Transcript of Radio Program
December 3, 2009Ms. Tippett: I'm Krista Tippett. Today, "The Spiritual Audacity of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel."
Born into an esteemed Hasidic family in Poland in 1907, Heschel became a public intellectual and a provocative leader in 1960s America on race, war, and interreligious encounter. Heschel was a mystic, who wrote transcendent, poetic words about God. At the very same time, he marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and organized religious leadership against the war in Vietnam, embodying the extreme social activism of the biblical prophets he studied. This hour, we explore Heschel's teachings and his legacy for people in our time.
This is Speaking of Faith. Stay with us.
[Announcements]
Ms. Tippett: I'm Krista Tippett. This hour, we delve into the teachings and present-day relevance of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Heschel is perhaps best immortalized in a famous photograph taken of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. He is a conspicuous bearded figure, looking every bit the Hebrew patriarch, in the front line of religious and political leaders surrounding Martin Luther King. Heschel later said, in words that also became famous, "I felt my legs were praying." Heschel was a mystic, who wrote inimitable transcendent words about God. At the very same time, he embodied the extreme social criticism and activism of the biblical prophets he studied. "The opposite of good is not evil," Abraham Joshua Heschel insisted, "it is indifference." He articulated spiritual, practical wisdom against indifference — on race, war, and interreligious encounter — as penetrating in our time as in his own.
From American Public Media, this is Speaking of Faith, public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. Today, "The Spiritual Audacity of Abraham Joshua Heschel."
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: I would say about individuals, an individual dies when he ceases to be surprised. I am surprised every morning that I see the sunshine again. When I see an act of evil, I'm not accommodated. I don't accommodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere; I'm still surprised. That's why I'm against it, why I can hope against it. We must learn how to be surprised. Not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society.
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