The spies were not afraid of failure, he said. They were afraid of success.

We each possess freedom. We are each, to some extent, who we chose to become. Neither genes nor upbringing can guarantee that we become the person our parents want us to be.

means that you can see other people and value them for what they are. They are not just a series of mirrors at which you look only to see your own reflection. Secure in yourself you can value others. Confident in your identity you can value the people not like you. Humility is the self turned outward. It is the understanding that “it’s not about

Though others may lose faith in us, and though we may even lose faith in ourselves, God never loses faith in us.

It is a matter of hearing and heeding the voice of God in the depths of the soul.

“So thank Him every morning for the gift of life. Say the Shema twice daily for the gift of love. Join your voice to others in prayer so that His spirit may flow through you, giving you the strength and courage to change the world. When you can’t see Him, it is because you are looking in the wrong direction. When He seems absent, He is there behind

The Talmud (Nidda 70b) says it simply. It asks: What should you do to become rich? It answers: Work hard and behave honestly. But, says the Talmud, many have tried this and did not become rich. Back comes the answer: You must pray to God from whom all wealth comes. In which case, asks the Talmud, why work hard? Because, answers the

Faith is the courage to take a risk for the sake of God or the Jewish people; to begin a journey to a distant destination knowing that there will be hazards along the way, but

by the use of force but by people honouring their moral commitments, their voluntary undertaking to God that what He commanded, they would do.