Judaism speaks about Yirat Hashem, the awe one should feel before God.

Many Eastern religions speak of “mindfulness”—being in the present moment, aware and devoted to “the now.” In the Jewish tradition, what God asks is moral mindfulness—to be always aware of the moral dimensions of our actions. Nothing exists in a vacuum; one is always in relation to others, always in the moral moment.

Judaism has seen more than its share of calamity, and anyone could excuse generations of Jews if their world view was morose and pessimistic. Yet for all the expressions of pain and sorrow that exist in such abundance in the Jewish tradition, the prevailing view is found in the words of a talmudic Rabbi: “There is no sadness in the presence of God.

Even if we blame our past for what we feel, we can blame only ourselves for what we do.

Why do Jews place such value on study? Because in the Jewish tradition, God was revealed through words. We can glimpse God in other human beings, in the marvels of the world, and in the depths of one’s own soul, but what shaped the history of Judaism was a book. Judaism is an astonishing testimony to the magical power of words, transmitted through

Judaism teaches souls to grow by paying attention to more than themselves alone.

A medieval Rabbi once explained prayer with a wonderful parable. When we pray, he said, we think we are changing God. Think of a man in a rowboat who is pulling himself to shore. To someone who did not know what was going on, it might appear that he was really pulling the shore closer to himself. Similarly, when we pray, it may appear that we are t

Judaism took a different route (although individual Jews have tried all these strategies). One should try neither to wipe out desire nor to redirect it entirely. Pleasure is permitted, even promoted. But Judaism also asks that it be disciplined and sanctified.

We seek teshuva because in the Jewish tradition the aim of life is to grow in soul. That is why an old rabbinic saying asserts that a repentant sinner stands upon a height that not even the greatest tzaddik (righteous person) can reach. The growth that is required to acknowledge one’s sin, to seek to repair it, and to change one’s ways is enormous