I’ve been trying (with mixed success) to keep up with texts and videos of Holy Day sermons. Here’s one that I discovered (via Rabbi Jeff Salkin), that left an especially strong impression. Continue reading ›
Tag Archive for ‘Words of the Week’ 
Words of the Week
Image description: “Happy Birthday” cake (and the number 3).
“Just calm down and listen.”
Source: Liel Leibovitz, during this week’s third-birthday episode of one of my favorite podcasts, “Unorthodox,” from Tablet magazine.
Words of the Week
“We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions. He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove from Israel from the map. When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism. When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates. This is low, dishonest and dangerous. He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.”
Source: Britain’s former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, quoted by The New Statesman.
Words of the Week
“As rabbis who critique our people’s shortcomings from our pulpits, we have this advice for Chabon: Acknowledge Israeli fears and vulnerability and not just Israeli power. Presume the good faith and good will of the Israeli people, even if you believe its policies may be wrong. People are far more likely to listen to you if you listen to them.”
Source: C. Strauchler & D. Wolkenfeld, “Saving Judaism from Michael Chabon” (Commentary)
Words of the Week: Elie Wiesel
I went in search of these words after I heard Sir Ben Kingsley read them from a paper he took from his jacket pocket at the beginning of a discussion that followed a preview screening of “Operation Finale” here in New York on Monday evening.
Source: Elie Wiesel, “Art and Culture After the Holocaust.” Opening lecture presented at an international symposium held in July 1974 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York; this image is from a reproduction of that lecture in CrossCurrents (Fall 1976), in conjunction with the publication of Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era? Reflections on the Holocaust (edited by Eva Fleischner) that same year. Wiesel’s lecture was also published in that volume.
Image description: opening paragraphs of Wiesel’s address, accompanied by a photo of Wiesel (credit: Philippe Halsman). The text reads:
Let us tell tales. Let us tell tales—all the rest can wait, all the rest must wait.
Let us tell tales—that is our primary obligation. Commentaries will have to come later, lest they replace or becloud what they mean to reveal.
Tales of children so wise and so old. Tales of old men mute with fear. Tales of victims welcoming death as an old acquaintance. Tales that bring man close to the abyss and beyond—and others that lift him up to heaven and beyond. Tales of despair, tales of longing. Tales of immense flames reaching out to the sky, tales of night consuming life and hope and eternity.
Let us tell tales so as to remember how vulnerable man is when faced with overwhelming evil. Let us tell tales so as not to allow the executioner to have the last word. The last word belongs to the victim. It is up to the witness to capture it, shape it, transmit it and keep it as a secret, and then communicate that secret to others.
Words of the Week
“This is not a eulogy. I have not changed my belief in and love for Israel, nor have I given up hope for its future. I hope that this piece will serve as a wake up call.”
Source: Mattan Berner-Kadish, “Loving Israel, Even When Israel’s Government Doesn’t Show Love for Jews Like Me” (RAC.org)
