A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'
Tony KushnerRead
The act of thinking and interpreting is so central to Judaism that it makes more sense that we've become people like Woody Allen - thinkers and talkers and drafters of law.
Interpretation
Judaism emphasizes the importance of thought and discourse, shaping a culture of deep reflection and legal interpretation.
Tony Kushner highlights the central role of thinking and interpreting within Judaism, suggesting that the culture has evolved to produce individuals like Woody Allen, who are characterized by their intellectual pursuits, dialogue, and legal thinking. This reflects a broader theme of how intellectual engagement is fundamental to Jewish identity and tradition, positioning Jews as active thinkers and conversationalists in society.
In practice
In a discussion about cultural identity at a community event.
A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'
Artists know that diligence counts as much, if not more, as inspiration; in art, as in politics, patience counts as much as revolution.
I don't understand why I'm not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die
In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead.
The way that same-sex marriage should reach the federal level is that it absolutely should be decided by the Supreme Court as quickly as possible. It's a 14th Amendment issue. There's no argument about it.
Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no quarrel with "big government" when it served their needs.
An unjust peace is better than a just war.
Noble ideas, great sentiments have always existed and have always been transmitted, but wars have never ceased.
It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.
I'm happy to respect authority when it's genuine authority, based on moral or intellectual or even technical superiority. I'm eager to follow a hero if we can find one. But I tend to resist or evade any kind of authority based merely on the power to coerce. Government, for example. The Army tried to train us to salute the uniform, not the man. Failed. I will salute the man, maybe, if I think he's worthy of it, but I don't salute uniforms anymore.
However passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their innocent eyes; they tell us not of eternal peace alone, of that great peace of "indifferent" nature: they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation and of life without end.
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