God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake.

Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.

The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.

We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.

A soul can create only when alone.

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

This is one of the goals of the Jewish way of living: to experience commonplace deeds as spiritual adventures, to feel the hidden love and wisdom in all things.