The Earth Is the Lord's by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Author:Abraham Joshua Heschel [Heschel, Abraham Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 1979-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

It would be a mistake to characterize the piety of the East European Jew as an attitude of self-restraint. The clear perception of spiritual significance in observing the law made self-restraint unnecessary. The pleasurableness of “good deeds” made many of them wonder whether the reward for their fulfillment, promised by the rabbis in the life to come, would not be undeserved.

A woman was pouring out her heart to the rabbi of Tel Aviv. Her sons had abandoned religious observance. They were Halutzim, pioneers who gave up studies and careers to drain the swamps of the Holy Land. “I know,” she said, “that my sons are holy people and am sure they will inherit the world to come. But I feel distressed at the fact that they do not enjoy the pleasures of this world as well, the pleasures of observing the Jewish law.”

To the uninspired, the Shulhan Arukh is like the score of an oratorio to those who cannot read musical notations; to the pious Jew, it is full of choruses and arias. Jewish law to him is sacred music. The Divine sings in noble deeds. Man’s effort is but the counterpoint to the music of His will.

There is a price to be paid by the Jew. He has to be exalted in order to be normal. In order to be a man, he has to be more than a man. To be a people, the Jews have to be more than a people.

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