Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 79
“Loyalty to freedom means loyalty to the substance of freedom. But such loyalty must be actualized again and again. Here our way of living must change: it must open the sight of sublime horizons under which we live.” (Insecurity of Freedom pg. 16)
The first sentence above reminds us to remember what “the substance of freedom” is. It is an interesting question as “substance” comes from the Latin meaning “standing firm” and “being/essence”. Hearing Rabbi Heschel demand of us to “stand firm” in the “essence” of our “being” and that essence is the “unalienable right” to live free! Loyalty means “give firm and constant support” and “allegiance to” which begs the question what are we supporting in the ways we live, work, play, in our families, in our communities, in our voting, in our faith traditions, in our spirituality? “Freedom”encompasses our entirety, it is something we have to constantly check in on, it is a way of being that is constantly under assault from within as well as from the outside. It is hard to live free as living free entails a constant examination of our daily living and as Malcolm X said: “an examined life is painful”.
While we may have little power over the outside forces which are constantly attempting to deny us “freedom”, we do have power over our inside forces which tell us to go along with “Der Fuhrer”, the autocratic leader(s) because “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” thinking, because we are afraid to stand up for the “poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the needy” as the Bible demands of us. Instead, we allow our inside immature, fearful voices to convince us that “loyalty to freedom” means going along with the grifters, the liars, the deceivers, the powers that be. This is true for both ends of the continuum, progressive and conservative, total libertarian and total fascist. As we are in Lent, Ramadan, and preparation for Passover, it is important to realize what all of these Holy Days represent: a surrender to God and, more importantly, the beginning of our journey to “freedom”. “Freedom” from the “harsh labors of the Egyptians” as well as “freedom” from the slave mentality. Yet, it seems both Clergy and congregant have missed this memo from God, from our faith traditions as we hear no message of political relevance in some Synagogues, Mosques and Churches and insane messages that bastardize the essence of Christ’s teachings, Moses’ teachings, the call of the prophets and what Mohammed said! While we do not have the power to stop the charlatans and the mendacious ones, we do have the power to say NO to these idolators and their minions and as Hillel says: “If not now, when?”
Here again, Rabbi Heschel is being a ‘harsh taskmaster’ because he is reminding us that “loyalty to the substance of freedom” is not a one and done proposition. It is a daily, hourly action that “must be actualized again and again” which tells us to be aware, to be present, to not allow ourselves to be lulled into some utopia dream state by the orators, by the “enemy of my enemy”. It is hard to be constantly on guard for the attacks on “freedom” from within as well as from outside of us. Our rational minds, our egos, our need to ‘get even’, our ‘poor me’ attitudes as well as our disease of self-deception all conspire to convince us that we are being loyal to “freedom” when we join with the autocrat who is going to execute as much cruelty on our perceived ‘enemies’ as possible. It is a spiritually bankrupt society and individual who cheers the tearing down of the scaffolding on which our “freedom” is built. It is the ultimate dis-loyalty to “freedom and we seem to be incapable of realizing this because we are constantly going along with others who want to tear down the “freedom” of ‘those people’ and/or initiating such actions ourselves. We seem to be incapable of “standing firm” in our “being” free. Rather than realize the God’s promise and reminder that each of us will have our own place, each of us is unique and necessary to make the world better, each of us has “a corner of the garden” as Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz teaches, we need to have it all, we need to deny another their rightful place and share, we need to make them slaves and put upon them harsh burdens-forgetting what happened to Egypt and Egyptian society when they did that: “don’t you realize that Egypt is lost”(Ex.10:7).
This is why staying loyal “to the substance of freedom” is so crucial for We the People! The first two sentences are critical to our remaining free, to our keeping the Covenant with God that we renew each day in our daily prayers, in our spiritual practices. It is not enough to think good thoughts, to do something nice, as I am hearing Rabbi Heschel this morning. These are important, don’t get me wrong AND, We the People are being called to “stand firm” in our opposition to anyone and anything that impedes our journey towards freedom. We the People are being told to remember the “essence of our being” is to be free and we have to return to this essence over and over again because history has proven that We the People get lazy and fat, we forget that “loyalty” is crucial and not a given, we ignore the warning signs, the signs that erosion of our “freedoms” is happening because we live in our rational minds and we have become “adjusted to conventional norms and mental cliches”. These two sentences are demanding we respond to the unasked questions: What are we loyal to: societal norms, getting ahead, going along, bending the knee to authority? What are we loyal to: Spiritual maturity, Freedom, God, Truth, Standing face to face with one another, living into the Covenant we remake daily with one another, with our significant others, with family, friends, co-workers, employees, employers; are we “standing firm” in the grace we have been given and the “freedoms” we have received? Do we guard and cherish our “being free”? Are we making “free-will moral choices”? We the People are being called upon not just by Rabbi Heschel’s words, which seem so prescient when we realize they were spoken in 1958, we are being called upon by the current events; are we going to be loyal to our allies or are we going to succumb to lure of the autocrat who will ‘make’ us Russian?
“Loyalty” has defined my way of living forever. I was loyal to the gangster life, I was loyal to my sister, I was loyal to the principles of being a criminal and I have been loyal to recovery and to living the principles of the Bible. I stand firm in my beliefs, I am willing to be laughed at, ostracized, betrayed, loved and embraced because of my “loyalty to the substance of freedom”. I don’t walk away and even when people have walked away from me, I am always willing to accept them back-this is what the Bible teaches is ‘unconditional love’. It is hard to actualize this loyalty over and over and I find it exhilarating and awesome. It is an experience of “radical amazement” for me to continue to stay loyal to “freedom” in all my affairs. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark.