Sublime

Hence the significance of one remarkable feature of Judaism: its principled insistence – like no other civilisation before – on the dignity and integrity of the individual. We believe that every human being is in the image and likeness of God. The sages said that every life is like an entire universe (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:4). The Rambam says that eac

Interestingly, there appears to be little concern about fraud or freeloading. The poor are obligated to do everything they can to avoid needing tzedakah—from

There is simply no coordinated effort to educate the Jewish people in a way that empowers them.

Rashi, and those he cites as he weaves his interpretation, transforms greed into spiritual ambition, a desire to know and to grow, which should never be sated. Abundance is only truly meaningful in the realm of ideas.

A person once came to R. Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, and asked him, “Rebbe, our Sages tell us that we must bless G-d when something good happens, and in the same way, we should bless G-d when something negative happens.10 How can this be actualized?”

How, then, can individuals stay alive, intensely alive, psychically alive? The answer given by Jewish tradition is that one cannot avoid death or death-in-life. The only way to overcome death is by rebirth.

The Torah of Israel is truly a collective work: not only does it engage the entire people across generations, but it also articulates the divine potentiality that invites continuing interpretation, exploration, and new tellings of its tales and new applications of its laws.

Those engaged in a life of study know that the consummate orientation to the Jewish tradition is one in which you will never know enough.

just as we engage in interpretation of Torah, so too can we hold the siddur in the same light.