Cool Quotes for Sivan

Compiled by Brielle Goodman
Johns Hopkins University
KOACH on Campus Editor

"Everybody believes in God, hopefully. But do you know how much God believes in us? The world still exists. That means God believes in us; believes we can fix everything."

- Get High! The Wisdom of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Z"tl, p. 19

"No one is as remote as You, LORD our God,
yet no one is closer to us, Fatherly King.
You are beyond the confines of all creation,
yet forever present in every moment.
Our deepest thought cannot grasp Your infinity,
nor understand the shadow of Your glory's reflection.
But the whispered prayer, rising from the depths of despair.
the unvoiced cry of mute needs,
the soft sigh, draining the broken heart of its sorrow,
the silent supplication of a thin, stilled voice
-- all these are like great shofar blasts
tearing the fabric of Your sphere's peace,
touching Your endlessness wherever You are.
Suddenly You, whom the utmost heavens cannot contain,
deign to dwell in each single searching heart."

- Siddur Sim Shalom, p. 802

"For it is You who will light my lamp, Adonai, my God, illuminates my darkness."

- Psalm 18:29

"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Your righteous judgments."

- Psalm 119:105-106

"O Merciful God of forgiveness, You desire the return of those who have strayed, and You do not desire their destruction...For it is said, "This is the word of God, 'Do You think I prefer the death of a sinner? What I desire is that he repent his errant ways and live' "

- Yom Kippur Service as quoted in
Living Each Day by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD

"Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy."

-  Rabbi Abraham Heschel

"The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space....Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time....Eternity utters a day."

- Abraham Joshua Heschel, "The Sabbath," p.10

[Posted 5/19/04]