The Orchard

Acceptance of what is, is a failure to hear the call of what ought to be. Judaism has its moments of serenity, such as the Sabbath. But these are mere resting places on the journey; pauses of withdrawal before reengaging with the world.

God loves diversity; He does not ask us all to serve Him in the same way. To each people He has set a challenge, and with the Jewish people He made a covenant, knowing that it takes time, centuries, millennia, to overcome the conflicts and injustices of the human situation, and that therefore each generation must hand on its ideals to the next, so

In the synagogue, Jews were able to keep alive the three things on which their existence depended, Torah or Jewish study, avodah or Jewish worship, and gemilut hassadim, acts of social welfare.28

Judaism offered the covenantal model—a partnership between God and man. In the initial phase, God is the initiator and driving force, but for the sake of human freedom and dignity, God self-limits. Humanity is to grow into ever greater responsibility.