Religion is an answer to man's ultimate questions. The moment we become oblivious to ultimate questions, religion becomes irrelevant, and its crisis sets in. The primary task of philosophy of religion is to rediscover the questions to which religion is an answer. The inquiry must proceed both by delving into the conscious- ness of man as well as by delving into the teachings and attitudes of the religious tradition. p. 3
Theology starts with dogmas, philosophy begins with problems. Philosophy sees the problem first, theology has the answer in advance. We must not, however, disregard another important difference. Not only are the problems of philosophy not identical with the problems of religion; their status is not the same. Philosophy is, in a sense, a kind of thinking that has a beginning but no end. In it, the awareness of the problem outlives all solutions. p. 4
Medieval Jewish philosophy was primarily concerned with the problem of creed. It dealt, for example, more with the question: what is the content (and the object) of our belief in God? or at best with the nature of belief, and less with the problem: what is the source of our belief in God? Why believe at all? It paid more attention to the question of what we know about God than to the question of how we know about Him. Our primary concern is not to analyze concepts but to explore situations. The religious situation precedes the religious conception, and it would be a false abstraction, for example, to deal with the idea of God regardless of the situation in which such an idea occurs. p. 6-7
Rabbi Bunam of Przyscha used to give the following definition of hasid. According to medieval sources, a hasid is he who does more than the law requires. Now, this is the law: Thou shalt not deceive thy fellow-man (Leviticus 25:17). A hasid goes beyond the law; he will not even deceive himself. p. 11
(יז) וְלֹ֤א תוֹנוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־עֲמִית֔וֹ וְיָרֵ֖אתָ מֵֽאֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יהוה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
(17) Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I יהוה am your God.
the Bible points to a way of understanding the world from the point of view of God. p. 16
The central thaught of Judaism is the living God. It is the perspective from which all other issues are seen. P. 25-26
Proverbs 34:9 How does one taste God p.27
As
A
As
A
There are three aspects of nature that command out attention, it's power, it's beauty and it's grandeur. Accordingly, there are three ways in which we may relate to the world -- we may exploit it, we may enjoy it, and we may accept it in awe . P. 33-34
Indeed, the tendency to question the genuineness of man's concern about God is a challenge no less serious than the tendency to question the existence of God. We are in greater need of a proof for the authenticity of faith than of a proof for the existence of God. P. 36
p.43
A LEGACY OF WONDER
A LEGACY OF WONDER
Among the many things that religious tradition holds in store for us is a legacy of wonder. The surest way to suppress our ability to understand the meaning of God and the importance of worship is to take things for granted. Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin.
Modern man fell into the trap of believing that everything can be explained, that reality is a simple affair which has only to be organized in order to be mastered. All enigmas can be solved, and all wonder is nothing but "the effect of novelty upon ignorance." The world, he was convinced, is its own explanation, and there is no necessity to go beyond the world in order to account for the existence of the world.
p.43
p.43
The deeper we search the nearer we arrive at knowing that we do not know. What do we truly know about life and death, about the soul or society, about history or nature? "We have become i increasingly and painfully aware of our abysmal ignorance. No scien- tist, fifty years ago, could have realized that he was as ignorant as all first-rate scientists now know themselves to be." "Can we not see that exact laws, like all the other ultimates and absolutes, are as fabulous as the crock of gold at the rainbow's end?"4 "Beware lest we say, we have found wisdom" (Job 32:13). "They who travel in pursuit of wisdom, walk only in a circle; and after all their labor, at last return to their pristine ignorance." "No illumination," remarks Joseph Conrad in The Arrow of Gold, "can sweep all mys- tery out of the world. After the departed darkness the shadows remain. P.57
Significantly, the Hebrew word 'olam that in post-Biblical times came to denote "world" is, according to some scholars, derived from the root 'alam which means to hide, to conceal. The world is itself hiddenness; its essence is a mystery. Such awareness continued to be a part of the religious consciousness of the Jew p.58
(ב) כְּבֹ֣ד אֱ֭לֹהִים הַסְתֵּ֣ר דָּבָ֑ר וּכְבֹ֥ד מְ֝לָכִ֗ים חֲקֹ֣ר דָּבָֽר׃
(2) It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, And the glory of a king to plumb a matter.
(כ) וְלֹא־יָבֹ֧אוּ לִרְא֛וֹת כְּבַלַּ֥ע אֶת־הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ וָמֵֽתוּ׃ {פ}
(20) But let not [the Kohathites] go inside and witness the dismantling of the sanctuary, lest they die.
T
The belief in "the hidden miracles is the basis for the entire Torah. A man has no share in the Torah, unless he believes that all things and all events in the life of the individual as well as in the life of society are miracles. There is no such thing as the natural course of events.... P. 51
The meaning of awe is to realize that life takes place under wide horizons, horizons that range beyond the span of an individual life or even the life of a nation, a generation, or an era. Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. P. 75
i
It is impossible to define "goodness," or "fact," not because they stand for something irrational or meaningless, but because they stand for ideas that surpass the limits of any definition; they are super-rational rather than subrational. We cannot define "the holy" or utter in words what we mean in saying "blessed be He." What the "holy" refers to, what we mean by "blessed be He," lies beyond the reach of words. "The best part of beauty is that which a picture cannot express." P. 103
We have in common a terrible loneliness. Day after day a question goes up desperately in our minds: Are we alone in the wilderness of the self, alone in this silent universe, of which we are a part, and in which we feel at the same time like strangers? P. 101
Such ultimate concern is an act of worship, an act of acknowledging in the most intense manner the supremacy of the issue. It is not an act of choice, something that we can for ever ignore. It is the manifestation of a fundamental fact of human existence, the fact of worship. P. 119
Yet there seems to be a third possibility: God is neither alive nor devoid of life but a symbol. If God is defined "as a name for that which concerns man ultimately," then He is but a symbol of man's concern, the objectification of a subjective state of mind. But as such God would be little more than a projection of our imagination. P. 127
"From the very first Thou didst single out man and consider him worthy to stand in Thy presence." This is the mysterious paradox of Biblical faith: God is pursuing man. It is as if God were unwilling to be alone, and He had chosen man to serve Him. Our seeking Him is not only man's but also His concern, and must not be considered an exclusively human affair. His will is involved in our yearnings. All of human history as described in the Bible may be summarized in one phrase: God is in search of man. Faith in God is a response to God's question. P. 136
This is the premise of faith: Spiritual events are real. Ultimately all creative events are caused by spiritual acts. The God who creates heaven and earth is the God who communicates His will to the mind of man. P. 143
Psalms 36:10
Psalms 36:10
The words, "I am a stranger on earth" (Psalms 119:19), were interpreted to refer to God. God is a stranger in the world. The Shechinah, the presence of God, is in exile. Our task is to bring God back into the world, into our lives. To worship is to expand the presence of God in the world. P. 156-157
forgetting that the cardinal sin in think about ultimate issues is literal-mindedness. The error of literal-mindedness is in assuming that things and words have only one meaning. The truth is that things and words stand for different meanings in different situations. Gold means wealth to the merchant, a means of adornment to the jeweler, "a non-rusting malleable ductile metal of high specific gravity" to the engineer, and kindness to the rhetorician ("a golden heart"). Light is a form of energy to the physicist, a medium of loveliness to the artist, an expression of grandeur in the first chapter of the Bible. Ruah, the Hebrew word for spirit, signifies also breath, wind, direction. And he who thinks only of breath, forfeits the deeper meaning of the term. God is called father, but he who takes this name physio/logically distorts the meaning of God. p. 178-179
Judaism is a way of thinking, not only a way of living. And this is one of its cardinal premises: the source of truth is found not in "a process for ever unfolded in the heart of man" but in unique events that happened at particular moments in history. There are no substitutes for revelation, for prophetic events. Jewish thought is not guided by abstract ideas, by a generalized morality. At Sinai we have learned that spiritual values are not only aspirations in us but a response to a transcendent appeal addressed to us. P. 197
Judaism is a religion of history, a religion of time. The God of Israel was not found primarily in the facts of nature. He spoke through events in history. While the deities of other peoples were associated with places or things, the God of the prophets was the God of events: the Redeemer from slavery, the Revealer of the Torah, manifesting Himself in events of history rather than in things or places. P. 200
Should we maintain that men such as Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, were mentally deranged, victims of hallucinations? This, indeed, has often been asserted. Yet on what basis? Frantic efforts have been made to prove the patho- logical nature of the prophets. Yet no trace or symptom of abnormal-ity or frenzy has been detected in either Moses or Isaiah, in either Amos or Jeremiah. On the other hand, the manner in which the prophets dealt with the issues of their own time and the fact that the solutions they propounded seem to be relevant for all times have compelled people in every generation to repeat a commonplace: the prophets were among the wisest of all men. Their message being ages ahead of human thinking, it would be hard to believe in the normalcy of our own minds, if we questioned theirs. Indeed, if such is insanity, then we ought to feel ashamed of being sane. P. 222
Faith in the prophets is not the only basis for what we think about the Bible. This might have been the case if all we had were their reports about their experiences. The fact is that we are being challenged not only by those reports but by what came out in those experiences. The Bible itself is given for all men to absorb. Indeed, this is the way: from the ability to have faith in the faith of the prophets to the ability to share the faith of the prophets in the power of God to speak. P. 249
Faith in the prophets is not the only basis for what we think about the Bible. This might have been the case if all we had were their reports about their experiences. The fact is that we are being challenged not only by those reports but by what came out in those experiences. The Bible itself is given for all men to absorb. Indeed, this is the way: from the ability to have faith in the faith of the prophets to the ability to share the faith of the prophets in the power of God to speak. P. 249
It is a serious misunderstanding to reduce the problem of revelation to a matter of chronology. Thus it is frequently assumed that the authority and sanctity of the Pentateuch depend upon the fact that it was written down in its entirety in the time of Moses; that to assume that even a few passages were added to it after the death of Moses is to deny the principle of revelation. P. 257
Revelation is not vicarious thinking. Its purpose is not to substitute for but to extend our understanding. The prophets tried to extend the horizon of our conscience and to impart to us a sense of the divine partnership in our dealings with good and evil and in our wrestling with life's enigmas. They tried to teach us how to think in the categories of God: His holiness, justice and compassion. The appropriation of these categories, far from exempting us from the obligation to gain new insights in our own time, is a challenge to look for ways of translating Biblical commandments into programs required by our own conditions. The full meaning of the Biblical words was not disclosed once and for all. Every hour another aspect is unveiled.
The word was given once; the effort to understand it must go on for ever. It is not enough to accept or even to carry out the com-mandments. To study, to examine, to explore the Torah is a form of worship, a supreme duty. For the Torah is an invitation to perceptivity, a call for continuous understanding. P.
Revelation is not vicarious thinking. Its purpose is not to substitute for but to extend our understanding. The prophets tried to extend the horizon of our conscience and to impart to us a sense of the divine partnership in our dealings with good and evil and in our wrestling with life's enigmas. They tried to teach us how to think in the categories of God: His holiness, justice and compassion. The appropriation of these categories, far from exempting us from the obligation to gain new insights in our own time, is a challenge to look for ways of translating Biblical commandments into programs required by our own conditions. The full meaning of the Biblical words was not disclosed once and for all. Every hour another aspect is unveiled.
The word was given once; the effort to understand it must go on for ever. It is not enough to accept or even to carry out the com-mandments. To study, to examine, to explore the Torah is a form of worship, a supreme duty. For the Torah is an invitation to perceptivity, a call for continuous understanding. P.
There is a theory in Jewish literature containing a profound parabolical truth which maintains that the Torah, which is eternal in spirit, assumes different forms in various eons. The Torah was known to Adam when he was in the Garden of Eden, although not in its present form. Commandments such as those concerning charity to the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, would have been meaningless in the Garden of Eden. In that eon the Torah was known in its spiritual form.- Just as man assumed a material form when he was driven out of the Garden of Eden, so has the Torah assumed a material form. If man had retained "the garments of light," his spiritual form of existence, the Torah, too, would have retained its spiritual form.3 p. 263
Judaism is not a science of nature but a science of what man ought to do with nature. It is concerned above all with the problem of living. It takes deeds more seriously than things. Jewish law is, in a sense, a science of deeds. Its main concern is not only how to worship Him at certain times but how to live with Him at all times. Every deed is a problem; there is a unique task at every moment. All of life at all moments is the problem and the task. P. 292
(ו) דָּבָר אַחֵר, וַיִּתֵּן אֶל משֶׁה, אָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּהוּ כָּל אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם שֶׁעָשָׂה משֶׁה לְמַעְלָה, הָיָה לוֹמֵד תּוֹרָה וְשׁוֹכֵחַ, אָמַר לוֹ רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָם יֵשׁ לִי אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם, וְאֵינִי יוֹדֵעַ דָּבָר, מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִשֶּׁהִשְׁלִים אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם נָתַן לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת הַתּוֹרָה מַתָּנָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַיִּתֵּן אֶל משֶׁה. וְכִי כָּל הַתּוֹרָה לָמַד משֶׁה, כְּתִיב בַּתּוֹרָה (איוב יא, ט): אֲרֻכָּה מֵאֶרֶץ מִדָּהּ וּרְחָבָה מִנִּי יָם, וּלְאַרְבָּעִים יוֹם לְמָדָהּ משֶׁה. אֶלָּא כְּלָלִים לִמְדָהוּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה, הֱוֵי: כְּכַלֹּתוֹ לְדַבֵּר אִתּוֹ, שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת, מַהוּ שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת, כְּנֶגֶד שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, כְּנֶגֶד חָתָן וְכַלָּה, כְּנֶגֶד שְׁנֵי שׁוֹשְׁבִינִין, כְּנֶגֶד הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת, אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא לֻחֹת כְּתִיב, לֹא זוֹ גְּדוֹלָה מִזּוֹ, לֻחֹת אֶבֶן, וְלָמָה שֶׁל אֶבֶן, שֶׁרֻבָּן שֶׁל עֳנָשִׁין שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה בִּסְקִילָה, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: לֻחֹת אֶבֶן. דָּבָר אַחֵר, לֻחֹת אֶבֶן, בִּזְכוּת יַעֲקֹב שֶׁנִּקְרָא אֶבֶן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית מט, כד): מִשָּׁם רֹעֶה אֶבֶן יִשְׂרָאֵל. דָּבָר אַחֵר, לֻחֹת אֶבֶן, כָּל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מֵשִׂים לְחָיָיו כָּאֶבֶן הַזּוֹ אֵינוֹ זוֹכֶה לַתּוֹרָה.
(6) Another matter, “He gave to Moses,” Rabbi Abahu said: All forty days that Moses spent above, he would study Torah and forget. He said to Him: ‘Master of the universe, I have forty days and I do not know anything.’ What did the Holy One blessed be He do? After he completed forty days, the Holy One blessed be He gave him the Torah as a gift [matana], as it is stated: “He gave [vayiten] to Moses.” Did Moses learn the entire Torah? It is written regarding the Torah: “Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea” (Job 11:9), and Moses learned it in forty days? Rather, the Holy One blessed be He taught Moses the fundamental principles [kelalim]. That is, “as He concluded [kekhaloto] speaking with him.” “The two tablets of Testimony,” what is the reason for two tablets? They correspond to the heavens and earth. They correspond to the bride and the groom. They correspond to the two attendants. They correspond to this world and the World to Come. “Two tablets [luḥot] of Testimony,” Rabbi Ḥanina said: Luḥot is written without a vav, as one was not larger than the other. “Stone tablets,” – why of stone? It is because most of the punishments in the Torah are by stoning. That is why it is stated: “Stone tablets.” Alternatively, “stone tablets,” due to the merit of Jacob who was called stone, as it is stated: “From there the shepherd, the stone of Israel” (Genesis 49:24). Alternatively, stone tablets,” anyone who does not render his life like this stone will not merit the Torah.
What is meant by the term kavanah? In its verbal form the original meaning seems to be: to straighten, to place in a straight line, to direct. From this it came to mean to direct the mind, to pay attention, to do a thing with an intention. The noun, kavanah, denotes meaning, purpose, motive and intention. P.314
To have kavanah means, according to a classical formulation, "to direct the heart to the Father in heaven." The phrasing does not say direct the heart to the "text" or to the "content of the prayer." Kavanah, then, is more than paying attention to the text of the liturgy or to the performance of the mitsvah. Kavanah is attentive-ness to God. Its purpose is to direct the heart rather than the tongue or the arms. It is not an act of the mind that serves to guide the external action, but one that has meaning in itself. P.315
The outstanding expression of the anti-agadic attitude is cocained in a classical rabbinic question with which Rashi opens his famous commentary on the Book of Genesis. "Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah [which is the law book of Israel] should have commenced with chapter 12 of Exodus," since prior to that chapter hardly any laws are set forth. 33
The premise and implications of this question are staggering. The Bible should have omitted such non-legal chapters as those on creation, the sins of Adam and Cain, the flood, the tower of Babel, the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the lives of the twelve tribes, the suffering and miracles in Egypt! P. 328
Judaism is concerned with the happiness of the individual as well as with the survival of the Jewish people, with the redemption of all men and with the will of one God. It claims, however, that happiness is contingent upon faithfulness to God; that the unique importance of the survival of the people is in its being a partner to a covenant with God; that the redemption of all men depends upon their serving His will. The perspective, therefore, from which the individual, the community and all mankind are judged is that of religious insight and conviction. P. 349
The premise and implications of this question are staggering. The Bible should have omitted such non-legal chapters as those on creation, the sins of Adam and Cain, the flood, the tower of Babel, the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the lives of the twelve tribes, the suffering and miracles in Egypt! P. 328
Judaism is concerned with the happiness of the individual as well as with the survival of the Jewish people, with the redemption of all men and with the will of one God. It claims, however, that happiness is contingent upon faithfulness to God; that the unique importance of the survival of the people is in its being a partner to a covenant with God; that the redemption of all men depends upon their serving His will. The perspective, therefore, from which the individual, the community and all mankind are judged is that of religious insight and conviction. P. 349
*** CHAPTER 34 !!!!
However, the essence of religion does not lie in the satisfaction of a human need. As long as man sees religion as a source of satisfaction for his own needs, it is not God whom he serves but his own self.¹ Such satisfaction can be obtained from civilization, which sup-plies abundant means to gratify our needs. p. 350
The purpose of religion is not to satisfy the needs we feel but to create in us the need of serving ends, of which we otherwise would remain oblivious p. 351
Human life is a point where mind and mystery meet. This is why man cannot live by his reason alone, nor can he thrive on mystery alone. To surrender to the mystery is fatalism, to withdraw into reason is solipsism. Man is driven to commune with that which is beyond the mystery. The ineffable in him seeks a way to that which is beyond the ineffable. P. 353
In the words of Rabbi Yohanan, "If one reads Scripture without a melody or repeats the Mishnah without a tune, of him Scripture says, Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good (Ezekiel 20:25)." A mitsvah without a melody is devoid of soul; Torah without a tune is devoid of spirit. Kavanah is the art of setting a deed to inner music. "Come before His presence with singing" (Psalms 100:2). In singing we enter His presence. P. 355
p356 -
The reward of a mitsvah is eternity. But do not be like those who expect eternity to follow the deed: in the life to come. Eternity is in the deed, in the doing. The reward of a mitsvah is the mitsvah itself. 10
REMINDERS
As said above, the Jewish way of living is an answer to a supreme human problem, namely: How must man, a being who is in essence the likeness of God, think, feel and act? How can he live in a way compatible with the presence of God? Unless we are aware of the problem, we are unable to appreciate the answer.
All mitsvot are means of evoking in us the awareness of living in the neighborhood of God, of living in the holy dimension. They call to mind the inconspicuous mystery of things and acts, and are re-minders of our being the stewards, rather than the landlords of the universe; reminders of the fact that man does not live in a spiritual wilderness, that every act of man is an encounter of the human and the holy.
The world is torn by conflicts, by folly, by hatred. Our task is to cleanse, to illumine, to repair. Every deed is either a clash or an aid in the effort of redemption. Man is not one with God, not even with his true self. Our task is to bring eternity into time, to clear in the wilderness a way, to make plain in the desert a highway for God. "Happy is the man in whose heart are the highways" (Psalm 84:6) p.357
רַע כׇּל הַיּוֹם״. אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן לָקִישׁ: יִצְרוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם מִתְגַּבֵּר עָלָיו בְּכׇל יוֹם וּמְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲמִיתוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״צוֹפֶה רָשָׁע לַצַּדִּיק וּמְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲמִיתוֹ״, וְאִלְמָלֵא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שֶׁעוֹזֵר לוֹ — אֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״ה׳ לֹא יַעַזְבֶנּוּ בְיָדוֹ וְלֹא יַרְשִׁיעֶנּוּ בְּהִשָּׁפְטוֹ״.
evil all day” (Genesis 6:5). All day long his thoughts and desires are for evil. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: A person’s evil inclination overcomes him each day and seeks to kill him, as it stated: “The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to kill him” (Psalms 37:32); the wicked here is referring to the wickedness inside one’s heart. And if not for the Holy One, Blessed be He, Who assists him with the good inclination, he would not overcome it, as it is stated: “The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor suffer him to be condemned when he is judged” (Psalms 37:33).
The soul which we receive is clean, but within it resides a power for evil, "a strange god,"14 "that seeks constantly to get the upper hand over man and to kill him; and if God did not help him, he could not resist it, as it is said, the wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him."15 "While men have a strong desire to attain evil ends, they are negligent in the pursuit of what is noble. They are tardy in seeking the good but dally in the paths of frivolity and pleasure. If a vision of greed appears and beckons to them, they invent falsehoods so that they may turn to it. They bolster up arguments to make its obliquities upright, its weaknesses strong, its loose-ness firm and compact. But when the lamp of truth invitingly shines before them, they frame idle pretexts for refraining from turning to it. They argue against it, declare its courses misleading and contra-dict its assertions, so as to make it appear inconsistent and thus have an excuse for keeping away from it."16 "The Holy One, blessed be He, says to the soul: 'All that I have created in the six days of creation I have created for thy sake alone, and thou goest forth and sinnest!" "17 "See, I am pure, My abode is pure, My ministers are pure, and the soul I have given thee is pure; if thou returnest it to Me as I am giving it to thee, it will be well, but if not, I shall throw it away. P. 365
Let us labor under no illusions. There are no easy solutions for problems that are at the same time intensely personal and universal, urgent and eternal. Technological progress creates more problems than it solves. Efficiency experts or social engineering will not redeem humanity. Important as their contributions may be, they do not reach the heart of the problem. Religion, therefore, with its demands and visions, is not a luxury but a matter of life and death. True, its message is often diluted and distorted by pedantry, externalization, ceremonialism, and superstition. But this precisely is our task: to recall the urgencies, the perpetual emergencies of human existence, the rare cravings of the spirit, the eternal voice of God, to which the demands of religion are an answer. P. 372
What is a mitsvah? A prayer in the form of a deed. And to pray is to sense His presence. "In all thy ways thou shalt know Him." Prayer should be part of all our ways. It does not have to be always on our lips; it must always be on our minds, in our hearts.
In the light of the Bible, the good is more than a value; it is a divine concern, a way of God.
P. 375
In the light of the Bible, the good is more than a value; it is a divine concern, a way of God.
P. 375
We are free at rare moments. Most of the time we are driven by a process; we submit to the power of inherited character qualities or to the force of external circumstances. Freedom is not a continual state of man, "a permanent attitude of the conscious subject."2 It is not, it happens. Freedom is an act, an event. We all are endowed with the potentiality of freedom. In actuality, however, we only act freely in rare creative moments. p. 411
Understanding Judaism cannot be attained in the comfort of playing a chess-game of theories. Only ideas that are meaningful to those who are steeped in misery may be accepted as principles by those who dwell in safety. In trying to understand Jewish existence a Jewish philosopher must look for agreement with the men of Sinai as well as with the people of Auschwitz. We are the most challenged people under the sun. Our existence is either superfluous or indispensable to the world; it is either tragic or holy to be a RETURN TO GOD IS AN ANSWER TO HIM
We do not have to discover the world of faith; we only have to recover it. It is not a terra incognita, an unknown land; it is a for- gotten land, and our relation to God is a palimpsest rather than a tabula rasa. There is no one who has no faith. Every one of us stood at the foot of Sinai and beheld the voice that proclaimed, I am the Lord thy God. Every one of us participated in saying, We shall do and we shall hear. However, it is the evil in man and the evil in society silencing the depth of the soul that block and hamper our faith. "It is apparent and known before Thee that it is our will to do Thy will. But what stands in the way? The leaven that is in the dough (the evil impulse) and the servitude of the kingdoms." In the spirit of Judaism, our quest for God is a return to God; our thinking of Him is a recall, an attempt to draw out the depth of our suppressed attachment. The Hebrew word for repentance, teshuvah, means return. Yet it also means answer. Return to God is an answer to Him. For God is not silent. "Return O faithless children, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:14). 10 According to the understanding of the Rabbis, daily, at all times, "A Voice cries: in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). "The voice of the Lord cries to the city" (Micah 6:9) P. 141
Most theories of religion start out with defining the religious situation as man's search for God and maintain the axiom that God is silent, hidden and unconcerned with man's search for Him. Now, in adopting that axiom, the answer is given before the question is asked. To Biblical thinking, the definition is incomplete and the axiom false. The Bible speaks not only of man's search for God but also of God's search for man. "Thou dost hunt me like a lion," exclaimed Job (10:16). P. 136