World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
Judaism

655 quote(s) | Page 26 / 27

contact_support

M an should serve God with all his strength, for all of it is needed. God wants us to serve him in all ways. And this is what is meant: It sometimes happens that a man takes a walk and talks with one person or another. And since, during this time, he cannot study, he should cling to God and join the Names of God with his soul. And when a man goes on a journey and cannot pray as usual, he should serve God in other ways. Let him not grieve because of this, for God wants us to serve him in all ways, now in this way and now in that way, and it is he who bade the man talk to people or undertake a journey, so that God might be served in these ways as well.

quote 2758 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I t is written in the psalm: I shall not die, but live." In order really to live, man must first give himself to death. But when he has done so, he discovers that he is not to die, that he is to live.

quote 2757 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I t is written: "And Abel, he also brought." The "he" is what he brought: he brought himself. Only when a man brings himself, too, is his sacrifice valid.

quote 2756 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I n order to perfect oneself, one must renew oneself day by day.

quote 2755 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.51

M an is always passing through two doors: out of the world and into the next, and out and in again.

quote 2754 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.40

T his is how: when man studies or prays with reverence and devoutness begotten of
love, and fastens and binds his spirit to God and remembers that nothing is void of him and with out him, but that everything is filled with life granted by the Creator, then, in all he sees, he sees the living power of the Creator and hears his living voice.

quote 2753 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.39

B efore the soul enters the air of this world, it is conducted through all the worlds. Last of all, it is shown the first light which once-when the world was created-illuminated all things, and which God removed when mankind grew corrupt. Why is the soul shown this light? So that, from that hour on, it may yearn to attain the light, and approach it rung by rung in its life on earth. And those who reach it, the zaddikim-into them the light enters, and out of them it shines into the world again. That is the reason why it was hidden.

quote 2752 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.38

T o commune with your Maker in solitude and silence, to recite psalms and pray to him-this it is good to do with your whole heart, until you are overwhelmed with weeping and weep to God as a child weeps to its father. But to weep according to plan in the midst of prayer-that is unworthy! He who does so can no longer say what he says with a whole heart, and the truly great weeping will not overwhelm him. Even thoughts about prayer are like "alien thoughts" which hinder the soul from fixing itself wholly upon God.
There are people who can utter words of prayer with true fervor, so that the words shine like a precious stone whose radiance shines of itself. Then again there are people whose words are nothing but a window that has no light of its own, but only lets the light in and shines for that reason.

quote 2751 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

I t is written: "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me . . . And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it."
The altar of earth is the altar of silence, which pleases God beyond all else. But if you do make an altar of words, do not hew and chisel them, for such artifice would profane it.

quote 2750 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

T he psalm reads: "For singing to our God is good."
It is good if man can so bring it about that God sings within him.

quote 2749 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

W hen a Jew is about to say: 'Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the world," and prepares to utter the first word, the word "blessed," he shall do so with all his strength, so that he will have no strength left to say "art thou." And this is the meaning of the verse in the Scriptures: "But they that wait for the Lord shall exchange their strength." What we are really saying is: "Our Father in heaven, I am giving you all the strength that is within me in that very first word; now will you, in exchange, give me an abundance of new strength, so that I can go on with my prayer."

quote 2748 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.29

H e who prays in sorrow because of the bleakness which burdens his spirit, and thinks he is praying in the fear of God, or he who prays in joy because of the radiance in his spirit, and thinks he is praying in the love of God-his prayers are no good at all. For his fear is the burden of sadness, and his love is nothing but empty joy.

quote 2747 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.28

F aith is a very strong thing, and if a man has faith and a simplicity that does not rationalize, he will be found worthy of reaching the rung of grace which is even higher than that of holy wisdom. He will be vouchsafed great and overwhelming grace in God in very blissful silence, until he will be able to bear the greatness of this silence no longer, and will cry aloud out of the fullness of his soul.

quote 2746 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.24

T his whole world is a cloak for the lowest rung of holiness, for its feet, as it were. As it is written: "And the earth is my footstool." God limits the godliness he has in infinity, and narrows it down to the focus of the material world in which man exists. And there he assigns every man his thought and word and deed according to the day, the place, and the person, and hides therein the signs to lead men to his service.
And so a man should immerse himself in the task of understanding the signs which are cloaked in thought and word and deed and so given to him in particular, in his work and his affairs, and in everything God appoints for him day by day.

quote 2745 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.23

T here are two kinds of love: the love of a man for his wife, which should manifest itself in secret and not where there are spectators, for this love can be consummated only in a place apart from other beings; and there is the love for one's brothers and sisters and children, a love which does not require secrecy.
And there are two kinds of love for God: the spent in learning and praying and fulfilling the commandments, which should be shown in and not in the presence of others, lest it tempt to glory and pride; and the love shown in the company of other human beings, when one bears and speaks, gives and takes, and, in one's secret heart, clings to God and never ceases dwelling upon him.

quote 2744 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.21

M an himself is the source of all his troubles, for the light of God pours over him eternally. But through his all-too-bodily existence man comes to cast a shadow, so that the light cannot reach him.

quote 2743 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.20

I n the psalm we read: "How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart by day? "
As long as I take counsel in my soul, there must be sorrow in my heart all day. Only when I know of no further counsel that can help me, and I give up taking counsel, and know of no other help but God, will help be vouchsafed me.

quote 2742 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.20

I n the Scriptures we read: "When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the Lord !' Only he who brings himself to God as an offering may be called man.

quote 2741 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.19

I n the Scriptures we read: "I stood between the Lord and you." The "I" stands between God and us. When a man says "I" and presumes to use his Maker's word, he is shutting himself off from him. But there is no dividing wall before him who sacrifices his 'I" For of him it is written: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me!' When my "I" comes to belong to my beloved, then his desire is toward me.

quote 2740 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.19

Q uestion: Why is it written: "In the day that God created a man on earth," and not "in the day that God created man on earth"?
Answer: You shall serve your Creator as if there were only one man in the world, only you yourself.

quote 2739 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.18

Q uestion: When they stood at Mount Sinai, the people said to Moses: "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." And Moses answered: "Fear not." He went on to say that God had come "that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not." Is not that a contradiction?
Answer: "Fear not"-this means: this fear of yours, the fear of death, is not the fear God wants of you. He wants you to fear him, he wants you to fear his remoteness, and not to fall into sin which removes you from him.

quote 2738 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.17

E very lock has its key which fits into and opens it. But there are strong thieves who know how to open locks without keys. They break the lock. So every mystery in the world can be unriddled by the particular kind of meditation fitted to it. But God loves the thief who breaks the lock open: I mean, the man who breaks his heart for God.

quote 2737 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.17

T he whole earth is full of His glory.' By his works within me, I know the One.

quote 2736 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.17

T he understanding of man is not great enough to grasp the fact that God is beyond time. But you must understand that time exists only because we do not grasp it, only because our understanding is small. For the greater our understanding, the more time is on the wane. In a dream we live seventy years and discover, on awakening, that it was a quarter of an hour. In our life, which passes like a dream, we Eve seventy years and then we waken to a greater understanding which shows us that it was a quarter of an hour. With our small understanding we can never grasp what we will know with the greater. Perfect understanding is beyond time.

quote 2735 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.16

I t is written: "I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd." This does not mean that the shepherd is not there. The shepherd is always there. But sometimes he hides, and then he is indeed not there to the sheep, because they do not see him.

quote 2734 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.16

Page: 25 |26 | 27

World Sacred Scriptures

The Dhammapada
The Diamond sutra and the Heart Sutra
The Bible
Corpus Hermetica
The Bhagavad Gita
The Laws of Manu
The Upanishads
The Holy Koran (External Link)
The Zohar (External Link)
Shri Guru Granth Sahib
The Avesta
The Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
Apocrypha of the Bible
The Dao De Jing
Tibetan Book of the Dead

Quotes from the World Religion

God Love All Beings

Scriptures 360

Bahai 360
Buddhism 360
Christianity 360
Hinduism 360
Islam 360

Jainism 360
Judaism 360
Sickhim 360
Taoism 360
Zoroastrism 360

Quotes by sacred scriptures

Quotes by authors

Quotes by schools of thought

Quotes by subjects

Search quotes by keywords