Daily D.O.S. (Dose of Scripture)
Here you will find an inspiration from the Word together with various comments. Meditate and enjoy!
Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.” — Psalm 73:6–8
Have you ever felt like someone didn’t like you – maybe even hated you – for no particular reason? It’s puzzling, isn’t it? You wonder what you did to provoke a strong reaction, and if you can’t think of anything you did, it seems irrational. We Jews often find ourselves as the objects of such irrational hatred.
For example, at various points in history, Jews have been accused of being too poor or too wealthy; too politically domineering or too politically uninvolved. We’ve been accused of being too spiritual and too secular, unambitious and overly aggressive, too separated from others and too assimilated. Does that make sense? How can we be all those things?
Anti-Semitism, like other forms of racism, is a condition of the heart. It reflects a callous heart that has lost sensitivity to others. The writer of Psalm 73 says that “from their callous hearts comes iniquity” (v. 7). A hardened heart that has lost sensitivity to others is a breeding ground for evil.
In addition to a callous heart, anti-Semitism forms in a conceited mind. At the base of racism is the conceited belief that one person or group is better than another and “their evil imaginations have no limits” (Psalm 73:7). Rather than listening to the voice of reason, irrational thoughts prevail, driven by passionate hatred. For those who promote anti-Semitism, their hatred is simply hatred, without any reason or justification for it. This irrational racial hatred has often led to inconsistent accusations against the Jews – such as those above – because the accusations are not based on logic or merit, but hate.
Finally, the psalm writer says that those with callous hearts and conceited minds also have threatening lips, for “they scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression” (Psalm 73:8). Anti-Semitism, and other racial prejudice, often expresses itself in threats, intimidation, and oppression. Acts of terrorism against Jews and Jewish icons are an attempt to instill fear in the lives of Jews.
As the psalm writer concludes, when faced with unreasonable and unmerited prejudice, there is only one place to find hope and to remember, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you?”(vv. 23–25). We can have confidence in God’s presence and guidance no matter what our circumstances or difficulties.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President
“I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears” (Psalm 6:6).
IF WE THINK THE STRONG DON’T FEEL PAIN, WE KNOW LITTLE OF WHAT STRENGTH IS ABOUT. Soldiers know that courage is not the absence of fear, but fortitude in the face of fear, and those who are truly strong understand that strength is not the absence of pain, but nobility in the face of pain. The strong are those who deeply experience pain without giving up either their reverence or their gratitude. Rather than going AROUND pain, strong people go THROUGH it. There is no shortcut to any place worth going to.
We normally think of “skill” as the ability to do “difficult” things. If because of natural talent a person finds himself easily able to do things that are difficult for other people, that may be somewhat impressive. But how much more impressive it is when someone has the drive and the discipline to do things that he himself finds difficult. In a similar way, it would be no great accomplishment for a person to bear an emotional pain that he didn’t really feel. But those who open their hearts and feel the pain this world can inflict, still maintaining a gracious respect and gratitude toward God — those are the folks with an admirable strength!
When we’re suffering, friends frequently remind us that God’s intent is not to shield us from all pain, but to strengthen us so that we can deal with the pain in the right way. Do we really believe that? Perhaps what we believe is something slightly different: that God will help us find a kind of “strength” that will anesthetize us so that we won’t feel the pain quite so much. Perhaps we don’t really trust God to help us acquire REAL strength, the kind that protects us without deadening our hearts and rendering us unable to feel what we need to feel.
The immense spiritual strength that Jesus possessed involved much more than mere anesthesia. He not only felt the full range of emotions that are the lot of humanity, but He felt them intensely and vividly. We should aspire to a strength that is no less alive. Genuine discipleship to the Son of Man will not turn us into unfeeling robots. It will teach us to feel what God feels.
“We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full” (Marcel Proust).