Studies in Spirituality

Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible
Studies in Spirituality book cover 3d

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


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