Studies in Spirituality

Overview

In this volume, Rabbi Sacks shares a reading the biblical narrative that is imbued with a profound sensitivity to the depths of the human condition. His poignant reflections on spirituality return to us the sense of closeness with God that resonated so powerfully with our ancestors - that intimacy which gave them a sense of hope and courage and singularity. Studies in Spirituality aspires to bring the covenant between God and humanity closer to each of us, today and always.

Index

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A

• Aaron
  • death of 208
  • and the second Yom Kippur 144–5
• Abel
  • and envy of Cain 87
  • and sibling rivalry 164
• Abiram 271
• Abrabanel (Abarbanel) 203, 270
• Abraham
  • breaking his father’s idols 14–16
  • forced to leave home due to famine 87
  • and God 246, 291
  • and grief 21–2
  • heard the future calling to him 24
  • and Ishmael 27
  • and separation 19, 20
  • on Sodom 263
  • told to leave his father 19
  • why he was chosen 17–18
• Abraham needs 71
• achievement, and effort 48
• Acton, Lord 261
• Adam, and choice between seeing and hearing 6
• Adam needs 71
• adolescence 13–14
• Aging Well (Vaillant) 238
• Ahad HaAm 81–2
• Akiva, R. 162
• Alone Together (Turkle) 110
• alpha male 199–200, 203
• Alter, Robert 34
• altruism 112, 265
• America
  • covenant 286
  • Declaration of Independence 121
• Amos 92
• amulets 182
• ananke 56
• ancient Greece 139, 250
• animal soul 201
• antisemitism 87, 150, 232
• The Anxiety of Influence (Bloom) 14
• Ariely, Dan 71
• Aristotle 257, 262
• Aronson, Elliot 145, 146
• Asch, Solomon 49
• Auden, W.H. 179
• Auerbach, Erich 26
• Auschwitz 50–1, 122
• Avihu 132–3
• Avinu Malkeinu 28

B

• Baal worshippers 280
• Babel, Tower of 211, 212–13
• Balaam 213, 214, 215
• Barkay, Gabriel 182
• Beck, Aaron T. 11, 50
• Beethoven, Ludwig van 99, 240
• Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margins of Error (Schulz) 145
• Bellah, Robert 110
• belonging 71
• Ben Azzai 101
• Benedict, Ruth 4, 139
• Ben Nannas 101
• Ben Pazzi 101
• Benson, Ezra Taft 264
• Ben Zoma 88, 101
• bereavement 207–8
• Berlin, Irving 11, 280–1
• Bettelheim, Bruno 49
• birth-rate 130
• bitul hayesh 20
• Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success (and Why Some People Never Learn from Their Mistakes) Syed 145
• blind fate 56
• Bloom, Harold 14
• blooper 143–4
• Board of Deputies 237
• Bowling Alone (Putnam) 110
• brain 134, 201
• Buber, Martin xix, 164
• Buber’s Tanhuma 9
• Buffett, Warren 146
• Burke, Edmund 164
• burnout 81–2

C

• Cain
  • and envy 87
  • and Eve 19–20
  • and sibling rivalry 164
• Calf, Golden 96, 104, 109
• calling 123–5
• Camus, Albert 281
• Carter, Stephen 42
• Carvajal, Antonio Fernandez 255
• census 230
• chance 169, 170
• change 189
• charisma 145
• charismatic leaders 219
• children
  • and family narrative 75–6, 77–9
  • and parents
  • do not always succeed with 221–2
  • educated by 78
• Chimpanzee Politics (de Waal) 199–200
• Christakis, Nicholas 112
• Christians 147
• Chronicles 270
• The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Benedict) 4, 139
• Churchill, Winston 277
• Citizen Kane 240
• Civility (Carter) 42
• civil society 232
• Clermont-Tonnerre, Count of 232
• cognitive behavioural therapy 50
• Cohen, Leonard 11, 32
• Cohen, Rabbi David 250–1
• Commentary to the Mishna (Maimonides) xx
• community 109–10, 111, 112, 113
• compassion 18
• conceptual innovators 241
• contribution 97, 98
• courage 36
• covenants
  • Mount Sinai xix–xx
  • politics of 224
  • renewal ceremony 286
• creativity 65–6, 100
• crisis 64–5, 66
• Cromwell, Oliver 255
• The Culture of Narcissism: American life in an age of diminished expectations (Lasch) 263–4
• cultures of acceptance 71–2
• Currey, Mason 100
• curses 214, 257–8

D

• daily rituals 102
• Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work (Currey) 100
• daily routines 101–2
• Dante 185
• Dathan 271
• David, King
  • and God
    • asking for help 31
    • found in dancing and singing 92
    • and songs 258
• death 205, 207, 208–9
• Denney, Reuel 110
• depression 190–1
• desert 175, 176
• desire, mimetic 87
• despair 187–8, 189, 190–1
• detachment 251
• Deuteronomy
  • 3:25 283
  • 3:26 283
  • 4:7–8 245
  • 4:12 250
  • 4:32–34 244
  • 4:37 246
  • 6:4 101, 249
  • 7:12 249
  • 8:3 xviii
  • 12:5 257
  • 14:1 28, 162
  • 17:18–20 262
  • 21:15–17 267
  • 24:5 257
  • 26:5–10 276
  • 26:11 257
  • 28:47 257–8
  • 30:12–13 282
  • 30:14 280
  • 31:10–13 284
  • 31:19 285
  • 32:1–2 289
  • 32:4 290
  • 32:5 290
  • 32:7 238
  • 32:10 30
  • 32:15–18 290
  • 33:4 219–20
  • 34:7 237, 240
• diamond jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II 237
• Disraeli, Benjamin 150
• doctors 146
• donkey, and Balaam 214
• dreams 29–30, 46, 47
• Dreyfus trial 232
• Drumont, Édouard 232
• dualism 292
• Durkheim, Émile 11 Dylan, Bob 11

E

• education 76–7, 78
• effort, and achievement 48
• egalitarianism 202
• Egypt, and the plagues 213
• Einstein, Albert 11, 12, 92
• Elazar Azikri, Rabbi 107
• Elijah
  • and despair 188
  • and God 253
  • in the “still, small voice” 7, 176
• Elizabeth II 237
• Elokim 129, 183
• enthusiasm 131–2, 133–4, 135
• envy 86, 87–8
• Ephraim 269
• Esau
  • Jacob terrified of 33
  • loved by Isaac 25–8
  • reconciled with Jacob 164
• esteem 71
• Esther, book of 6
• ethnicity 150–1
• Eve
  • and Cain 19–20
  • and choice between seeing and hearing 6
  • the first person in history to be given a proper name 18
• evil 3–4, 291–2
• evil speech 138, 140–1
• Exodus
  • 1:8 63
  • 1:9–10 63–4
  • 3:14 274
  • 3:15 274
  • 3:16–17 275
  • 4:1 xviii
  • 4:22 162
  • 4:24 35
  • 4:25–26 35
  • 5:22 69, 291
  • 6:9 69
  • 7:5 246
  • 9:8 91
  • 12:26–27 76
  • 13:8 76
  • 13:14 76
  • 15:14–16 194
  • 16:3 189
  • 19:8 xix
  • 24:3 xix, 91
  • 24:7 xx, 89, 91, 178
  • 24:10–11 133
  • 25:2 97, 98
  • 29:39 101
  • 32:1 109
  • 32:4 104
  • 32:7 104
  • 32:32 144, 263
  • 33:3 104
  • 33:13 103
  • 33:18 103
  • 33:19 105
  • 33:20 105
  • 35:1 109
  • 40:34–35 106
  • 40:36–38 116–17
• experimental innovators 241
• Eyre, Ronald 176
• Ezra 285

F

• failure 191, 196
• faith, is the courage to take a risk 10–11, 12
• family 162, 163, 164
• family narrative 75–6, 77
• fate 56
• fatherhood 18
• fear 35–7, 196
• Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (Jeffers) 37
• Feiler, Bruce 75
• Fergusson, Niall 22
• Festinger, Leon 49
• festivals 155, 156, 159
• financial crash, 2008 146
• firstborn 267–8, 269, 270
• first-fruits 275–6
• First Temple 95
• forbidden fruit 3–4, 5
• forgiveness 263, 265
• Fowler, James 112
• fractals 158
• France 232
• La France Juive (Drumont) 232
• Frankl, Viktor 11, 50–1, 122, 123
  • Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy 23–4
• Franklin, Benjamin 240
• freedom, and God 58–9
• Freud, Sigmund 11, 178, 252
• Friedman, Milton 11
• fruit, forbidden 3–4, 5
• the future
  • building 23–4
  • not predicting 56, 59

G

• Galenson, David 241
• Gaon, Saadia 169
• Gaon, Vilna 158
• Garden of Eden 5
• Gardner, Howard 49
• On the Genealogy of Morality (Nietzsche) 224
• generativity 238, 239, 240
• Genesis
  • 1:16–17 177
  • 2:18 110
  • 2:25 5
  • 3:5 5
  • 3:6 5
  • 3:7 5
  • 3:8 5
  • 3:10 5
  • 4:1 20, 251
  • 5:1 101
  • 6:9 10
  • 8:16 10
  • 11:5 212
  • 11–12 15
  • 12:1 14, 19
  • 12:3 213–14, 246
  • 15:13 41
  • 17:1 10, 116, 196
  • 18:17–19 17
  • 18:19 16
  • 18:25 291
  • 21:6 21
  • 22:2 19
  • 23:2 22
  • 24:1 21
  • 25:23 25
  • 25:27–28 25
  • 26:34–35 26
  • 27:7 26
  • 28:12–17 29–30
  • 29:25–26 268
  • 29:30–31 268
  • 29:33 269
  • 32:10 35
  • 32:26 65
  • 32:28 33, 65
  • 32:30 34
  • 33–34 26
  • 37:19–20 40
  • 38:26 147
  • 39:2–3 45–6
  • 39:14–15 46–7
  • 39:21–23 46
  • 39:23 47
  • 39:40:8 46
  • 45:4–8 52
  • 48:5 269
  • 49:1–2 55
  • 49:3 269
  • 49:4 270
  • 49:6 220
  • 50:19–21 52
• Gershwin, George 11
• gifts 98
• Gingrich, Newt 200
• Girard, René 87
• Glazer, Nathan 110
• God
  • of all humanity 246
  • and Babel 212
  • and Balaam 215
  • blesses and curses 213–14
  • closeness of 105–7, 281–2
  • as comforter 190
  • different ways of experiencing 92–3
  • and Elijah 253
  • enters our lives as a call from the future 24
  • finding by listening 7
  • forgives 146
  • and freedom 58–9
  • grants us success, if we work hard enough 48
  • and hearing 252
  • lives in the hearts of those who give 98
  • loved Abraham 246
  • love of 264–5
  • makes space for us to be ourselves 20
  • not blaming 291
  • as parent 18–19, 28, 162–3
  • and priestly blessings 183–4
  • and Samuel, summoned by 124
  • and the Sanctuary 95–6
  • sensing the presence of 97
  • used words to bring the natural universe into being 225–6
  • with you when you feel most alone 31–2
• Godly soul 201
• Golden Calf 96, 104, 109
• Goleman, Daniel 49
• good, knowing difference from evil 3–4
• good people, and bad things 291
• Grant Study 238
• gratitude 88
• greatness 37, 191
• The Great Partnership (Sacks) 243
• Greece 139, 250
• the Greeks
  • and detachment 251
  • and fate 56
  • and Shabbat 81–2
  • thought they were the superior race 147
• Green, Joshua 50
• grief 21–2, 23, 205–6, 209
• group identity 232, 233
• group rights 233
• The Guide for the Perplexed (Maimonides) 3–4, 70
• guilt 4, 5
• guilt cultures 4, 139–40
• Gurion, David Ben 168

H

• Hagar 177
• Haidt, Jonathan 49–50
• hak’hel-type ceremony 283–4, 285, 286
• Haldane, J.B.S. 163
• Haman 6
• happiness 121–2, 257, 258
• hard work 100, 101, 102
• Hartley, L.P. 58
• Harvard Business Review 264
• Hashem 129, 183
• HaShivim 81
• Hawking, Steven 105
• hearing xx, 5, 6, 91, 250–1, 252
• Heine, Heinrich 99–100
• Hellenism 280
• Herzberg, Frederick 71
• Herzl, Theodor 12, 232
• hessed (chessed) 42
• Hezekiah, King 57
• hiding 5
• hierarchy 202–3
• hierarchy of needs 71
• high priest 202
• Hilkhot Teshuva 39
• Hillel 200
• Himmelfarb, Milton 246–7
• Hittites 26
• Hobbes, Thomas 129, 203
• Hoffmann, Rabbi David Zvi 138
• holiness 159–60
• Holocaust survivors 22–3
• holy, being 152–4
• honour 4
• hope 191
• Hosea
  • 11:1–4 162
  • 12:5 33
• hubris 213, 215
• human nature 58
• Hume, David 131–2, 133–4
• humility 261, 262, 263, 265
  • and C.S. Lewis 191
  • and Nietzsche 264

I

• Ibn Ezra 200, 271
• identity
  • group 232, 233
  • Jewish 147–8
  • and memory 274–5, 276–7
• idolatry 14–16
• “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” 280–1
• immortality 286, 287
• impurity 138
• the individual 110, 233
• individualism 110, 231
• individual rights 233
• inheritance 229–30
• inner-directedpeople 139
• innovation 10–12, 65–6, 72
• Isaac
  • binding of 19, 21
  • forced to leave home due to famine 87
  • loved Esau 25–8
  • stood with Ishmael at Abraham’s grave 164
• Isaiah
  • 1:2 221
  • 6:5 35
  • 6:8 124
  • 19:26 246
  • 38:1–5 57
  • 66:1 95
  • 66:13 18
• Ishmael 27, 164, 177
• Israel 65
• Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool (Jacquet) 137

J

• Jacob
  • built a house 117
  • discovered that when you feel most alone, God is still with you 31
  • and dream 29–30
  • and fear 35
  • firstborn right transferred from Reuben to Joseph 270, 271
  • Joseph his favourite son 40
  • loved by Rebecca 25
  • and marriage 268
  • reconciled with Esau 164
  • wrestled with the angel 33–4, 65
  • dying 55
• Jacquet, Jennifer 137
• Jakobovits, Lord 130
• Japan 139
• Jeremiah
  • 1:6 35
  • 12:1 291
  • and despair 188
• Jethro 274
• Job
  • 2:13 176–7
  • 12:12 238
  • and listening 253
• Johnson, Paul 170
• Jonah 35, 188
• Jonathan (grandson of Moses) 218, 219, 221
• Joseph
  • brothers envious of 87
  • firstborn right transferred to him from Reuben 269, 271
  • and God 45–7, 48, 246
  • and reframing 52–3
  • Reuben wanted to save 40–1
  • and sibling rivalry 164–5
• Joshua 284
• Joshua, book of 16
• Josiah, King 284–5
• journey 117, 118
• joy xxi, 256, 257, 259
• Judah 147, 269
• Judah, Rabbi 28
• Judah Halevi 106, 130
• Judges 231
• justice 292–3

K

• Kahneman, Daniel 11, 49, 134
• Kant, Immanuel 99–100
• keeper of the meaning 238–9, 240
• keri 169, 170
• Kerr, Judith 241
• Kestenbaum, Sara 42, 43
• Kierkegaard, Søren 259
• Kimball, Spencer W. 264
• kindness, acts of 42
• King, Martin Luther 292
• kings 202, 261–2
• Kings
  • I 95, 253
  • II 57, 285
• kin selection 164
• Kissinger: 1923–1968: The Idealist (Fergusson) 22
• Kli Yakar 231
• Knohl, Israel 177
• Kohlberg, Lawrence 49
• Kook, Rav 92
• Korah 200–1
• Korah rebellion 271
• Kotre, John 238

L

• Lader, Philip 143, 145, 146
• Laius 56
• Lamentations 287
• language
  • and social bond 141
  • use to commit ourselves to some form of behaviour in the future 225–6
• Lasch, Christopher 263–4
• lashon hara 138, 140–1
• laughter 177, 211, 212
• leaders 264
• leadership 187
• Leah 268–9
• leprosy 138
• Levi (son of Jacob) 220, 221
• Levine, Dr. James 115
• Levi-Strauss, Claude 11
• Leviticus
  • 10:1–2 132
  • 10:3 133, 176
  • 13:45–46 140
  • 19:2 152
  • 19:18 101
  • 23:1–3 156–7
  • 23:4 157
  • 23:14 168
  • 25:14 161
  • 25:23 118
  • 25:25 161
  • 25:35–36 161–2
  • 26:3–6 167
  • 26:23–24 169
• Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev 73
• Lewis, Bernard 57
• Lewis, C.S. 191
• libel 141
• liberal democratic state 273
• life after death 209, 292
• listening 177–9, 249–50, 252–3
  • and finding God 6–7
• listening cure 252
• logotherapy 24, 50
• The Lonely Crowd (Riesman, Glazer and Denney) 110
• The Long Search 176
• Lot’s wife 23
• love
  • of God 264–5
  • and listening 253
  • and making space 20
  • and Maslow 71
  • and priestly blessings 184–5
  • as sacrifice 128–9, 130
  • as strong as death 209
  • unconditional 28
  • unites, but it also divides 271

M

• Macmillan, Harold 287
• Mahler, Gustav 11, 280
• Maimonides
  • Commentary to the Mishna xx
  • on the family 163
  • on forbidden fruit 3–4, 5
  • on humility 263
  • on keri 169
  • on love 264–5
  • Mishneh Torah 112
  • on monarchy 203
  • on mourning 205
  • on physical needs 70, 247
• Malachi
  • 2:10 18
  • 3:24 222
• Manasseh 230, 233, 269, 284
• manna 82–3
• Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy (Frankl) 23–4
• Maps of Misreading (Bloom) 14
• market economy 273
• Marr, Andrew 151–2
• marriage 130, 268
• Maslow, Abraham 49, 71, 97
• material needs 72
• Matisse, Henri 240–1
• meaning, and life 121–2
• Meir, Rabbi 28
• memory 275, 277
• “In memory of W B Yeats” (Auden) 179
• Menasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam, Rabbi 255
• Mendel, Rabbi Menahem 20
• Mendelssohn, Felix 240, 281
• Merneptah stele 59
• Mesopotamian city states 212
• metzora 141
• Micah 218–19, 247
• Midianites 214, 274
• mikra kodesh 159
• Miller, Lisa 77, 78
• mimetic desire 87
• Miriam
  • and tzaraat 138
  • death of 207
• Mischel, Walter 49
• Mishkan 106, 110
  • See also Sanctuary
• Mishneh Torah 112
• mistakes, admitting 143–4, 145–7
• Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me (Tavris and Aronson) 145
• Moabites 213, 214
• moed 159
• moira 56
• monarchy 202, 203
• Monet, Claude 240
• “monkey” brain 201
• mortality 208
• Moses 103, 244–6, 280, 282
  • and children 76
  • and the closeness of God 104–5, 106
  • and community 109–10, 113
  • and despair 187–8, 189, 190
  • and the first Yom Kippur 144
  • on forgiveness 263
  • and hak’hel 283
  • and humility 262
  • and identity 273–4
  • and the Israelites
    • did not listen to him 69–70
    • thought they would not believe in him xviii
  • on joy 256–8
  • life saved by Zipporah 34–5
  • on not blaming God 291
  • and the rock 206–7, 208
  • and successor 217–20
  • as teacher 239–40, 241
  • and tzaraat 138
  • and tzidduk hadin 289–90
  • death 237
• motherhood 18
• mourning 205–6
• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 240
• music 11
• Muslims 147

N

• Nadav 132–3
• Nahmanides 152, 157–8, 201, 269, 270
• Nahman of Bratslav, Rabbi 31–2
• narcissism 264
• nature 58
• needs, hierarchy of 71
• Nefertiti, Queen 262
• Nehemiah 285
• nemesis 213, 215
• Neumann, John von 11
• Nietzsche, Friedrich 224–5, 264
• Noah
  • on coming out of the ark 10
  • and grief 23
• Novak, Michael 72
• Numbers
  • 6:23–27 181
  • 11:11–15 188
  • 11:29 190, 202
  • 12:3 190, 262
  • 16:3 200
  • 20:12 206
  • 22:6 213
  • 23:8 215
  • 27:4 229
  • 27:7 229–30
  • 27:12–13 218
  • 27:16–17 218

O

• oaths 223, 226
• O’Connell, Daniel 150
• Octet (Mendelsohn) 240
• O’Donohue, John 20
• Oedipus 56
• Old Masters and Young Geniuses (Galenson) 241
• Onkelos, Targum 169
• oppression 64
• ostracism 140, 141
• other-directed people 4, 139
• Otto, Rudolf 102
• Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelsohn) 240

P

• parenthood 18
• parents
  • and children
  • educating 78
  • not all succeed with 221–2
  • and God 19, 28, 163
  • sense of security from 13
  • what we inherit from 14, 16
• the past, mourning 23–4
• Pavlov, Ivan 50
• peace 84
• Pepys, Samuel 255–6
• performance utterance 225
• Pharaoh, oppressed the Israelites 63–4, 69
• Philip, Prince 237
• physical needs 70, 247
• physiological needs 71
• Picasso, Pablo 240–1
• pioneers 10–12, 72
• plagues 213
• Plato 250
• police 146
• popular music 11
• positive psychology 50
• Potiphar’s wife 46
• power 224
• predictions 57, 58
• Presidential Inaugural Address (US) 286
• priesthood 202
• priestly blessings 181–5
• prophecy 57, 219
• protest, religion of 72
• Psalms
  • 1:1 115
  • 19 178
  • 22:2 188
  • 23:4 11, 32
  • 30:6–13 258
  • 34:18 31
  • 51:17 31
  • 65:2 177
  • 69:2–3 31
  • 88:5–7 188
  • 92 291
  • 115 176
  • 4–8 116
  • 119:19 118
  • 130:1 31, 188
  • 137:4 30
  • 147:3 31
• psychoanalysts 49
• public shaming 137–8, 141
• purpose 171
• Putnam, Robert 110, 111
• pyramids 212

Q

• Qumran 195

R

• Rabinovitch, Rabbi Dr. Nachum 9, 10
• race 150
• Rachel 268
• rahamim 18
• Ramses II 262
• Rashbam (also known as Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir) 34–5
• Rashi
  • on calling 123
  • on forbidden sex 152
  • on Genesis 6: 9 10
  • on Jacob 55
  • on Joseph 48
  • on journeys 117
  • on keri 169
  • on Shabbat 157
• rational actor 129
• Reagan, President Ronald 286
• Rebecca 25
• recognition 71
• red heifer 208, 209
• reframing 51–3
• Renaissance Weekends 143–4
• renewal 286–7
• “reptile” brain 201
• Reuben 40–1, 268, 269, 270, 271
• Reubenites 200
• Ricardo, David 11
• Riesman, David 110
• the righteous 291–2
• righteousness, highest value in guilt cultures 4
• rights 233
• risk 11, 196
• rituals, daily 99–100, 102
• the Romans 147
• Ronson, Jon 137
• Roosevelt, Eleanor 261
• routines, daily 101–2

S

• Sacco, Justine 137
• sacrifices 127–30, 223–4
• safety 71
• Salovey, Peter 49
• Samuel
  • I 177, 251, 252
  • summoned by God 124
• Sanctuary 95–6
  • See also Mishkan
• Sarah
  • and birth of Isaac 21
  • and laughter 177
• Saul, King 251
• Schneerson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel 193, 196, 264
• Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Rabbi 50
• Schoenberg, Arnold 11
• Schulz, Kathryn 145
• science 273
• The Secrets of Happy Families (Feiler) 75
• self-abasement 263
• self-actualisation 71
• self-criticism 147
• self-interest 129, 224
• self-transcendence 71
• Seligman, Martin 11, 50, 71
• separation anxiety 13
• Sephardic Jews 150
• Septuagint 81
• seven, number and concept of 158
• sex, forbidden 152
• Sforno, Ovadia 270
• Shabbat 109, 110, 156–8
  • and community 111
  • holiness of 159–60
  • is utopia 81–4
• Shakespeare, William 36
• shalom bayit 84
• shame
  • and forbidden fruit 5
  • other-directed 4
  • and tzaraat 140, 141
• shame cultures 5, 139, 140
  • codes of social conformity 6
  • and forbidden fruit 5
  • highest value is honour 4
• shaming 137–8, 141
• Shekhina (Shechinah) xix, 84
• Shema 249–50
• shiflut 263
• Shimon (son of Jacob) 220
• Shimon bar Yohai, R. 163
• Shimon ben Gamliel, R. 177
• Shmuel ben Meir, Rabbi (also known as Rashbam) 34
• sibling rivalry 164–5
• Sikhs 84
• silence 176–7, 179
• Simchat Torah 256
• Sinai, Mount xix–xx
• Sinek, Simon 243
• Singer, Isaac Bashevis 56
• sins 3, 5
• sitting 115
• slander 141
• slavery 83–4
• Smith, Adam 129
• Smith, Emily 122
• social bond 141
• social capital 111
• social contagion 112
• social inclusion 156
• social media 137–8
• Sodom 263
• Solomon, King 95
• Soloveitchik, Rav 92
• So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (Ronson) 137
• Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Creechurch Lane 255
• spies 193, 194–5
• The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving (Miller) 77
• Stein, Edith 281
• Stevenson, Robert Louis 258
• stigma 140, 141
• St. Matthew Passion 281
• success 194, 195, 196
• superstition 132
• Syed, Matthew 145

T

• Tabernacle 116–17
• talking donkey 214
• Tamar 269
• Tavris, Carol 145, 146
• teacher 239–40, 241
• technology 273
• Temple 95
• Ten Commandments 85–6, 88
• Terah 15–16
• “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” (Smith) 122
• Thucydides 292
• The Tiger Who Came to Tea (Kerr) 241
• tikkun 109
• Titian 240–1
• Tocqueville, Alexis de 164–5
• tragedy 56
• tribes 231–2, 233
• Triumphs of Experience (Vaillant) 238
• Trollope, Anthony 99
• trust 141, 226
• tuma 138
• Turkle, Sherry 110
• Tversky, Amos 11, 49
• Twain, Mark 13
• type-scene 34
• tzaraat 138, 140, 141
• Tzelophehad, daughters of 229–30, 231, 233
• tzidduk hadin 289–90
• tzimtzum 20

U

• uncertainty 12
• UNetaneh Tokef 56
• United States of America, covenant 286
• utopias 83

V

• Verdi, Giuseppe 240
• violence 87
• Violence and the Sacred (Girard) 87
• vows 223, 226

W

• Waal, Frans de 199–200, 201, 233
• Walzer, Michael 111
• Waze 167
• Weber, Max 145
• Weidenfeld, George 118
• Weil, Simone 281
• well, where young man meet meets his future wife 34
• Welles, Orson 240
• the wicked 291–2
• Wiesel, Elie 176
• Williams, Bernard 4
• Williamson, Marianne 36, 39
• Wineman, Vivian 237
• word, keeping your 226–7
• work, hard 100, 101, 102
• worship, houses of 111–12
• Wright, Frank Lloyd 240

Y

• Yedid Nefesh 107
• Yehoshua ben Gamla, Rabbi 11
• Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim 276
• Yohanan ben Zakkai, Rabban 11, 191, 262
• Yom Kippur 144–5, 146, 158

Z

• Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (Yerushalmi) 276
• Zechariah
  • 4:6 xviii
  • 8:23 247
• ziggurats 211, 212
• Zionism 195–6
• Zionists 12
• Zipporah 35, 274
• Zohar 107, 177, 201