We MUST Abandon the Lies and Advocate for Truth!

By Rabbi Mark Borovitz,

I am concerned! Each week I write about Redemption, each day I move one grain of sand closer to the redemption of others and myself, yet it seems as if the world wants to stay stuck! We have become a world that wants to live in Self-Deception! The UN is pulling troops from Darfur when the fighting is getting worse; The UN is suspending the Genocide case against the President of the Sudan because he hasn't been arrested. The UN and the world practice blatant Anti-Semitism and is Anti-Israel because we are Jews and they pursue us no matter what is going on. At home, the US is in total gridlock, legislatively and morally/ethically. We are no longer the “land of the free and home of the brave,” and this doesn't get us very far. In fact, living freely means living in Truth and living brave means speaking it no matter who doesn't like it.

I live in this world—a world where you can't say the Truth or even answer the lies of employees or others because of legal restraints that they don't follow. You can't tell the Truth when someone calls for a Job reference. You can't call out Israel when they are wrong, (because then you would be giving aid and comfort to the enemy). You can't engage most people in discussions because everyone needs to be right. When you question another, they get defensive and make things your fault. We all live in this world and we have to be the ones to stop it!

Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza are all about rededication in the darkest of times. WE NEED TO REDEDICATE OURSELVES TO TRUTH. We have to help ourselves out of our self-deceptiveness, lift up our eyes and see (as The Bible tells us to do), stop buying the lies and deceptions of others, no longer accept the stories of sociopaths, borderlines and the people who just love to be negative.

Some of the laws that were enacted to protect have actually become perverted by those it protected and the ones who were supposed to be humbled by them. Some Unions have stayed in business just to stay in business, no longer looking to help the worker. Many of the Politicians elected could care less about the voiceless and the powerless, and only care about their agenda lining the pockets of their supporters and not giving a damn as to what is good for the Country. Where is Noah Webster now?

The only way to make this happen is to be Addicted to Redemption. We are all able and needed to meet this challenge. We all want more light in the world, well, we have to bring it. We lost two of the Gedolim (Giants) this week, Rabbis Leonard Beerman and Harold Shulweis. What made them Giants is that they never stopped seeking Truth, They never stopped speaking out for the Poor, the Widow, the Orphan and the Stranger. They believed that they could and should effect change in the world and in themselves. They knew and lived lives of Light through Truth. In fact, Rabbi Shulweis was one of my teachers/guides who stressed that only through Truth can Light shine.

Here is the Good News: We all have the Light of God within us. We all have the ability to see and speak Truth. We all can rise up from our own self-deception to break into the light of God. We do this by hearing the Call of our Soul. We do this by not buying the lies of others. We do this by looking at our uniqueness and not letting anyone stop us from our mission and purpose. We do this by living a life of passion and meaning. We do this through honoring our ancestors, The Prophets. We do this by speaking out for Truth and against Mendacity. We stop buying the pretty face, the great body, the perfect ad, the uplifting voice. We look behind the curtain and see the deceptiveness of the “Wizard”—we no longer dance to the one who has been and wants to keep pulling the strings.

God put Redemption in the world before the world was created because God knew we would fall prey to our self-deception and the deceptions of others. We have Tzedakah, T'fillah and T'Shuvah to avert this way of being. Please join me in living these principles more this week and into 2015—may it be a Happy and Healthy New Year.