Bereshit

"Just as your hand, held before your eyes, can hide the tallest mountains - so this earthly life can keep you from seeing the vast radiance that fills the universe" – Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav

Ladies and gentlemen I hope you enjoyed the ride, had an AWEsome run of holidays and after all that we're back at where we began. I know I'm sure enjoying the ride...

Ear versus Eye

Perhaps the most profound difference between the two civilizations of antiquity that are most responsible for the culture of the Western world ancient Greece and ancient Israel Is their focus: the Greeks were the supreme masters of the visual arts: art, sculpture, architecture and the theatre. Jews, as a matter of profound religious principle, were not.

For Israel G-d, the sole object of worship is invisible. He transcends nature. He created the universe and is therefore beyond the universe. He cannot be seen. He reveals Himself only in speech. Therefore the supreme religious act in Judaism is to listen. Ancient Greece was a culture of the eye; ancient Israel a culture of the ear. The Greeks worshipped what they saw; Israel worshipped what they heard.

Chief Rabbi J. Sacks