Life-Changing Ideas

Overview

In this inspiring work on the Torah parshiyot, Rabbi Sacks introduces his readers to one Life-Changing Idea from each of the weekly Torah readings. If we change the way we think, he argues, we can change the way we feel, which changes the way we act, which changes the people we become. Each essays ends with a valuable takeaway idea, for ideas change lives, and as Rabbi Sacks emphasises, great ideas help us attain courage, happiness, and lives filled with blessing.

Index

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• 12 Rules for Life (Peterson) 200–1

A

• Aaron (Aharon)
  • experience of sin and failure 142
  • and Moses 139–41, 143
  • and priesthood 295
  • Yom Kippur service 159
• Abiram 211
• Abrabanel (Abarbanel) 271
• Abraham
  • told to leave his home 239
  • on children 28
  • covenant 287–8
  • as father 17–18
  • and God 67, 106
  • and inner-directed people 15
  • receives a calling 129
  • and Terah (Terach) 189
  • death 22–4
• Abramsky, Dayan Yehezkel 159
• academic freedom 66, 213
• achievement 75, 83–4
• Acton, Lord 271
• addictions 75, 110, 111
• Aggada 300
• Akiva, R. 194
• all-or-nothing thinking 205
• altruism 278
• Alzheimer’s Disease 283–4
• Amalekites 83
• America
  • covenant 89
  • life expectancy 293
  • and religion 277–8
• American Declaration of Independence 289
• American Enterprise Institute 85–6, 89
• American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (Putnam, Campbell and Garrett) 277
• Amida 136
• Amos 176
• amygdala 73
• ananke 41
• anger 57, 107–11
• Anglican Church 85–6, 89
• antisemitism 223, 225, 226–7
• appeasement 58, 61
• Arab Spring 188
• arguments 66–7, 69, 213
• Ariely, Dan 97–8, 99, 100
• Arrow, Kenneth 45
• atonement 159, 172
• “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters” (Nelson) 81–2
• Auto-Emancipation (Pinsker) 225
• Avinu malkenu 194–5
• Azikri, Elazar 254

B

• baal teshuva 158–9, 161
• bad news 148
• bad speech 148–9
• Bahya, Rabbenu 271
• Balaam (Bilam) 223–4
• Balaam’s Prophecy (Lau-Lavie) 224
• Baumeister, Roy 145–6, 148
• “Beautiful Boy” (Lennon) 82
• Beck, Aaron T. 52, 54, 203–4
• Beethoven, Ludwig van 35, 38, 79
• behavioural economics 217
• belonging 88–9, 116
• Benda, Julian 66
• Ben Gurion, David 28
• Benjamin, and Judah 60
• ben Zoma, Rabbi 196
• Berger, Peter 51
• Birkot HaShahar 136
• birth rate 13, 14
• bishops, gay 86
• blame 206
• blessings 43, 183, 184
• blind fate 41, 265
• Botton, Alain de 171–2
• boundaries 165
• Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (Putnam) 277
• brain 73, 75, 109, 217
• Brave New World (Huxley) 73
• brit 288
• Britain, life expectancy 293
• Brooks, David 251–2, 253, 294
• Buber, Martin 116
• Burgess, Anthony 73
• Burning Bush 153
• Burns, David 205
• Byington, Eliza 145–6

C

• Cahill, Thomas xx
• Caleb 204, 205
• calendar, Jewish 170, 172, 173
• calling 129, 131
• Calvin, John 86
• Calvinists 265
• Campbell, Joseph 240
• catastrophising 205
• Catskills 275
• celebration, of good 137
• census 194, 196
• Chabad 53
• Chajes, Maharatz 37
• Chajes, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch 87
• chance 183, 184
• character 13–15
• charity 179, 277
• Charles, Prince 195
• chiasmus 121
• children
  • and education 77–8
  • parents have to let go 20
  • promised by God 28
  • should be taught rules by parents 165–6
• China 47
• choice 264–5, 266, 266–7
• The Choice (Eger) 264
• Christakis, Nicholas 200
• Christianity
  • and original sin 265, 266
  • and Pelagian heresy 266
• Christian Union 65–6
• circumcision 287–8
• civility 69
• Clance, Pauline 140
• class 79, 284
• cleansing 159, 160
• The Clockwork Orange (Burgess) 73
• cognitive behavioural therapy 52, 203–4, 205, 206, 207
• Cohen, Rabbi David 259
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Diamond) 4
• Collins, Jim 273
• commitment 252, 253
• community
  • and altruism 277–8
  • creating 115–17
• A Confession (Tolstoy) 220
• conflict 89, 271
• contracts 87, 88
• covenants
  • and bonds of belonging and collective responsibility 88–9
  • in Genesis 9 9, 10, 287
  • of human solidarity 287
  • and identity 86–7
  • Moses and the Israelites 288–90
  • between the Pieces 287–8
• creation
  • give people the chance to 99–101
  • of man by God 3–5
  • and the Mishkan 120–1
• crises, when we encounter deepest truths and acquire greatest strengths 34
• criticism 247–8
• curses 43, 183, 184

D

• danger, reaction to 188, 217
• Darley, John 278
• Darwinism 115
• Dathan 211
• David, King
  • on errors xxii
  • Psalms 27: 10 7
  • Psalms 51: 19 143
  • Psalms 69 33
  • united the nation 270
• Davies, Dame Sally 149
• dead body 215–16
• death 219–21
• death rate 13, 14
• deficiencies 11, 201
• Denney, Reuel 13
• depression 52–3
• derogatory speech 66
• Descartes, René 6
• desires 271
• despair 42, 43, 197
• destination 189, 191
• Deuteronomy
  • 1:3–5 295
  • 1:28 205
  • 3:25 303
  • 3:26 304
  • 4:6 89
  • 4:12 259
  • 6:5 252
  • 7:7–8 253
  • 9:6 227
  • 9:7, 24 247
  • 10:14–15 253
  • 11:13 260
  • 11:26–28 259, 265
  • 14:1 193
  • 17:14–15 269
  • 17:19–20 272
  • 22:4 275–6
  • 23:5 253
  • 26:5–10 282
  • 29:9–12 289–90
  • 30:1–3 161
  • 30:19 265
  • 31:2 293
  • 31:27 247
  • 32:1–2 301
  • 32:4 5
  • 34:7 293
  • 34:10 304
  • 34:10–12 107–8
• Diamond, Jared 4
• diary 170, 171, 172, 173, 190
• difference, not as a threat 12
• disagreement 69, 172, 213, 259
• disinhibition effect 148
• dissenting views 66, 213
• divine providence 54, 60
• Di-zahab 245–6
• to-do lists 170, 171, 172, 173
• Douglas, Mary 19
• dreams
  • destinations begin in 189
  • and Joseph 40, 46, 236–7
• Dunbar, Robin 154–5

E

• Ecclesiastes 219
• economic inequality 176
• economics 45–8, 49
• education, duty of parents to children 77–8
• Eger, Edith 263–4, 267
• Egypt, exodus from 82–3
• Egyptians
  • on death 304
  • Pharaoh’s slaves 46, 47
  • and pyramids 273
• Eliezer 295
• Elijah, revelation at Mount Horeb 33
• Eliyahu Rabba (Spira) 136
• emotional intelligence 298–9, 300, 301
• emotional reasoning 205–6
• emotions, negative 207
• empathy 92–5, 278, 299
• encampments 241, 242
• encouragement 20, 84, 290
• Enlightenment 79, 217–18, 284
• environmental destruction 218
• Ericsson, Anders 83
• Erikson, Erik 294
• Esau
  • committed crimes 36–7
  • empathy towards 94
  • at home in nature 27
  • and Isaac 25–6
  • and Jacob 58
• Europe, life expectancy 293
• evil speech 146–7, 150, 153, 155
• Exodus
  • 3–6 99
  • 4:22 193
  • 5:22 106
  • 5:22–23 67
  • 6:12 141
  • 7:3 71
  • 11:2 246
  • 12:25–27 78
  • 13:8 78
  • 13:14 78
  • 13:17–18 82
  • 14:11–12 82–3
  • 19:7 289
  • 22:20 164
  • 23:5 276
  • 23:9 92, 299
  • 24:3 289
  • 24:7 289
  • 27:20 105
  • 32:11–12 246–7
  • 32:21, 24 140
  • 32:31–32 247
  • 33:23 42
  • 39–40 120
  • 40:34–35 119
• Ezekiel 160–1, 226
• Ezra 290

F

• failure 39–40, 142, 306
• faith
  • is the call to be not an object but a subject 237–8
  • as a ladder 33
  • as a wrestling match 33–4
• fake news 211
• fate 41, 265, 267
• father
  • Abraham 17–19
  • teachings 299
• feelings, speak to 301–2
• Ferris, Timothy 81, 190
• first-fruits ceremony 281–3, 285
• fleeing 188–9
• the Flood 9, 12, 48, 305
• forgiveness 57, 58, 61, 62, 172
  • and Joseph 57, 59
  • Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Modern Idea (Konstan) 58
• Fowler, James 200
• Framingham Heart Study 200
• Frankl, Viktor 52, 54, 130, 264
• fraternity 177
• freedom
  • academic 66, 213, 266
  • and the brain 73
  • to decide how to respond 264
  • exodus from Egypt 77
  • gift of God 78–9
  • have to work for it 74
  • and identity 80
  • is an achievement 75
  • and restraint 251–2
  • to shape events 54
  • to survive 265
• free market 176, 177
• free speech 65–6
• free will 72–3
• Freud, Sigmund 52, 72, 217
• Friedman, Milton 45
• friends 199–201
• Frost, Robert 241–2
• future, build before remembering the past 23, 24

G

• Gandhi, Mahatma 93
• Gaon, Rabbenu Saadia 216
• Gardner, Howard 298
• gavra 235–6
• gay bishops 86
• On the Genealogy of Morality (Nietzsche) 233–4
• generativity 294, 296
• Genesis
  • 1–2 120
  • 1:26–27 3, 10
  • 2:18 10, 115
  • 6:2 305
  • 6:5–6 6
  • 6:11–12 9
  • 6:14 160
  • 8:21 10
  • 9:6 10, 287
  • 11:4 305
  • 12:1 15, 239
  • 12:3 42
  • 15:2 28
  • 17:1–7 287–8
  • 17:10–11 287–8
  • 18:19 15, 17
  • 18:25 67, 106
  • 22:2 18
  • 25:8 22
  • 25:27 27
  • 27:33–34 25–6
  • 28:16–17 32
  • 29:35 136
  • 32:7 31
  • 32:31 32
  • 37:3 40
  • 40:14 40
  • 40:23 40
  • 41:34–36 46
  • 42:21 60
  • 45:4–8 53–4
  • 45:5 59
  • 47:19, 25 47
  • 50:15–17 59
  • 50:19–21 59
• Gershom 295
• Glazer, Nathan 13
• God
  • always present 184
  • angry with the spies 204
  • beyond nature 27–8
  • call from 131
  • commanded the Israelites to make the Mishkan 98–9
  • and covenants 288, 289
  • created humankind 3–5
  • encounters with 32–3
  • and freedom 79
  • has faith in man 3–6, 143
  • hiding face 183
  • and his children 193–4
  • in his own image 10, 11
  • on looking back 42
  • loving 198–9, 252–4, 255
  • and Moses 67, 128–9
  • and Nietzsche 181–2, 183, 303–5
  • and Noah (Noach) 6
  • and Pharaoh 71–2
  • and the Sanctuary 119
  • sees the totality of truth 68
  • and seventy elders for Moses 201
  • starts again with Noah 9
  • wants us to heal, cure and prevent 49
  • world without 181–2
  • and Zelophehad’s daughters 231
• gold 245–6
• Golden Calf 107, 140, 245, 246
• golden rule 163–4
• Goleman, Daniel 298
• the good, and celebration 137
• “Good Samaritan” test 278–9
• From Good to Great (Collins) 273
• gossip 154, 155
• gratitude 133–7
• Gray, John 305
• The Greatest (Syed) 20
• greatness 83, 195, 196, 220
• Greeks, and blind fate 41, 265
• Griswold, A. Whitney 298
• grooming 154–5
• Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language (Dunbar) 154–5
• guilt 14, 15, 141, 171, 305
  • and Joseph’s brothers 54, 60
• guilt cultures 61
• Guns, Germs and Steel (Diamond) 4

H

• HaAmsoni, R. Shimon 212
• Habakkuk 67
• habits 74, 75, 200
• Hagar
  • in the desert with Ishmael 25
  • empathy towards 94
• HaGomel blessing 134
• Haidt, Jonathan 48
• HaKohen, Rabbi Yisrael Meir 155
• Halakha 300
• Halakhic Man (Soloveitchik) 237, 300
• Hanina, R. 114–15
• happiness, lies beyond the self 117
• Harari, Yuval 305
• Havdala candle 88
• Hawking, Stephen 305
• Hayek, Friedrich 47
• heads, lifting 193, 194
• hearing 259
• hearing cultures 60
• heftza 235–6
• heifer 215–16, 217, 219–21
• Heifetz, Ronald 128
• Heilman, Samuel 154
• Heller, Joseph 39
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Campbell) 240
• Herzl, Theodor 225–6
• Herzog, Yaacov 224
• Hezekiah, King 270, 290
• Hilkhot Deot 108–9
• Hillel 68
• Hirsch, Rabbi Samson Raphael 217
• history, and memory 283–4
• Hobbes, Thomas 271
• hok/hukkim 216–17, 218–19
• hol 122
• Holocaust 6–7, 23, 79
• homecoming, to God 161, 162
• Homo Deus (Harari) 305
• Hosea 160
• houses of worship 277–8
• hubris 7, 40
• human freedom 54, 72, 73, 233
• humankind, created by God 3–5
• humility 272, 306
• humour 51, 104
• Huxley, Aldous 73
• hyper-individualism 80

I

• Ibn Ezra 271
• ideals, people are as great as 29
• identity 15–16, 170, 232, 283–5
  • and covenants 87
  • and memory 78–80
  • and rituals 254
• identity politics 285
• IKEA effect 97–8
• Imes, Suzanne 140
• important, making people feel 194, 196
• impostor syndrome 33–4, 140, 143
• inadequacy, feelings of 143
• individual 18–19, 20, 79–80, 284
• individualism 277
• inequalities 176, 177
• initiative, taking 291
• inner-directed people 14, 15–16, 60
• inner voice 15–16, 60, 62
• IQ (intelligence quotient) tests 298
• Isaac
  • Abraham sought a wife for 23–4
  • Abraham told to sacrifice 18
  • considered righteous 26–7
  • and Esau 25–6
  • not man of nature 29
• Isaiah
  • 6:8 129
  • 10:1–2 176
  • 44:22 160
  • 46:4 4
  • 54:10 254
  • 66:1 98–9
  • 66:13 199
  • doubtful of ability to speak 142
• Ishmael
  • Abraham told to send away 17–18
  • became an expert archer 27
  • in the desert with Hagar 25
  • empathy towards 94
  • laughing 26
• Israel, always under threat 223

J

• Jacob
  • appeases Esau 58
  • considered righteous 26
  • not man of nature 29
  • spiritual experiences 31–2
  • and struggles 35–8
• Jehoiada 290
• Jeremiah
  • 3:14 160
  • 12:1 67
  • 20:14, 18 33
  • doubtful of ability to speak 142
• Jerusalem, and high-tech start-ups 16
• Jewish calendar 170, 172, 173
• Jewish identity, and inner voice 15–16
• The Jewish State (Herzl) 225–6
• Job 67
• Johnson, Paul xx
• Joseph 40–2, 53–4, 236–327
  • and economics 46–7, 49
  • and forgiveness 57, 59–60
• Joshua 204, 290, 295
• Josiah, King 270, 290
• journeys 187–8, 190, 239–41, 242
  • we will not complete 307
• Judaeo-Christian ethic 47
• Judah, tested by Joseph 60
• Judges, book of 270–1
• justice
  • principle of hearing the other side 68–9
  • reciprocal altruism 164
  • tzedaka 178–9

K

• Kahneman, Daniel 45, 109, 217
• Kass, Leon 173
• keri 183
• Kindertransport 199
• King, Martin Luther 93, 301
• kings 269–71, 272–3
  • see also David, King; Saul, King
• Knobil, Henry 103–5
• kodesh 122
• Kol HaNevua (David Cohen) 259
• Konstan, David 58
• Kook, Rabbi Abraham 241
• Korah rebellion 199, 209, 210–12
• K-P-R 159–60
• Kristal, Yisrael 21–2, 24
• Krznaric, Roman 172

L

• labour, dignity of 48
• Lambeth Conference, 2008 85–6, 89
• land
  • ownership 178
  • promised by God 28
• Landes, David 47–8
• language, to create something that did not exist before 234–5
• lashon hara 65, 153, 154, 155
• lashon hatov 154
• Lau-Lavie, Naphtali 224
• Leach, Edmund 305
• Leah, empathy towards 94
• learned helplessness 204, 206
• legacy 294
• Lennon, John 82
• Leviticus
  • 7:12 133
  • 9:7 139–40
  • 13:46 147
  • 16:30 159
  • 19:33–34 163
  • 25:14 177
  • 25:23 178
  • 25:39–43 178
  • 26:44–45 183
• Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev 248
• Lewis, Bernard 261
• Lichtenstein, Rabbi Aharon 241–2
• life
  • is a journey 242
  • and meaning 173
• life expectancy 169, 293
• limits 165
• linear time 48
• listening 257, 258, 259, 260–1
• Locke, John 48
• logotherapy 52
• loneliness 277
• The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character (Riesman, Glazer andDenney) 13
• The Lonely Man of Faith (Soloveitchik) 32
• looking up 148
• love 163–4, 165, 166, 167, 232
  • between God and his people 252–4, 255
• Luntschitz, Rabbi Ephraim 231
• Luria, Rabbi Isaac 121–2
• Luther, Martin 86

M

• Macmillan, Harold 190
• Mahon, Sir Denis 230
• Maimonides, Moses (Rambam)
  • on anger 108–10
  • choice to be like Moses or Jeroboam 306–7
  • on community 116
  • on free will 72
  • on friends 199
  • on God 183
  • on hearing 259
  • on hukkim (chukim) 216–17
  • on kings 269, 271
  • Mishneh Torah 68
  • on Moses 111
  • on people’s welfare 276
  • on praise 154
• Malachi 161
• malicious speech 146–7, 150, 153
• Mandela, Nelson 93
• the market, and wealth 88
• marriage, and praise 151
• Marshall Plan 297
• Marshall Scholarships 297
• Marx, Karl 72
• Mayer, John 298
• May Laws, 1882 225
• McAdams, Dan 285
• meaning, search for 184
• memory
  • and first-fruits ceremony 283–4
  • and identity 78
• Menora 273
• Mesopotamians 273
• Micah 176
• Midrash 67
• Mikraot Gedolot 68
• mikreh 183, 184
• Mill, John Stuart 66
• mind-reading 205
• Miriam, and tzaraat 153
• mirror-image symmetry 121
• Mishkan 5, 98–9, 115–17, 119–20
  • see also Sanctuary
• Mishna 67–8
• Mishneh Torah 68, 108–9
• mistakes xxii, 306, 307
• moira 41
• monarchy 269–71, 272–3
• moral code 170, 172
• morality 79–80
• Moses
  • and Aaron 139–42, 143
  • and anger 107–8
  • asks to enter the Promised Land 303–4
  • called by God 128–9
  • challenges God 67, 106
  • and the choice 265
  • covenant 288, 289–90
  • and criticism 248
  • in despair 197–9, 201
  • on education 77–8
  • emotional intelligence 301
  • failings 306–7
  • full of vigour at the end of his life 293–4
  • and the Golden Calf 246–7
  • and Korah (Korach) 211–12
  • and leadership 188
  • on listening 259, 260
  • and Maimonides 111, 306–7
  • and the Mishkan 115
  • and Pharaoh 194
  • on property rights 48
  • seeing his influence on seventy elders 32–3
  • speech to next generation 161
  • and the tablets 236
  • as teacher 295–6
  • and tzaraat 153
  • and Zelophehad’s daughters 231
• mother, teachings 299–300
• mountain, second 294, 296
• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 35
• Muller, Jan-Werner 212–13

N

• Nahmanides 161, 211, 217
• nationalism 213, 218, 284
• nation state 79
• nature
  • God is beyond 27–8
  • and hukkim (chukim) 217
  • human spirit can rise above 29, 48
• negative emotions 207
• negative filtering 205
• Nehemiah 290
• neighbour 163–4, 165
• Nelson, Eric 266
• Nelson, Portia 81–2
• nemesis 7, 40
• Neo-Darwinians 72
• Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin) 69, 224–5
• Neumann, John von 45
• Nietzsche, Friedrich xxi–ii, 73, 233–4
  • on God 181–2, 183–4, 304–5
• Ninth Symphony (Beethoven) 79
• Noah (Noach) 9, 48, 160
  • covenant 287, 288
  • and God 6, 11
• Nobel Prizes 45
• No Joke: Making Jewish Humor (Wisse) 51
• Not in God’s Name Sacks) 94
• Novak, Michael 131
• Numbers
  • 11:4–6 197
  • 11:11–15 198
  • 11:15 32
  • 11:16–17 198
  • 13:27 205
  • 13:28 205
  • 13:33 205
  • 14:1 206
  • 14:2 231
  • 14:2–4 204
  • 14:3 205
  • 14:4 83, 231
  • 15:39 206
  • 16:3 210
  • 16:13 211
  • 16:15 48
  • 16:28 211
  • 16:28–30 211–12
  • 17:6 212
  • 19:2 215
  • 20:12 108
  • 23:9 224
  • 24:15 241
  • 27:7 231
  • 30:3 233
  • 33 240
• Nun Study 134–5

O

• oaths 233, 235, 237
• O’Donohue, John 20
• Oedipus 42
• olive oil 105, 106
• Onians, Ernest 229–30, 232
• online abuse 149
• optimists 53
• order, and love 166, 167
• original sin 265, 266
• Orwell, George 66
• other-directed people 14–15, 16
• Oz, Amos 258

P

• pain 34, 49, 94, 181
  • and hesed (chessed) 104, 106
• paintings 229–30, 231–2
• para aduma 215
• parents
  • letting go of children 20
  • should teach children rules 165–6
• Pascal, Blaise 182
• past, only remember after building a future 23, 24
• Peguy, Charles 239
• Pelagian heresy 266
• penitent 158
• A People that Dwells Alone (Herzog) 224
• performative utterance 234
• Pesach, and identity 170
• pessimists 52–3
• Peterson, Jordan 165–7, 184
• Pharaoh
  • and God 71–2
  • and the plagues 74
• philosophy, definition 284
• Pinker, Susan 116–17
• Pinsker, Leon 225
• Plumb, J. H. 182
• pogroms 225
• The Politics of Hope (Sacks) 88
• populism 80, 209–13
• Positive Psychology 52–3
• Posner, Richard 45–6
• post-truth claims 211
• Potiphar’s wife 40, 236
• Poussin, Nicolas 230, 231–2
• poverty 49
• power 88, 271–2, 273
• powerlessness 272
• The Power of Bad (Tierney and Baumeister) 145–6
• praise 151, 152, 154, 155–6, 291
• predestination 265
• prefrontal cortex 73
• priests 272, 300–1
  • see also Aaron
• promises 23, 235, 242
• property rights 48
• prophecy 129
• prophets 300
• Protestant ethic 47
• Proverbs
  • 1:8 299
  • 18:21 153
• providence 42, 54, 60
• Psalms
  • 8 304
  • 22:2 33
  • 23:4 199
  • 51:19 143
  • 63:1 254
  • 69 33
  • 90 169–70
  • 118:17 24
  • 128 97
  • 130:1 33
  • 145:18 199
  • 147:3 199
• psychoanalysis 52
• psychotherapy 52
• purification 159, 160, 215–16
• Putnam, Robert 277–8
• pyramids 273

R

• race 79
• racism 113, 218, 284
• Rahab 204–5
• Rank, Otto 240
• Rashbam 26
• Rashi 94, 139–40, 143, 293–4
  • on “The eye sees and the heart desires” 206
• Rebecca, received oracle when pregnant 37
• reciprocal altruism 164
• Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience (Berger) 51
• redemption 283, 285
• redemptive self 285
• Red Heifer (Parah Adamah) 215–16, 217, 219–21
• redistribution 177
• Rees-Mogg, William xxi
• Reformation 86
• reframing 53, 54
• Rehoboam 273
• relationships, and rules 167
• Religion for Atheists (Botton) 171–2
• religious communities 277–8
• repentance 60, 141, 158, 159, 161
• resilience 15, 84, 136, 224, 265
• respect 48, 152, 213, 224, 291
• revenge 57–8, 59
• Ricardo, David 45
• Riesman, David 13, 14
• rituals 74, 254, 255
• La Rochefoucauld, François de 219
• rock, hitting 108
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. 206
• Rosh Hashanah, pray to written in the Book of Life 170
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 74, 87
• royal family, British 195–6
• rules, and relationships 167
• Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Peterson) 165–7
• Rustin, Lena 152–3, 154, 155

S

• Sachs, Jeffrey 45
• The Sack of Carthage 230
• sacrifices 131, 133–4
• safe space 65, 66, 67, 213
• Salovey, Peter 297, 298
• Samuel
  • appoints Saul as king 87
  • first time summoned by God 129
  • on kings 269–70
  • on property rights 48
• Samuelson, Paul 45
• Sanctuary 98–9, 115–17, 119–20, 122
• Sanhedrin 38b 4
• Sarah, Abraham bought a burial plot for 23
• Saul, King, appointed by Samuel 87
• scapegoat 226–7
• Schiller, Friedrich 79
• Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Rabbi 53
• science, definition 284
• second mountain 294, 296
• Second Temple, painting by Poussin 230
• secularisation 272
• the self 113–15, 117
• self-abasement 61
• self-effacement 121–2
• self-harm 149
• self-help 113, 114, 117
• self-interest 87, 89, 130
• selfitis 113–14
• self-limitation 121–2, 123
• self-respect 135–6
• Seligman, Martin 52–3, 54, 204
• servant leadership 272, 273
• Shabbat 100, 115, 171, 172
• Shakespeare, William 305
• shame 60, 147, 149, 172
• shame cultures 61
• Shammai 68
• Sharansky, Natan 130
• Shavuot 170
• Shema 258–9, 260
• shemitta 177, 218
• sheva mitzvot benei Noaĥ 287
• shiva 221
• Sifrei 5
• Simha Bunim of Przsucha, Rabbi 195
• sin 142, 160, 265, 266
• Sinai covenant 288–9
• slavery 178
• Smith, Adam 47
• Smith, Logan Pearsall 131
• social animals 11, 80, 115, 170
  • not good to be alone 10, 198, 201
• social brain 73
• social capital 277
• social contract 87, 88
• The Social Contract (Rousseau) 74
• social media 148–9, 172
• society
  • and covenants 88
  • and trust 165, 235
• solitude, faith redemption of 201
• Solomon, King 270
• Soloveitchik, Rabbi Joseph 235–6, 237, 298, 299–300
  • The Lonely Man of Faith 32
• space, making 123
• spies, sent by Moses 204–6, 231
• Spira, Rabbi Elijah 136
• spiritual experiences 31–4
• stammering 152
• Stark, Rodney 47
• the state, and power 88
• Steinsaltz, Rabbi Adin 32
• Stiglitz, Joseph 45
• Stoicism 114
• “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (Frost) 241–2
• strangers 163, 164, 165
  • empathy towards 92–3
• strengths 141, 142, 143, 236, 241, 264, 290
  • in adversity 105
  • to choose 267
  • to survive suffering 181, 184
  • we did not know we had 34, 188
• suffering 105–6, 181, 283
• suicide 149
• Sukkot (Succot) 171
• sungnome 58
• Syed, Matthew 20
• Synagogue Life (Heilman) 154

T

• Tanakh (Tanach) 270
• Temple
  • first-fruits ceremony 281–3
  • Second 230
• Terah (Terach) 189
• teruma 99
• teshuva 159, 161, 162
• Testa, Pietro 230
• thanksgiving 133–7
• The Theology of Liberalism (Nelson) 266
• Thomas, Dylan 283
• T-H-R 159–60
• Tierney, John 145–6, 148
• time, linear 48
• Time Magazine 16
• time management 169–71
• Tolstoy, Leo 220
• tradition-directed people 14, 16, 60
• transcendence 134
• transitional societies 14
• travelling to 188, 189, 190
• Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (Ferris) 81–2, 190
• “A Tribute to the Rebbetzin of Talne” (Soloveitchik) 299–300
• trust 87, 100, 155, 209, 277
  • and covenant 87
  • and society 165, 235
• truth to power 213
• Tversky, Amos 45, 217
• tzaraat 146–7, 153
• tzedaka 178–9
• tzimtzum 121–2, 123
• tzitzit 206, 207

U

• uniqueness 193, 228
• universality 228, 284
• Ury, William 91, 91–2

V

• value of what we create 97–101
• victimhood 264
• victimisation 264, 266
• Vietnam War veterans 136
• The Village Effect: Why Face-to-Face Contact Matters (Pinker) 116–17
• violence 271
• visual cultures 60, 259
• vocation 129–31
• Voltaire 305
• vows 233, 235, 237

W

• Waal, Frans de 93
• wars
  • with the Amalekites 83
  • and religion 79
• weaknesses 140, 240, 271
  • and strength 141, 142, 143
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Landes) 47–8
• The Wealth of Nations (Smith) 47
• Weber, Max 47, 129
• What is Populism? (Muller) 212–13
• will to power xxi–ii
• wisdom literature 114
• Wisse, Ruth 51
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig 128
• Wohl, Maurice 175–6, 179
• Wohl, Vivienne 175–6, 179
• Wordsworth, William 279

X

• xenophobia 164

Y

• Yale University 297–8
• Yeats, Y. B. 189
• Yedid Nefesh 254
• Yehoshua ben Hananya, R. 84
• Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim 282–3
• Yohanan ben Zakkai, R. 99, 114–15, 196, 216
• Yom Kippur 159, 171
• Yovel 177

Z

• Zakhor: Jewish History and Memory (Yerushalmi) 282–3
• Zelophehad 230–1
• ziggurats 273