Abraham Heschel

An unofficial account featuring the remarkable insights of the 20th century's greatest Jewish theologian, thinker, and activist.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The Sabbath is the most precious present mankind has received from the treasure house of God.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

[God's] power is His love, His justice is His mercy.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

When the soul of man is asked: What is God to you? there is only one answer that survives all theories: He is full of compassion.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Faith is the beginning of intense craving to enter an active relationship with Him who is beyond the mystery.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Acts of holiness uttered by the soul disclose the holiness of God hidden in every moment of time.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Why should worship be bound to regular occasions? Why impose a calendar on the soul?

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Works of piety are like works of art. They're functional and serve a purpose, but their essence is intrinsic, their value is in themselves.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Spiritual meaning isn't always limpid; transparency is the quality of glass, while diamonds have refractive power and play prismatic colors.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Frequently where concepts fail, where rational understanding ends, the meaning of observance begins.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The order of Jewish living is a spiritual one; it has a spiritual logic of its own.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

We must be particularly careful not to fall into the habit of looking at religion as if it were a machine which can be worked.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The modern Jew cannot accept the way of static obedience as a shortcut to the mystery of the divine will.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Nothing is trite or irrelevant in the eyes of God.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The brotherhood of men would be an empty dream without the fatherhood of God.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

To the religious mind if a man has . . . saved a single soul, it is as though he had saved a whole world.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

God means: Togetherness of all beings in holy otherness.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The notion of God as a perfect being is not of biblical extraction. It is the product not of prophetic religion but of Greek philosophy.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Just as you cannot study philosophy through praying, you cannot study prayer through philosophizing.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

The most important problem a human faces daily is how to maintain integrity in a world where power, success, & money are valued above all.

[Abraham Heschel @Heschelquotes]

Since the inner world is sacred, the outer world must be kept clean. Since the goal is great, the way must be directed.