WIST

The greatest heresy is despair, despair of men’s power for goodness, men’s power for love.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity – The Segregation of God,” National Conference for Religion and Race, Chicago (1963)

Without reason we would not know how to apply the insights of faith to the concrete issues of living. … The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 1 (1955)

All that is left to us is our being horrified at the loss of our sense of horror.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 36 (1955)

Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 16 (1955)

Religion has often suffered from the tendency to become parochial, self-indulgent, self-seeking; as if the task were not to ennoble human nature but to enhance the power and beauty of its institutions or to enlarge the body of doctrines.  It has often done more to canonize prejudices than to wrestle for truth; to petrify the sacred than to sanctify the secular.  Yet the task of religion is to be a challenge to the stabilization of values.  Religion is not for religion’s sake but for God’s sake.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 42 “The Spirit of Judaism” (1976)
Full text.

Life is not meaningful … unless it is serving an end beyond itself, unless it is of value to someone else.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Man is Not Alone, ch. 19 (1951)

We appreciate what we share, we do not appreciate what we receive.  Friendship, affection is not acquired by giving presents.  Friendship, affection comes about by two people sharing a significant moment, by having an experience in common.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, 5.3 (1967)

Our tragedy begins with the segregation of God, with the bifurcation of the secular and sacred. We worry more about the purity of dogma than about the integrity of love.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, ch. 6 “Religion and Race” (3) (1963)
Full text.

Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 1 “What Manner of Man is the Prophet?” (1962)
Full text.

An act of injustice is condemned, not because the law is broken, but because a person has been hurt.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 11 (1962)

Failure to understand what is demanded of us is the source of anxiety.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Who Is Man?, ch. 6 (1965)