"The modern reader should not see the Mosaic code... as simply a tedious set of religious rituals.
This historic covenant, given by the hand of God himself...was...a guide to spirituality, a gateway to
Christ...It...included many basic parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had existed before it. It was
never intended to be something apart or separated from, and certainly not something antagonistic to,
the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, pp. 136-37, 147.
"In the sixteenth century, the great Kabbalistic rabbi Isaac Luria offered a profoundly beautiful
cosmology of the world...The world...[began when] the vessel holding [the Source of all light] shattered
and broke open, and the light of God was scattered throughout the universe into an infinite number of
holy sparks. These countless sparks of holiness are hidden deep in everyone and everything.
...The purpose of human life is to uncover these sparks of light and restore the world to its original
wholeness. Everyone and everything we encounter is a shell or container for a hidden spark of holiness.
It is up to us to help free the hidden holiness in everything and everyone....Every act of lovingkindness,
no matter how great or small, repairs the world."
Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings, p. 326.
"Dancing [for the Jew] is no mere expression; it is an achievement...if the dancers could persuade
a melancholy person to join them, his sadness would lift. And if you are that melancholy
person...persuade yourself to dance, for it is "an achievement to struggle and pursue that sadness,
bringing it into the joy."
Theologian Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's Reform congregation in Sudbury Mass....holds a
celebration on Simchat Torah, when the synagogue completes the whole year's reading of the Torah.
It is a thrilling sight, he wrote. "People come from far and wide. The dancing goes on for hours.
"I once asked a newly-arrived Soviet Jewish refusenik what he thought of our Simchat Torah
celebration." The man said it was fine, but better in Leningrad. Rabbi Kushner, who admitted to
being "curious and a little insulted," asked how it was better.
"'In Leningrad,' he explained, 'if you dance in front of the synagogue on Simchat Torah, you must
assume that the secret police will photograph everyone. This means that you will be identified and
sooner or later your employer will be notified. And since such a dance is considered anti-Soviet, you
must be prepared to lose your job! And so you see,' he went on, 'to dance on such an occasion, this is a
different kind of dance.'"
Annie Dillard, For the Time Being, pp.144-145.
Mosiah 9-17 - Nancy Baird - February 22, 2011 (Audio)
