Quotes from Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but a climax of living.

Faith is not a product of our will. It occurs without intention, without will. Words expire when uttered, and faith is like the silence that draws lovers near, like a breath that shares in the wind.

Modern man fell into the trap of believing that everything can be explained, that reality is a simple affair which has only to be organized in order to be mastered.

The Bible is the perpetual motion of the spirit, an ocean of meaning, its waves beating against man's abrupt and steep shortcomings, its echo reaching into the blind alleys of his wrestling with despair.

to employ words is not the same as to understand what they mean. Moreover, the relation between words and their meanings is elastic. Words remain, while meanings are subject to change.

In moments of great crisis they all fail—priests, philosophers, scientists—the prophets alone prevail.

We often feel how poor the edifice would be were it built exclusively of our rituals and deeds which are so awkward and often so obtrusive. How else express glory in the presence of eternity, if not by the silence of abstaining from noisy acts?

It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy."7 There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.

There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.

Standing face to face with the world, we often sense a spirit which surpasses our ability to comprehend. The world is too much for us. It is crammed with marvel. The glory is not an exception but an aura that lies about all being, a spiritual setting of reality.

Above all it never ceases to proclaim that worship of God without justice to man is an abomination; that while man's problem is God, God's problem is man.

To most of us a person, a human being, seems to be a maximum of being, the ceiling of reality; we think that to personify is to glorify. Yet do not some of us realize at times that a person is no superlative, that to personify the spiritually real is to belittle it? A personification may be both a distortion and a depreciation.

Our future depends upon our appreciation of the reality of the inner life, of the splendor of thought, of the dignity of wonder and reverence. This is the most important thought: God has a stake in the life of man, of every man. But this idea cannot be imposed from without; it must be discovered by every man; it cannot be preached, it must be experienced.   When

philosophy of religion comes into being when both religion and philosophy claim to offer ideas about ultimate problems.

He who wishes to ponder what is beyond the Bible must first learn to be sensitive to what is within the Bible.

Philosophy of religion is involved in a polarity; like an ellipse it revolves around two foci: philosophy and religion.

The body without the spirit is a corpse; the spirit without the body is a ghost.

The human mind is one-sided. It can never grasp all of reality at once. When we look at things we see either the features which they have in common or the features that distinguish each of them.

A great event, miraculous as it may be, if it happened only once, will hardly be able to dominate forever the mind of man.

Two sources of religious thinking are given us: memory (tradition) and personal insight. We must rely on our memory and we must strive for fresh insight.

It is not enough to think about the prophets; we must think through the prophets. It is not enough to read the Bible for its wisdom; we must pray the Bible to comprehend its claim.

If a man says to you, I have labored and not found, do not believe him. If he says, I have not labored but still have found, do not believe him. If he says, I have labored and found, you may believe him.

Muziek, poëzie, religie - ze ontstaan allemaal in de ontmoeting van de ziel met een aspect van de werkelijkheid waarvoor de rede geen begrippen en geen taal heeft. (p.56)

This is the secret of the spirit, not disclosed to reason: the adaptation of the mind to what is sacred, intellectual humility in the presence of the supreme. The mind surrenders to the mystery of spirit, not in resignation but in love.