Rabbi Quotes

• First of all, the Jewish religion has a great deal in common with the Christian religion because, as Rabbi Gillman points out in the show, Christianity is based on Judaism. Christ was Jewish.

  Barbara Walters

  Christian, Religion, Literature

  53 Copy quote

• I refuse to stand up in front of a rabbi and my friends and the woman I love - who I will tell you I can love with all my heart - and promise she will be the only one I will ever have until the day I die. Thats a lie.

  Gene Simmons

  Lying, Heart, Promise

  51 Copy quote

• There was reference made to a book written in Greek by a former Rabbi who had been converted to Christianity. There was reference to a publication of a high clergyman of Milan. Not even did Jews raise objections to that book.

  Julius Streicher

  Book, Greek, Christianity

  81 Copy quote

• If someone is too tired to give you a smile, leave one of your own, because no one needs a smile as much as those who have none to give.

  Samson Raphael Hirsch

  Smile, Kindness, Tired

  75 Copy quote

• If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul

  Harold S. Kushner

  Life, Thank You, Thankful

  107 Copy quote

• Some people sleep until morning. Others know they have to bring the morning.

  Shlomo Carlebach

  Morning, Sleep, People

  64 Copy quote

• The pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Faith, Wisdom, Religious

  "Arpilei Tohar" by Abraham Isaac Kook, (p. 2), 1914.

  139 Copy quote

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• If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? But when I am for myself, then what am "I"? And if not now, when?

  Hillel the Elder

  Torah, Judaism, Ifs

  "Pirkei Avot". 1:14,

  112 Copy quote

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• Most men worry about their own bellies and other people's souls, when we all ought to be worried about our own souls and other people's bellies.

  Yisroel Salanter

  Helping Others, Men, People

  88 Copy quote

• The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God's image in someone who is not in my image, who language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing him to remake me in his.

  Jonathan Sacks

  God, Faith, Religious

  95 Copy quote

• People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake. Actually the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes.

  Noah Weinberg

  Inspirational, Life, Perseverance

  57 Copy quote

• There's a lovely Hasidic story of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, "Why on our hearts, and not in them?" The rabbi answered, "Only God can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your heart, and then when your hearts break, the holy words will fall inside.

  Anne Lamott

  Fall, Reading, Heart

  Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.73, Penguin

  9 Copy quote

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• You cannot be anything if you want to be everything.

  Solomon Schechter

  Inspirational, Funny, Want

  52 Copy quote

• 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.

  Israel Shenker

  Angel, Men, Mercy

  Israel Shenker (1985). “Coat of Many Colors: Pages from Jewish Life”, Doubleday Books

  7 Copy quote

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• The dangers is that every religion, including the Catholic one, says "I have the ultimate truth." Then you start to rely on the priest, the mullah, the rabbi, or whoever, to be responsible for your acts. In fact, you are the only one who is responsible.

  Paulo Coelho

  Spiritual, Truth, Catholic

  11 Copy quote

• Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know,' and thou shalt progress.

  Maimonides

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  191 Copy quote

• When I was three, I fell and I got Bell's palsy in my face. My mom said the first day she called the rabbi, and he said a prayer for me but nothing happened. The second day she called the Mormons, and they said a prayer for me and my face was healed, so my whole life was going around as a Jew who was giving talks in Mormon churches about being healed by the Mormons.

  Roseanne Barr

  Mom, Prayer, Giving

  Interview with Judd Apatow, www.elle.com. June 12, 2015.

  3 Copy quote

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• You can't appreciate a great day unless you've experienced bad ones." - Rabbi Glassman

  Simone Elkeles

  Appreciate, Great Day

  3 Copy quote

• A mystic is anyone who has the gnawing suspicion that the apparent discord, brokenness, contradictions and discontinuities that assault us every day might conceal a hidden unity.

  Lawrence Kushner

  Unity, Might, Harmony

  Lawrence Kushner (2010). “I'm God, You're Not: Observations on Organized Religion & Other Disguises of the Ego”, p.150, Jewish Lights Publishing

  44 Copy quote

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• The Hasidic rabbi, Zuscha, was asked on his deathbed what he thought the kingdom of God would be like. He replied, "I don't know. But one thing I do know. When I get there I am not going to be asked, 'Why weren't you Moses? Why weren't you David?' I am only going to be asked, 'Why weren't you Zuscha? Why weren't you fully you?'"

  Alan Loy McGinnis

  Self, Would Be, Kingdoms

  3 Copy quote

• In a Jewish theological seminar there was an hours-long discussion about proofs of the existence of God. After some hours, one rabbi got up and said, "God is so great, he does not even need to exist."

  Victor Frederick Weisskopf

  Long, Atheism, Doe

  10 Copy quote

• Rabbi Kushner writes from a wealth of Jewish wisdom and pastoral devotion, but his theology is, I find, is wholly in keeping with contemporary Christian thought. So far as there is an answer to the conflict between the goodness of God and the bitterness of suffering, this is it

  Gerald Priestland

  Christian, Writing, Suffering

  4 Copy quote

• It is easy for a rabbi to establish prohibitions, but a rabbi's real strength is to teach Torah and rule on lawwith an emphasis on what is permitted.

  Ovadia Yosef

  Real, Easy, Prohibition

  Jewish Chronicle (p. 22), October 11, 2013.

  23 Copy quote

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• Everyone needs a spiritual guide: a minister, rabbi, counselor, wise friend, or therapist. My own wise friend is my dog.

  Gary A. Kowalski

  Friendship, Wise, Spiritual

  8 Copy quote

• Rock music had become my religion. Radio my church. And these DJs my priests, rabbis and gurus.

  Steven Van Zandt

  Rocks, Church, Radio

  3 Copy quote