… AND WHEN I SAY “KNOW,” I’m not talking about “faith,” “opinion,” or “reasoned analysis,” but an intimate, visceral, experiential knowing. (Torah has a word for it — דַעַת — “da’at,” which can also refer to intimacy of the sexual…
Tag: There’s a God in My Soup
Religious experience, or at least the experience of religion.
Torah, Nutshelled
(I delivered the following address at one of our recent Yom Kippur services. It’s based on a favorite biblical quote, which is … well, just listen.) הִגִּ֥יד לְךָ֛ אָדָ֖ם מַה־טּ֑וֹב וּמָֽה־יְהֹוָ֞ה דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ מִמְּךָ֗ כִּ֣י אִם־עֲשׂ֤וֹת מִשְׁפָּט֙ וְאַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ לֶ֖כֶת…
A Secret of Life
WHEN YOU’RE TALKING WITH SOMEONE, ask yourself: “How can I meet this person’s needs right now?“
I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man, because he is the only creature to insist on having one.”
— Albert Camus
Free Verse: “And God Said”
SEEK ME, EACH OF YOU, in your own way. And when you find Me? Prove it: Leave each other the hell alone. originally published: 2011.06.04
We’re all just raindrops on a windshield.”
— Jerry Seinfeld, to Michael Richards in “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”
Fear of death is worse than death.”
— R. Yehudah de Modena
Give It Away Now
THE TALMUD SAYS THAT ONE who teaches Torah to a child is as if one raised that child. What it also says is, “That’s what you’re supposed to do.” As noted elsewhere, Torah is a great interest and passion of…
To be religious means to be honest, kind, and thoughtful. Anyone who lacks these qualities is not religious, no matter how careful one is in ritual observance.”
— Rabbi Marc D. Angel, introducing chapter 6 of Pirkei Avot
I believe life’s a mystery; a sacred one. As for faith, that’s a personal and private thing…”
– John Walton Sr.
The Spiritual Seeker’s Ponder
“DO YOU WANT ANSWERS? Or better, more interesting questions?”
Be not ashamed to learn truth from any source.”
— Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol (1021-1058)