Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays

Saadia Gaon was correct in asserting that Israel is a people only by virtue of its Torah,74 that the only assurance for Israel’s peoplehood is the Torah. On the other hand, Rabbi Halevi reminds us, “If there were no Jews, there would be no Torah.”75

Repentance is an absolute, spiritual decision made in truthfulness. Its motivations are remorse for the past and responsibility for the future.

Ceremonies end in routine, and routine is the great enemy of the spirit.

Perhaps the most striking expression of the relationship between the Torah and the people is the classical maxim by Rabbi Simeon ben Menasya, Palestinian Tanna of the second century, and contemporary of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, in his interpretation of Exodus 31:14, You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. “The words ‘unto you,’”

The establishment or destruction of the kingly dignity of God occurs now and in the present, through and in us.

Again and again we are taught that the Torah is not an end in itself. It is the gate through which one enters the court in which one finds awe of heaven.

We are all failures. At least one day a year we should recognize it.

Ceremonies are created for the purpose of signifying: mitzvot were given for the purpose of sanctifying. This is their function: to refine, to ennoble, to sanctify man. They confer holiness upon us, whether or not we know exactly what they signify. A mitzvah is more than man’s reference to God; it is also God’s reference to man.

We have no answer to ultimate problems. We really don’t know. In this not knowing, in this sense of embarrassment, lies the key to opening the wells of creativity.