Sublime

The book of Exodus here brings a key aspect of Jewish theology to light: for the accomplishment of divine aims, God chooses to need people.

The source of our godliness, an array of Jewish sages teaches, is our capacity for kindness and generosity. Accordingly, our greatest desire should be to do good for others.

and guides us in valuing what is difficult, what is different

Archaeologists have found an abundance of remains and artifacts in Jerusalem associated with the First Temple, including a twenty-six-hundred-year-old seal (called a bulla) with a name written on it in Hebrew, “Natan-Melech, Eved Ha’Melech,” a tooth-breaking name that appears in the Second Book of Kings.

The prohibition on embarrassing another is one of Judaism’s cardinal sins, they say, and one should sooner die than transgress

Rabbi Saadia Gaon teaches that “the Jews are a people by virtue of Torah.”

linguistic acrobatics that Yeshurun performed in his poems—e.g., multilingualism, neologism, formal hybridity—also characterized Yiddish modernism of the early twentieth century, so arguably a Yiddish poetics or poetic sensibility shaped his very approach to writing Hebrew.

The foundation of true spiritual leadership is love. No one can be a true leader unless he has genuine love for the Jewish people. But he must understand how to show this love. It is forbidden to show love to the wicked, to murderers and robbers. He must know how to guide and direct each individual along the path which will lead to his ultimate goo