Jewish Words of Wisdom: Quotes from November

Quotes for the Week of 23 Heshvan 5758/November 23, 1997

"All Israel is responsible one for the other" (Talmud: Sanhedrin, 27b)

"All Israel are sureties one for another!" (Talmud: Shevu'oth 39a, Soncino Translation)

"Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." (Malichi 3:22)

"Why are Israel likened to a sheep? Just as with a lamb, when it is hurt on the head or on any other limb, all its limbs feel it, even so is it with Israel: if [only one] of them sins, all of them feel it. It is said, Shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation? (Num. XVI, 22). R. Simeon b. Yohai taught: This may be compared to the case of men on a ship, one of whom took a borer and began boring beneath his own place. His fellow travellers said to him: 'What are you doing?' Said he to them: 'What does that matter to you, am I not boring under my own place?' Said they: 'Because the water will come up and flood the ship for us all.'" (Leviticus Rabbah 4:6, Soncino translation)

"Wherever a Jew lives, Judaism is on trial...Every Jew, Atlas-like, bears upon his shoulders the burden of the whole world's Jewry." (S.S. Wise, Sermons and Addresses, as quoted in A Treasury of Jewish Quotations, Joseph L. Baron, ed.)

From the Week of 16 Heshvan 5758/November 16, 1997

"We will sanctify Your Name in this word, even as they sanctify it in the heavens above, as it is written by Your prophet [Isaiah], 'And one angel called to another and says, 'Holy, holy, holy is G-d. The fullness of the earth is His glory' ' " (Kedushah, from the daily Amidah as quoted in Living Each Day, by Rabbi Twerski)

"How can a person sanctify the Divine name? Angels do so by calling, 'Holy, holy, holy.' For humans that does not suffice. We must sanctify G-d by demonstrating that His glory fills the entire world. When a person lives according to the Divine commandments and manifests in his life the Divine attributes of love, mercy, tolerance, justice, forgiveness, and kindness, he thereby brings the glory of G-d into the world." (Living Each Day,by Rabbi Twerski as a comment to the above quote)

From the Week of 2 Heshvan 5758/November 2, 1997 and the following week

"If your wife is short, bend down and listen to her counsel" (R. Papa in Talmud: Bava Metzia, 59a)

"Rab said: One should always be heedful of wronging his wife, for since her tears are frequent she is quickly hurt." (Talmud: Bava Metzia, 59a, Soncino translation)

"R. Helbo said: One must always observe the honour due to his wife, because blessings rest on a man's home only on account of his wife, for it is written, And he treated Abram well for her sake. And thus did Raba say to the townspeople of Mahuza, Honour your wives, that ye may be enriched." (Talmud: Bava Metzia, 59a, Soncino translation)