Sublime

human warmth is fundamental to what it means to take human dignity seriously, and it is elemental to what it means to be a religious person.

However large the group you lead, you must always communicate the value you place on everyone, including those others exclude: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. You must never attempt to sway a crowd by appealing to the primitive emotions of fear or hate. You must never ride roughshod over the opinions of others.

Judaism without generosity is a hollow shell.

The strength to yield The willingness to hold our judgments lightly

He spoke calmly, only occasionally using his hands for emphasis. Always well prepared on contemporary issues, he never discussed his personal life in my presence. Nor did he inquire into my own, though – given the perennial effectiveness of the German bureaucracy – surely he knew my family history and understood the paths onto which fate had placed

The faculty model for the students what it means to learn in havruta, to be surprised and challenged by the text, and to create relationships with peers through study.

“A good neighbor [is paramount]!”

rabbis as teachers are in critical demand. And after a year running Hadar, I knew that my life’s focus was not only to build one specific community but also to spread the model of Empowered Judaism.

The paradox of pleasure is that seeking too much of it brings pain. Gluttony does not multiply the pleasure of food; it destroys it. Controlling pleasure increases it. Judaism helps to channel us into pathways of growth that are steady and permanent. A wise life of spirit is lived in equilibrium. “There is a time,” says the Book of Ecclesiastes, “f