Sublime

As Bruce describes it, ‘time spent with the Penan inspired me to realise that radically different ways of living together are not only possible, but might even be the best way for us to collectively flourish. Perhaps what we need is a new set of values, embedded in a different kind of story. An upgrade, perhaps, away from the belief that champions

The bad times brought out the best in them, the good times sometimes the worst. These facts, more than anything else, tell me that far from being over, the Jewish journey has reached its most exciting phase. Today, for the first time in two thousand years, we have a sovereign state in Israel and freedom and equality in the Diaspora. As almost never

The family holds mythic power—the source of all good, the defense against evil. It’s exalted as a sacred ideal, which promises roots, blood relations, future generations. It ties each individual life to its fate, imprinting it genetically, biochemically, and psychologically with blessings and curses. To imagine life without family is to imagine

Community among persons is forged only when there is something more important than one’s own interests to which all share a higher allegiance. And, Freedman says, “humanism suffers . . . from the valorization of the individual.”

GIVEN THE CENTRALITY OF the sacrificial cult and priestly leadership to Israelite religion, the destruction of the Temple, and with it the sacrificial rite and the power of the priests, might well have meant the end of Israelite life. With sociological and religious genius, however, the Israelites’ leaders begged their followers…

Some highlights

We habitually settle for less than our best;

Delegate.

Having come from nowhere, you will be more surely heading somewhere.