Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming.

[ Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac] was the greatest commentator [of the Bible] we ever had.

[My approach to the Bible, history does really matter.] Everything matters. But I have priorities. For instance, for me to know whether there were two Isaiahs or one is less important than the text itself. Of course I read the arguments for and against. But it's not my task in life to say there were two or three authors of Isaiah's book, or how many authors there were of Deuteronomy. This is not what I'm doing.

When our center is strong, everything else is secondary.

The primary task of a Jew in turbulent times is to be Jewish.

We must choose between the violence of adults and the smiles of children.

In spite of despair, hope must exist. In spite of suffering, humanity must prevail. And in spite of all the differences in the world, the worst enemy, the worst peril, is indifference.