The Jewish Wisdom Database

To use the Torah is more important than to study it.

The man who boasts: 'I have naught but the Torah' has not even that.

The Torah sheds its grace upon those who study it.

Why was the Torah likened unto water? As water leaves a high place and flows to a low one, the Torah, too, rests only among those whose mind is humble.

Why was the torah likened unto water? As water leaves a high place and flows to a low one, the Torah, too, rests only among those whose mind is humble.

Who occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake finds his learning become his elixir of life.

As wine enlivens the heart, so do the words of the Torah.

If a man does not pursue the words of the Law, they will not pursue him.

Tradition is a fence for the Torah.

Tradition must be a spring-board into the future, not an arm-chair for repose.

Even the best translation cannot render fully the exact meaning of the text.

The first man knew it not perfectly, neither will the last search it thoroughly; for its understanding is wider than the sea and its counsel deeper than the abyss. [Torah]

A man may sell his Scrolls of the Law to take a wife.

A man who marries a decent woman is as though he fulfilled all the Torah's behests.

Wisdom came before the Torah.

One of the comprehensive mitzvot of the Torah is the mitzvah of ahavat yisrael, the love for a fellow Jew, which is said to be a great principle of Torah, and the basis of the entire Torah.

The division of Judaism into 'Orthodox,' 'Conservative,' 'Reform,' etc., is artificial. For all Jews have one and the same Torah, given by the one and same G-d, though there are more observant Jews and less observant Jews. To tag on a label does not, of course, change the reality of Jewish essence.

If you find a Jew who has love of G-d, but lacks love of the Torah and the Jewish people, tell him that his love shall not endure. If you find a Jew who has love of the Jewish people but no love for G-d or the Torah, work with him to fan that love, for he will come to an enduring love of G-d, Torah and the Jewish people.

Where God is blasphemed, no respect is due to the Rabbi.

Thou shalt teach them [commandments] diligently to your children.

Teach your children letters, that they may have understanding all their life, reading unceasingly the law of God.

Busy yourself as much as possible with the study of divine things, not to know them merely, but to do them; and when you close the book, look round you, look within you, to see if your hand can translate into deed something you have learned.

Arrange the ordinances in order, like a set table.

Teachers may not accept remuneration for teaching Torah, but may for teaching punctuation marks and accents.

Who withholds a law from his pupil robs him of his inheritance.