11 definitions
The Day of Atonement (n.) atones by its very essence, the rabbis taught, joined to repentance, not by how well we keep it.
Ecstasy (n.) is what separated Balaam from Moses for the rabbis: Moses heard God wide awake, Balaam only after losing his senses.
The Holy Land (n.) became holy through its people, while the Sabbath was hallowed by God directly.
Mount Sinai (n.) never slips into the past, the rabbis taught: the day the Torah was given is today, every day.
Righteous (n.) hold God up, while the impious lean on their gods.
Sabbath (n.) was given to man, not man to the Sabbath, the rabbis held, since too much piety can betray the law's purpose.
Sabbath (n.) is a sanctuary built in time, and the work it forbids is exactly the work that built the desert Tabernacle.
Sabbath joy (n.) is this world's share of the day; its holiness and stillness are already a taste of the next.
Sabbath preparation (n.) should carry the urgency of someone told the queen is coming to stay the night.
Saintliness (n.) is never inherited; one becomes a saint by devotion to God and love of Him.
Thornbush (n.) was chosen for God's voice to show that no place on earth lacks the Shechinah.