, for their power, and will kill him when they succeed, just like in the movies and real life. “Don Trump” learned nothing from the betrayal of “Sammy the Bull” it seems and, most importantly, the ‘christian’ nationalists selling of their fatalism, “christian” idolators selling “fatalism” and the “inertia” that comes along with it to their ‘flocks’ has led so many people to be deceived sheep who are happy to have their medicaid slashed, their social safety nets destroyed, their freedom’s greatly limited so the “don” and his ‘capos’ can enrich themselves-after all we all know that the “family” has to ‘wet its beak’ at the cost to the masses!
What is so deeply saddening is that the words above were not heeded in 1958 nor subsequently and we are paying for our ignoring them now. The bill has come due and, just as the Israelites in Egypt, we still think we are immune from the consequences of not paying our debt, not protecting freedom “to all its inhabitants therein”, and our slow-walking into servitude. This is so apparent in the ways the ADL has ‘gone over to the other side’ by defending Musk, setting up a fund that is investing in Tesla, Amazon, etc so it can stand up against the myriad of anti-semitic assaults on Jews in America. It could be called ironic, I call it fucking ridiculous that the ADL is willing to support and defend a Nazi sympathizer, a racist from South Africa and his companies in order to ‘make money’ which they say is going to fight the very core of this asshole’s being! Give me a break!! Not to be outdone, an Orthodox group Israel365 is honoring that “great zionist” Steve Bannon-an avowed white supremacist! Somehow, these frumma Yidden (strict Jews) , these “grossa machers” (big shots) have twisted Torah, Bible, Jewish History into such a pretzel, that they believe people who act like the Pharaoh and his courtiers did in the first chapters of Exodus, people who adhere to a way of being that has resulted in terrible experiences for Jews are “our friends”!!! Talk about “inertia in social, moral, and spiritual conditions”! WTF???!!
I am trolled by people who believe the bullshit of Israel365, Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL and other right-wing Jews, who believe the mendacity of Bibi and his gang of thugs, and I say-God Bless you and I pray every day for your eyes to be opened before it is too late. It is a tragedy when we realize not only that our heroes and people we count on to protect and defend our freedoms, our rights, our faith betray us. Here, we have the people who are telling us who they are, how they will betray us and so many Jews are living in the “inertia in (their) social, moral and spiritual conditions”. We, the People are being called today and everyday by our faith, by our spiritual discipline of Judaism to fight against the “fatalism” being promoted by so-called ‘religious leaders’, by so-called ‘defenders of Israel’, by so-called ‘freedom fighters of MAGA’. It is time for We, the People to relearn the lessons of Abraham’s life. It is time for We, the People to be in “rebellion against the fathers and the gods of his time” and stand up for The Ineffable One, stand up for the way of being the Bible teaches us, stand up and rebel against even God when God is unjust-as Abraham did in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is time for We, the People to say NO to the YOKE OF TRUMP, MUSK, MAGA, BIBI, PUTIN and YES to accepting the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven!
There is only one way to do this- let go of our need to be liked, let go of our need to enrich ourselves at the cost of our souls, let go of the voice of perfection that rattles around in our minds, let go of the voice of shame and blame that is a constant companion and gets exploited by the grifters, let go the fears being exploited by the deceivers in order to control us. This letting go of our worst fears means we are no longer controlled by them and no longer can our vulnerabilities be used against us-the ultimate evil practiced by one human towards another. All of the dictators, fascist leaders, communist leaders have used people’s vulnerabilities against them and created an atmosphere of evil and suspicion. We the People have to say NO to these liars and YES to CHOOSE LIFE.
We do this by enhancing our spiritual condition. “Judaism” is a path towards wholeness and spiritual health. It is a way out of our “fatalism” and it doesn’t allow us to live in inertia. Each mitzvah, each “thou shall” and “thou shall not” are for our continued growth and to help us with our poor eyesight. While some faiths promote a fatalism that teaches ‘this is your lot in life and the next world will be better’, Judaism reminds us that we all have choices, we can “proclaim freedom”, we can do T’Shuvah and change, we can repair our old errors and ways, we can welcome the stranger, care for the poor and the needy, redeem the captives, “love our neighbor as we love ourselves”, we can live the hope of the psalmist, the passion of the prophets and the courage of Abraham, we can follow the leadership of Moses and reject the lies of Korach. We have these choices and the only way to make them is to get our own “social, moral and spiritual conditions” in order. We the People are in desperate need of spiritual counseling, not just therapy. We need to have a “Physician of the Soul”, as Maimonidies writes, to help us do a deep cleaning of our spiritual arteries and clear out the plaque that has made our spiritual veins so constricted that the “fatalism” and “inertia” of the mendacious ones sound true! We, the People have the opportunity to take heed to the words above and take the nest right action right here, right now.
I have fought this battle for my whole life and, for a period of 23 years-15-37, I lost the battle and everyone around me, people I never knew were harmed greatly. Since I have accepted and engaged with Judaism on the level Rabbi Heschel is speaking about, I have benefited greatly from spiritual counseling and continue to offer it to another(s) for their benefit and their ability to ward off the liars and idolators. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark