A second-century rabbi said that if 999 angels gave a bad account of a man and one angel reported favorably, God would hear the one angel; even if 999 parts of that one angel's report were unfavorable, God would hearken to the favorable part.
A [Jewish] woman could not divorce her husband, but she could petition for divorce, and the religious courts could force him to grant the divorce on … - Israel Shenker
A [Jewish] woman could not divorce her husband, but she could petition for divorce, and the religious courts could force him to grant the divorce on …
- Israel Shenker
The suggestion that Jews were selected from among all nations of the earth to be God's chosen people suggested a kind of group arrogance, especially … - Israel Shenker
The suggestion that Jews were selected from among all nations of the earth to be God's chosen people suggested a kind of group arrogance, especially …
The unlettered man who prayed to his maker would be heard; the pedant reciting a faultless invocation would be ignored. - Israel Shenker
The unlettered man who prayed to his maker would be heard; the pedant reciting a faultless invocation would be ignored.
God's greatest blessing is children. The only problem is that you have to support them. It's a problem, not a disadvantage. - Israel Shenker
God's greatest blessing is children. The only problem is that you have to support them. It's a problem, not a disadvantage.
At first sin was as fragile as a spiders thread, and finally as stout as a ship's hawser; sin arrived as a passerby, next lingered for a moment, then… - Israel Shenker
At first sin was as fragile as a spiders thread, and finally as stout as a ship's hawser; sin arrived as a passerby, next lingered for a moment, then…
Monotheism owes its existence not to philosophic speculation about the nature of reality or knowledge or virtue, but to acceptance of reality identif… - Israel Shenker
Monotheism owes its existence not to philosophic speculation about the nature of reality or knowledge or virtue, but to acceptance of reality identif…
In Jewish tradition, death-defying devotion to scholarship was the stuff of saintliness. - Israel Shenker
In Jewish tradition, death-defying devotion to scholarship was the stuff of saintliness.
Yiddish has a down-to-earth quality that makes it remote from high-flown rhetoric, and it has a catch-as-catch-can charm derived from its stunning va… - Israel Shenker
Yiddish has a down-to-earth quality that makes it remote from high-flown rhetoric, and it has a catch-as-catch-can charm derived from its stunning va…
Theology emerged not as a course of knowledge but as a feast of homily and imagination and exaggeration in which every man could find his image and h… - Israel Shenker
Theology emerged not as a course of knowledge but as a feast of homily and imagination and exaggeration in which every man could find his image and h…
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