Sublime

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (1903–1993) boldly insists that in this amazing encounter, Moses serves as a paradigm for what is true of every human being: to be created in the image of God is to be assigned a specific task by God.

Elijah’s ethical paradigm—mishnat ḥasidim—is incumbent upon anyone truly devoted.

Is what I am saying helpful? Is what I am saying kind? Is what I am saying necessary and appropriate to the moment?

The central paradigm of Jewish religion is redemption. According to the Bible, the human being is created in the image of God. According to the Rabbis this means that every single person is unique and equal, endowed with the dignity of infinite value. But in history most humans have been degraded or denied their due. Judaism affirms that this condi

even for the leaders of this form of Judaism, life is not linear, and serious progress is often the result of messy journeys.

Halakhah invites the possibility to transcend our own self-centered focus and orient our lives to embrace service and integration, while offering a palette of practice that allows each individual to paint a life of color and clarity.

In the words of the twentieth-century mystic Abraham Isaac Kook, “Originally, before he was sweetened, he perceived acutely the depth of ugliness and contamination in which this lowly world is immersed. Therefore he blazed with zeal to eradicate the spirit of impurity and those clinging to it. After being sweetened, he perceives every spark of holi

the three classic Jewish lenses: bein adam l’atzmo (our relationship with ourselves), bein adam l’havero (our relationships with others), and bein adam laMakom (our relationship with God).

he pauses and asks how this person is and as he talks he quietly places a few coins in some inconspicuous place. But when the meeting ends he always says, “Shmuel, you are a man who bears misfortune with dignity. You must know God better than I do. Give me on this happy Friday your blessing,” and he makes the man feel that it is he who is doing the