Background music is from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite;
Swan Lake Suite, and Gustav Mahler's No. 8 Veni Creator Spiritus
-- conducted by Leonard Bernstein

It is necessary, taught the Sefat Emet, to seek the new in every moment. The Infinite One, the Force of the Universe, renews all creation in each new second. Every second the creation is being supercharged with the vitality of its is-ness, of its fresh goodness.  Human beings need to permit themselves to be renewed in every moment.... Every moment we should be ready to move to a new place, to a higher level, to seek the new.Avram Davis The Sefat Emet -- Judah Aryeh Leib (1847-1905) -- was a Polish Jewish mystic).

There is no room for God in the man who is filled with himself.  the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760) The basic ingredient of all humility is the desire to seek and do God's will. Bill Wilson (1895-1971) If I am not for myself, who will be? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?   Rabbi Hillel "The Elder". (60 BCE - 9 CE)                          (Rabbi Eugene Borowitz has translated the above Mishnah as: "If I don't stand up for myself, who should? But if I am only self-centered, what good am I?") Entrances to holiness are everywhere. The possibility of ascent is all the time. Even at unlikely times and through unlikely places There is no place on earth without the presence of God. Midrash And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ...Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Exodus 3:2,5 Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.... Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Get rid of the distinction between the sacred and the secular. God is present everywhere...it is always the Sabbath Day, and the place whereon you stand is holy ground. Emmet Fox (1886-1951) An interesting site to explore the Hebrew alphabet is: http://inner.org/hebleter/index.htm   To top To bottom