We forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate negroes. … The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELWe forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate negroes. … The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELWe cannot approach the spirit unless we repair the vessels. Reverence for words – an awareness of the wonder of words, of the mystery of words – is an essential prerequisite for prayer.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELHe who is satisfied has never truly craved, and he who craves for the light of God neglects his ease for ardor.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere is a built-in sense of indebtedness in the consciousness of man, an awareness of owing gratitude, or being caled upon at certain moments to reciprocate
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThe beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere is a war to wage against the vulgar, the glorification of the absurd, a war that is incessant, universal.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere are few ideas in the world of thought which contain so much spiritual power as the idea of the Sabbath.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere is happiness in the love of labor, there is misery in the love of gain.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELPrayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELNever once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELCelebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions. Source: The Wisdom of Heschel
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThose who are open to the wonder will not miss it. Faith is found in solicitude for faith, in an inner care for the wonder that is everywhere.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThe task of life is to face sacred moments.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELEach day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. …I do not ask to see the reason for it all: I ask only to share the wonder of it all.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELCelebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL