Society today is no longer in revolt against particular laws which it finds alien, unjust, and imposed, but against law as such, against the principle of law. And yet we must not regard this revolt as entirely negative. The energy that rejects many obsolete laws is an entirely positive impulse for renewal of life and law.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel
The issue of prayer
The issue of prayer is not prayer; the issue of prayer is God. One cannot pray unless he has faith in his own ability to accost the infinite, merciful, eternal God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Being points beyond itself. Accustomed
Being points beyond itself.
Accustomed to think in terms of space, the expression being points beyond itself may be taken to denote a higher point in space. What is meant, however, is a higher category than being: the power of maintaining being.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Only those will apprehend
Only those will apprehend religion who can probe its depth, who can combine intuition and love with the rigor of method
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Celebration is a confrontation,
Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Those of faith who
Those of faith who plant sacred thoughts in the uplands of time, the secret gardeners of the Lord in mankind’s desolate hopes, may slacken and tarry but rarely betray their vocation.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
The supremacy of expediency
The supremacy of expediency is being refuted by time and truth. Time is an essential dimension of existence defiant of man’s power, and truth reigns in supreme majesty, unrivaled, inimitable, and can never be defeated.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
I am commanded therefore
I am commanded therefore I am.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
A prophet’s true greatness
A prophet’s true greatness is his ability to hold God and man in a single thought.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Human being is both
Human being is both being in the world and living in the world. Living involves responsible understanding of one’s role in relation to all other beings. For living is not being in itself, but living of the world, affecting, exploiting, consuming, comprehending, deriving, depriving.
Abraham Joshua Heschel