The story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac are nowhere in any other tradition.

You take a text, you explore it, you enter it with all your heart and all your mind.

Knowledge does not corrupt, unless it is arrogant; but then it is not true knowledge.

Perhaps fate isn't blind after all. Perhaps it's capable of fantasy, even compassion.

Christians call it the "Sacrifice of Isaac," and Jews call it the "Binding of Isaac."

Some events do take place but are not true; others are, although they never occurred.

There is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent.

did everything I could in my life to be immune to hatred, because hatred is a cancer.

Judaism is in a sense a Rabbinic, Talmudic religion, rather than a Biblical religion.

Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.

My faith is a wounded faith, but it's not without faith. My life is not without faith.

If God exists, how can we lay claim to freedom, since He is its beginning and its end?

No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.

The story [of the Sacrifice of Isaac ] is much more a part of theology than of history.

You shouldn’t act as a spokesperson for someone who’s trying to impose his will on you.

I think [Sacrifice of Isaac] is the most important event in the Bible except for Sinai.

Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to life as long as God himself

In those dark times, one rose to the very heights of humanity by simply remaining human.

Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.

I am much more afraid of my good deeds that please me than of my bad deeds that repel me.

This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story - and perhaps into a prayer.

The Jewish tradition of learning-is learning. Adam chose knowledge instead of immortality.

I think so. 9/11 has been a turning point in American history, there's no doubt about that.

I don't believe in collective guilt. The children of killers are not killers, but children.

Indifference is the sign of sickness, a sickness of the soul more contagious than any other.

..you do not leave a library; if you do what it wants you to do, you are taking it with you.

Language failed me very often, but then, the substitute for me was silence, but not violence.

You know, words have strange destiny, too. They grow. They get old. They die. They come back.

Religion is a very personal thing for me. Religion has its good moments and its poor moments.

Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible.

I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.

The only way for us to help ourselves is to help others and to listen to each other's stories.

Life is really fascinated only by death. It vibrates only when it comes in contact with death.

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.

I feel that books, just like people, have a destiny. Some invite sorrow, others joy, some both.

In any society, fanatics who hate don't hate only me - they hate you, too. They hate everybody.

Man walks the moon but his soul remains riveted to earth. Once upon a time it was the opposite.

It's easier to be conformist naturally; it's easier except for those who don't like conformism.

Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death.

I belong to a tradition that believes that the death of a single child is a blemish on creation.

I'll tell you what: I believe mysticism is a very serious endeavor. One must be equipped for it.

The world? The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria.

Whether every story that's there [in the Bible] is a historic truth ... Again, I'm not concerned.

What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.

Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world.

Moses was the greatest legislator and the commander in chief of perhaps the first liberation army.

I'm not a political person, and their ambitions are not mine. They want power. I don't want power.

One can do without solutions. Only the questions matter. We may share them or turn away from them.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.

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