Daily Life Lessons from Rabbi Heschel
Year 4 Day 95
“The insecurity of freedom is a bitter fact of historical experience. In times of unemployment, vociferous demagogues are capable of leading the people into a state of mind in which they are ready to barter their freedom for any bargain. In times of prosperity hidden persuaders are capable of leading the same people into selling their conscience for success. Unless a person learns how to rise daily to a higher plane of living, to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs, will he in a moment of crisis insist upon loyalty to freedom?”(Insecurity of Freedom pg 18)
The last sentence above is what I am hearing loud and clear in this moment and have in every moment since December 10, 1986, the last time I was arrested. In fact, even before that date, the idea that I have to “rise daily to a higher plane” was something I knew and beat myself up about when I could not. It has been the bane of my existence forever. This idea, of course, is expressed in the Bible when God asks Cain:”why are you angry, why is your face fallen? If you do well, acceptance, if you don’t, negativity couches at your door, it desires you much and you can rule it.”(Gen.4:6-7).
What seems so clear to me today, is that without engaging our ability to ‘master’ the negativity inside of us and outside of us, we can never be free! All of our talk of freedom is inane and boring without our engagement with the negativity/Yetzer HaRa that is within us and using it for good, not selfish needs. Being able to “rise daily to a higher plane of living” is an essential element of our ability to be free and to maintain our freedom. For some, this is a new concept and as I am writing this, I am realizing this nuance that I am not sure I was aware of consciously prior to re-reading this teaching of Rabbi Heschel.
In these times, like all times, when people are interested in “where’s mine”, “this is mine and you can’t have it”, “fuck the poor, they are unloved by God if they are poor”, and other such bullshit, “rise daily to a higher plane of living” is all about their selfish desires. The idea of “to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs” is about as stupid an idea as possible to these people. Asking Trump, Vought, Miller, et al to “rise daily to a higher plane” for them is the same as asking them to be more cruel, make more money off of their grifts, be more racist, hateful and destructive. It is crucial for us to realize that when people are spiritually ill, speaking to them in ways we speak to the spiritual seeker is like talking to a deaf person. We are told “do not curse the deaf”, “don’t put a stumbling block before the blind”, yet when we think of the spiritually ill person, think of a person who revels in cruelty, We the People have to speak to them in the language they can understand, not the language that We the People want to speak in. The ‘ruling class’ in this country right now is worse than it has ever been, the people in charge are making the far-left progressives look better than they should! They are making some people wax nostalgically for Nixon and Agnew! Yet, the only language Trump, Putin, Netanyahu understand is the language of strength, the use of the power, We the People have within us. It is not to convince them through weapons, it is to let them know their time is short, that We the People are going to “insist upon loyalty to freedom” from ourselves and one another which is something they cannot take away from us.
Here we are, 5 days from celebrating the liberation of the 12 Tribes of Israel, some other slave populations, knowing that there is a possibility that the text in the Bible points to only 20% or maybe 50% of the people actually left! When we are so enslaved, so burdened down with what is happening on the outside that we do not take the time to engage with our inner life, there is no way for a person “to rise daily to a higher plane of living”, we see in the story of Moses killing the taskmaster and then being taunted about it by Jews, that even when one “cares for that which surpasses him” one is suspect by people because of their own inability to do the same. “What’s the gimmick”, “what is the con he is running now” are questions people ask when one “surpasses” oneself in order to “care for” another human being. “Why do you care” was a daily question asked of me when I was working and the answer of “you are a human being, you are important, you matter” was refreshing, gave people a moment to catch their breath, and because they did not have a practice to “rise daily to a higher plane of living” they were suspicious. Isn’t this just so sad-we suspect those who reach out and go along with the assholes who want to screw us over??!!
We the People, in these days before Passover, in the 12 days before Easter, are being called to let go of the leavening that surrounds our souls, that is blocking our hearts from accepting the “letters of Torah”. We the People are commanded to be one grain of sand better each day, we are not commanded to be perfect. We the People are needed to stop the suspicion around rising “to a higher plane of living”, around “to care for that which surpasses us”. We the People are needed to be the prophetic voices of today, going to the “gates of the City”, speaking truth to power, sitting with the people that are rejected by the “clergy who believe the poor are unloved by God”, who have served our country and thrown away by a government that is too involved with paperwork that with service. Again, this is not just an issue for today, it is an issue that has plagued us as a nation, as a human race forever! Yet, We the People have the spiritual wherewithal to change what is happening, what has happened and influence what will happen. We the People, can and must be diligent to “learn how to rise daily to a higher plane of living, to care for that which surpasses his immediate needs” and, as it says in Pirke Avot, practice random acts of lovingkindness which will keep the world from falling. We the People must STAND UP to the bullies, SPEAK UP to the liars, and “INSIST upon loyalty to FREEDOM” from our elected officials.
As I stated in the beginning, I have known these words and these actions to be true and necessary from childhood, my father and grandfathers insisted upon it, taught it to all of us. I ran away from it when I felt alone and not understood nor cared for after my father’s death. I realize that his spirit has been with me forever, his teachings and ways reverberate in my consciousness and unconscious.I have lived the teaching above to the best of my ability each day, I rise one grain of sand daily, I seek to get out of my way by being of service to another human being, I make my tshuvahs where and when I realize my errors and I practice gratitude daily. Most of all, loyalty to freedom, loyalty to principles, loyalty to the love I receive daily is an absolute necessity for me. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark