sorta Jewish quotes

Quotes from ancient and modern sources. Updated every day. Humanistic Jew. Anyone can follow/reblog. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

[yidquotes]

hi there, i like to check in on your blog every so often to make sure youre doing all right. u faced a lot of harassment over the last several months and i'm sorry you had to endure it. i just want to remind you that you still are a good jew, you arent a "disgrace" or an embarrassment to anyone and anyone who says so is acting like a goy. you have your boundaries and you stood by them based on your own morals and wellbeing, which is what Hashem would have wanted. thank you for your content and presence <3

Thank you for the kind words. I've actually gotten a lot of nice notes from people in addition to the cries of kill yourself. I'm still here, just not posting much due to busyness. Thanks again and take care.

[leahbasavraham]

Manuscript Illustration of a Sukkah (Italy, 1374). British Libriary MS Or 5024 fol 70v from Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, fig. 369.

[fox-teeth]

May you be written in the Book of Life!

Happy Rosh Hashanah from a COVID-19 frontline healthcare worker

[geditionsbuzz]

Happy Rosh Hashanah!  To celebrate here are drawings from Glitterati author Mark Podwal! לשנה טובה We hope you enjoy the new year. 

[yidquotes]

Hello to all my new followers. You should probably drop me like a hot potato as I am problematic and most likely won't be posting too much. I'm just here for the art and some social commentary. Thanks though.

[yidquotes]

Judaism today is not the same as Judaism 2000 years ago, 200 years ago, or even 20 years ago. Judaism has evolved along with civilization at large. Movements have come and gone, some maintaining to their last gasp that only they represent “authentic Judaism.” Multiple Jewish movements continue to thrive today despite vastly different viewpoints. Clearly, then, authenticity does not require conformity to a single standard, nor does it require absolute prohibition of change. Lacking a single, agreed standard of practice and belief, authentic Judaism is one that acknowledges multiple variations on a theme, the theme of Torah, mitzvot and our covenant with the Almighty.

Redacted in language that was understood by the ancients, Torah has enjoyed millennia of study, interpretation, and love. The interpretations contained in our sacred texts not only created temporal layers of clarification and expansion for their own generations, but also set down procedures, rules, and guidelines to advise future change. Authentic Judaism finds ways to evolve within that wise logical framework, meeting needs and challenges that could not have been imagined by our forebears. Authentic Judaism adapts to today without rejecting yesterday. Authentic Judaism rejects the fundamentalist credo that all change is bad, but acknowledges that change is often difficult. Therefore, authentic Judaism takes change seriously and cautiously, pacing itself to suit, but not necessarily to match, the pace of change in society at large. Authentic Judaism does not reject tradition, nor does it seek change for its own sake. It is fundamentally conservative while remaining responsive to the world in which it lives. And through that care and thoughtfulness, and that acceptance that things do change, Judaism becomes dynamic while remaining authentic.

Rick Tavan

[yidquotes]

Commune with your own heart on your bed and be still.

Maimonides

[yidquotes]

Love is what redeems us from the prison cell of the self and all the sickness to which the narcissistic self is prone—from empty pride to deep depression to a sense of nihilism and the abyss.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Z”L

[yidquotes]

And so our rabbis decreed that a man should honor his wife more than himself, and love her as much as he loves himself.

Maimonides

[yidquotes]

Be kind and compassionate to all creatures that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in this world. Never beat nor inflict pain on any animal, beast, or bird, or insect. Do not throw stones at a dog or a cat.

Sefer Chasidim (or Hasidim): The Book of the Pious

[yidquotes]

There is no love without total faith.

No’am Hamiddot

[yidquotes]

The spiritual is also political... politics is the work we do to make the world safe for our spirituality. - Martha Ackelsberg

[yidquotes]

The deepest need of man is to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness. - Erich Fromm

[yidquotes]

A husband and wife are one soul, separated only through their descent to this world. When they are married, they are reunited again.

Zohar I91b

[yidquotes]

Whenever a person can save another person’s life but fails to do so, he transgresses a negative commandment, as (Lev.19:16) states: ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.’ Similarly, [this commandment applies] when a person sees a colleague drowning at sea or being attacked by robbers or a wild animal, and he can save him himself or can hire others to save him. Similarly, [it applies] when he hears [others] conspiring to harm a colleague or planning a snare for him, and he does not inform him and notify him [of the danger].

Rambam, Laws of the Murderer and Protecting Life 1:14

[yidquotes]

It is as necessary for man to live in beauty rather than ugliness as it is necessary for him to have food for an aching belly or rest for a weary body.

Abraham Maslow

[yidquotes]

When we are depleted of our own resources, we are incapable of providing for those around us.

Rabbi Lauren Eichler Berkun