A Bride for One Night: Talmud Tales
If goodness will not be imposed by power, then the human must be educated toward perfection. The rabbis conceive of God as teacher and pedagogue—teaching Torah to Israel and to the world. This also explains why, in the words of Ethics of the Fathers (chapter 6, Mishnah 2), “the only truly free person is one who studies Torah.”
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
the talmudic dictum that one must get so inebriated on Purim that it is no longer possible to discern the difference between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordecai.”49 Just as the consumption of wine on the physical plane brings about the nullification of the senses (biṭṭul ha-ḥushim), so, in the spiritual plane, the disclosure of secrets can l
... See moreElliot R. Wolfson • Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson
When Rabbi Hiyya dismisses Rabbi Yochanan’s question so abruptly, he seems to awaken Yochanan to the futility of theology in the face of suffering. What does seem to work in such circumstances? Empathy, the human touch, the presence of another:
Alan Lew • Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life
Jewish law represents the continuation of that love affair in history between God and the children of Israel.