179 Quotes About Judaism

Mit der Dialogfähigkeit ist es nicht nötig, vom Bewährten abzurücken, gleichwohl es zur Stunde an allen Glaubensvertretern ist, der herben Enttäuschung ihrer Anhänger Halt zu gebieten und die verlorenen Schafe wieder in den Schoß ihrer Gemeinden zurückzuholen, in anderen Worten Religion als Marktmodell des Nutzens zu begreifen.

Being Jewish did not compromise the humanitarian and universalist ideals of my close relatives who, having experienced persecution close hand, were more concerned with bringing about peace, justice and equality in the world than in trying to cut out a niche where they could continue an insular — Jewish — fantasy.

Whole branches of Judaism may wither and fall, but the trunk remains,

Our story is not only about exile and oppression and suffering. It is the story of thriving, of triumph, and of great faith. It is the story of a people that laughs in the face of deepest despair, that stubbornly clings to life and to joy even in the face of horror and death. We take our pain and turn it into poetry. We take our misfortune and transform it into opportunity.

But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed? How has it happened that all the fine arts, architecture, painting, sculpture, statuary, music, poetry, and oratory, have been prostituted, from the creation of the world, to the sordid and detestable purposes of superstition and fraud?[Letter to judge F.A. Van der Kamp, December 27, 1816.]

What are the chances that of all 1.59629 quadrillion square feet of physical land on planet Earth, three major world religions are literally fighting over one single rock?

In relation to Monotheism considered as such, Judaism stabilized but “confiscated” the Message; Christianity universalized but “altered” it; Islam in turn restored it by stabilizing and universalizing it.

Most of the oppression of Muslims in the world right now is carried out by other Muslims.

That's what being Jewish is: summoning the means to question who you are and how you have behaved. Have you remained alight in the darkness of cruel wishes,..? Have you forgiven? Have you lived up to the standards of your one and only heart?