The Holocaust survivors are among the most inspiring people I have had the privilege to meet.

Britain, relative to the U.S., is a highly secular society. Philanthropy alone cannot fill the gap left by government cutbacks. And the sources of altruism go deep into our evolutionary past.

Focus on the mind and the soul. Read. Study. Enrol in a course of lectures. Pray. Become a member of a religious congregation. Study the Bible or other ancient works of wisdom.

Hope, even more than necessity, is the mother of invention.

Religiosity turns out to be the best indicator of civic involvement: it's more accurate than education, age, income, gender or race.

People are feeling and sensing a return of anti-Semitism - even in Europe, which, seventy years after the Holocaust, is a very scary thing. I think they are feeling that Israel is very isolated and doesn't always get what they see as fair treatment in the European media.

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