Sublime

May my soul be calm, may my soul be content.

doesn’t water down the tradition to be inclusive.

An Empowered Judaism framework recognizes that demand is strong among the general population and responds to that demand by building communities and institutions that offer direct engagement with Jewish life. Responding to this demand is the real challenge of our time.

We cultivate the practice of responding to ourselves and others with compassion and kindness.

In the first instance, the dispersion of Moses in every generation (itpashṭuta de-moshe be-khol dara we-dara) signifies the capability of every Jew to expand his or her consciousness (da‘at) to the point of being assimilated within the divine and to draw down the infinite light into the world.42 However, the righteous sages, the “eyes of the

Devarim 15:8. Kesubos 67b infers from the Hebrew phrase employed that the mitzvah of giving charity involves giving a person not merely enough to satisfy his basic necessities, but also enough to enable him to maintain

In situations that call mainly for common sense and decency, Shimen’s first instinct is to conjure up what his bubbe (grandma) would do.

A medieval sage, Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (Rosh, 1250?–1327), insists that this mitzvah of receiving people warmly applies not just to one-on-one encounters but also to the way we carry ourselves in public. “Let not your face be angry toward passersby,” he says, “but receive them with a friendly countenance.”48 How we comport ourselves in the world

‘Well,’ said the Rebbe, ‘I will tell you what you must do and teach others to do. Regard every person – familiar or a stranger, young or old, learned or unlearned, observant or unobservant – as if he or she might be the Messiah, for the Messiah will surely come in disguise. If only we would do this, we would find that, without our realizing it, the