Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, "What happened?" but rather, "How then shall I live?" And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.

The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God's image in someone who is not in my image, who language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing him to remake me in his.

Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean.

Marriage, sanctified by the bond of fidelity, is the nearest life gets to a work of art.

The twenty-first century is, and will remain, the Age of Insecurity.

In our interconnected world, we must learn to feel enlarged, not threatened, by difference - that is what I have argued.

Values are tapes we play on the Walkman of the mind: any tune we choose so long as it does not disturb others.