Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.
"I just wanted to be sure of you." - A.A. Milne

The Rockies may tumble,
Gibraltor may crumble,
They're only made of clay...
but, oh my dear, our love is here to stay. - Gershwin

Death ends a life, not a relationship. - Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom

Love is strong as death. - Song of Songs

"What is real?" asked the velveteen rabbit one day, when he and the toy skin horse were lying side by side in the nursery. "Real isn't how you're made," said the toy skin horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When someone really loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with but REALLY loves you, then you become real." "Does it hurt?" asked the rabbit. "Sometimes," said the skin horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the skin horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Once you are real, you can't become unreal again." - Margery Williams

Take a lump of clay,
Wet it, pat it,
Make a statue of you
And a statue of me
Then shatter them, clatter them,
Add some water,
And break them and mold them
Into statue of you and a statue of me.
Then, in mine, there are bits of you
And in you there are bits of me.
Nothing ever shall keep us apart. - Kuan Tao-Shen

Death does not separate us, it only makes us invisible to each other. - Madame de Stael

Memory isn't just recollecting what is past and over,
but slipping out of time and seeing it still alive.
You'd say that time and death are just illusions, like separateness. - Elizabeth Goudge,"The Castle on the Hill"

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. - Swedish Proverb

Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need. - Margaret Mead

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? - Stephen Levine

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you,
but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind,
your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you. - Frederick Buechner

It is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. An angel peers off a cloud, looking far down below onto a golf course, and what does he see? Why, it's a rabbi. And he's playing golf on Yom Kippur. "Lordy, lordy, there's a rabbi down there playing golf on the holiest day of the year..." the angel cries, as he jabs big G in the ribs. "...Whatcha gonna do ?" "Oh, I'll fix him, watch this!" cackles the Lord. So the angel watches the rabbi as he lifts his golf club high over his shoulder, preparing to tee off. WHACK! goes his ball, high into the air, higher, higher, higher, and then it seems to stop in mid air, and then slowly accelerate back down towards... towards... towards...? Towards the hole, and PLUNK, a hole in one. "Hey, I thought you were going to punish him. He just got a hole in one!" complains the angel. "You don't understand..." replies God, "...whom can he tell??"

Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. - Miles Franklin

To the extent that a Jew is deficient in observing "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," he is deficient in observing "You shall love the Lord your God." - Itturey Torah

I felt it shelter to speak to you. - Emily Dickinson

No road is long with good company. - Turkish Proverb

In the siddur which he issued, R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi states: "Before prayer it is proper to say ‘I hereby am accepting upon myself the commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself.' The commandment to love one's fellow Jews is the gateway to coming before God in prayers."

That which is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. That is the entire Torah, and all else is commentary. Go and study it. - Shabbat 31

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky. - Rainer Maria Rilke

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. - From the movie Annie

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love. - Mother Teresa

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. - Arthur Ashe, Days of Grace

What we have done
for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others
and the world
remains and is immortal. - Albert Pike

Sometimes a man imagines
that he will lose himself if he gives himself,
and keep himself if he hides himself.
But the contrary takes place with terrible exactitude. - Ernest Hello

You are only as strong as your weakest link.

Happiness or unhappiness
is made wholly to depend
on the quality of the object which we love.
When a thing is not loved,
no quarrels will arise concerning it,
no sadness will be felt if it perishes,
no envy if it is possessed by another,

in short no disturbances of the mind.
All these arise from the love
of what is perishable.
But love toward a thing eternal and infinite
feeds the mind wholly with joy,
and is itself unmingled with any sadness. - Spinoza

When-love takes place in me ...
overwhelming me with the sense of something much vaster,
much more enduring and powerful
than the accumulation of matter or energy
in any imaginable cosmos,
then my mind cannot but pinch itself
to see if it is really awake.
I have to make a rapid inventory of the universe....
I have to have all space and all time
participate in my emotion,
in my mortal love,
so that the edge of its mortality is taken off,
thus helping me to fight the utter degradation,
ridicule,
and horror
of having developed
an infinity of sensation and thought
within a finite existence. - Nabokov

I would tell you that you are the greatest marvel of all ages, and I should only be speaking the simple truth. But to put all this into suitable words, my superb one, I should require a voice far more harmonious than that which is bestowed upon my species - for I am the humble owl... I recognize you in all the beauty that surrounds me in form, in colour, in perfume, in harmonious sound: all of these mean you to me. You are superior to all. I see and admire - you are all! You are not only the solar spectrum with the seven luminous colours, but the sun himself, that illumines, warms, and revivifies! - Juliet Druet to Victor Hugo

My angel, my all, my very self

What a life!!! thus!!! without you - it pains me - and when I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is He - whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies the divine in man - Much as you love me - I love you more - But do not ever conceal yourself from me - Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love truly a heavenly structure, and also as firm as the vault of heaven? Ever thine, Ever mine, Ever ours. - Ludwig Beethoven to his Immortal Beloved

"There were once twin brothers who were identical in their appearance. One was appointed king while the other became a criminal and was hanged. When people passed by and saw the criminal hanging, they exclaimed ‘The king is hanged.'" Tannaim on Deuteronomy 21:22

"Did not He who made me in my mother's belly not make him? Did not One form us both in a womb?" Job 31:15

"Are you not unto Me as the Ethiopians O children of Israel?" Amos 9:7

When a person encounters another person in total immediacy, he or she may also experience a glimpse of God. - Martin Buber

All actual life is encounter. - Martin Buber

The purpose of relation is the relation itself--touching the You. For as soon as we touch a You, we are touched by a breath of eternal life. - Matrin Buber

Extended, the lines of relationships intersect in the eternal You. - Martin Buber

Every single You is a glimpse of that. Through every single You the basic word addresses the eternal You. The mediatorship of the You of all beings accounts for the fullness of our relationships to them--and for the lack of fulfillment. The innate You is actualized each time without ever being perfected. It attains perfection solely in the immediate relationship to the You that in accordance with its nature cannot become an It. - Martin Buber

Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of all human words. Precisely for that reason it is the most imperishable and unavoidable. And how much weight has all erroneous talk about God's nature and works (although there never has been nor can be any such talk that is not erroneous) compared with the one truth that all men who have addressed God really meant him? For whoever pronounces the word God and really means You, addresses, no matter what his delusion, the true You of his life that cannot be restricted by any other and to whom he stands in a relationship that includes all others. - Martin Buber

As the moon sinks on the mountain-edge
The fisherman's lights flicker
Far out on the dark wide sea.

When we think that we are alone
Are steering our shops at midnight,
We hear the splash of oars
Far beyond us. - Gates of Prayer

Joshua ben Perachyah said, "Get yourself a teacher, find someone to study with, and judge everyone favorably." Avot 1:6

Companionship or death. Taanit 23a

Hillel said, "be one of Aaron's students, loving peace and pursing it, loving people and bringing them to the Torah." Avot 1:12

The congregation, assembled in the synagogue for the Kol Nidre service scheduled to begin before sunset, waited impatiently for the arrival of their rabbi, Israel Lipkin Salanter. The sun had already set over the treetops. The Jews were bewildered, for their saintly rabbi always came to the synagogue very early on the eve of the holiest night in the year. Fearing that some tragedy might have befallen the rabbi, the congregants left the house of worship and sought to locate him. Rabbi Israel was not found in his home. The streets and alleys were searched in vain. About to give up hope of locating the rabbi, the sexton noticed a light in the window of a shack, and he peered inside. To his amazement, he saw the saintly sage seated by the side of a cradle, rocking it gently. Entering the shack, the sexton angrily exclaimed: "Rabbi, the entire congregation is looking for you. The time for beginning the Kol Nidre service is already past. What are you doing here?" Motioning silence from the sexton, the rabbi softly rejoined: "On my way to the synagogue long before sunset, I passed this house and heard a baby crying. Receiving no reply when I knocked, I entered and saw the baby was alone. Since the infant's mother had evidently gone to the synagogue I remained here to rock the baby to sleep and watch over him." Hasidic Tales and Teachings, The Yom kippur Anthology Philip Goodman

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am for myself alone, then what am I? And, if not now, when? - Avot 1:14

The material needs of my neighbor become my spiritual needs. - Rabbi Israel Salanter

Rabbi Eliezer said, "Let your friend's honor be as precious to you as your own."
Avot 2:10

Rabbi Shimon would say "If three have eaten at one table and have not spoken words of Torah, it is as if they had eaten sacrifices offered to the dead." Avot 3:3

One man was walking in a forest, lost for many days. He couldn't find the right path- each time he thought he was getting somewhere, he found himself even more lost. This went on for days and days, wandering in the thick woods. Eventually, this man ran into another just like him - someone else who had been wandering lost in the forest. "Now that I have found you, you can show me the way out," he said. "I don't know the way out either," said the second. "But I do know this, do not go the way I have been going, for that way is not the way. Now let us walk on together and find the light."

Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said Whoever people like, God likes. Whomever people do not like, God does not like."
Avot 3:10

So shall you find grace and good favor in the sight of God and people.
Proverbs 3:4

Rabbi Akiza "Human beings are loved because they were made in God's image. That they were created in God's image was made known by a special love, as it is said, "For God made human beings in the divine image." (Gen. 9:6) Avot 3:14

Ben Azzai said treat no one lightly and think nothing is useless for everyone has one's moment and everything has its place. Avot 4:3

Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua would say: Let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own. Let the honor of your associate be equal to the respect due to your teacher. Let the respect due to your teacher be equivalent to the reverence due to heaven. Avot 4:12

If you wish to believe, love!

He who loves brings God and the world together. - Martin Buber, The Way of Response

You are my witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). Shimon Bar Yochai interprets this passage: When you are My witnesses, then I am God. When you are not my witnesses, then I am, as it were, not God. - Pesiktah de Rav-Kahana

Whether a person really loves God can be determined by the love that person shares with others. - Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev

Rabbi David Tzvi Hoffman taught the word Kodesh is spelled KDSH without the vowel letter vav, whenever the reference is to human beings. When the reference is to God, the spelling includes the vav, God's holiness being complete. - Rabbi Abraham Ezra Millgram Jewish Worship

Once when Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai was leaving Jeruslaem, Rabbi Joshua was walking behind him and saw the Temple in ruins. Rabbi Joshua said, "Woe is us that this has been destroyed, the place where atonement was made for the sins of Israel." Rabbi Yohanan replied, "No, my son, do you not know that we have a means of making atonement that is like the Temple? And what is it? It is deeds of love, as it is said, ‘For I desire kindness and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6) Avot d'Rabbi Natan 4:21

Only a single person was created in the beginning, to teach that if any individual causes a single person to perish, Scripture considers it as though an entire world had been destroyed, and if anyone saves even a single person, Scripture considers it as though a whole world had been saved. Again, just a single person was created for the sake of peace, so that no one could say to another: "My father was greater than yours." Moreover, only a single person was created, in order to emphasize the greatness of God. For, whenever a mortal stamps many coins using one die, all the coins are alike; but when God stamps all human being with the die of the first person created, each one of them is, nevertheless, unique. Therefore every individual must say "For my sake was the world created." Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5

When two people sit and words of Torah pass between them, the Divine Presence rests between them. - Rabbi Chananya ben Teradion Pirke Avot 3:3

Once the Gerer Rebbe decided to question one of his disciples: "How is Moshe Yaakov doing?" The disciple didn't know. "What!" shouted the Rebbe, "You don't know? You pray under the same roof, you study the same texts, you serve the same God, you sing the same songs, and yet you dare tell me that you don't know whether Moshe Yaakov is in good health, whether he needs held, advice or comforting?"

A person reaches in three directions: inward to oneself, upward, to God, and outward to others. The miracle of life is that in truly reaching in any one direction, one embraces all three. - Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav

Genesis 21:1 And the Eternal visited Sarah as he had said, And the Eternal did unto Sarah as he had spoken. Rashi: Scripture places this section after the preceding one to teach you that whoever prays for mercy on behalf of another when he himself also is in need of that very thing for which he prays on the other's behalf will himself receive a favorable response from God, for it is said, "And Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife and they brought forth" and immediately afterwards it states here "And the Lord remembered Sarah."

Exodus 25:8 Let them make me a sactuary that I may dwell among them. It says among them and not among it, to teach you that each person must build the Sanctuary in his own heart, then God will dwell among them. - R. Menahem Mendl of Kotzk

Rabbi Eleazar said: A man who has no wife is not a complete man, for Scripture says, "He created them male and female-and He [only then] called their name ‘man' [Adam]" - Gen 5:2 B. Yev 63a

"In want of everything" (Deut 28:48) means, said R. Hisda, in want of a wife. - B. Ned 41a

R Joshua ben Levi said: When a man walks on the highway a company of angels goes before him announcing "make way for the image of the Holy One, blessed be He." - MTeh 17:8

Thou shalt love thy fellow man as thyself: I the Lord. - Lev 19:18

Two are better than one (Eccles 4:9) When Rabbi Meir saw a man setting out on a journey alone, he would say, ‘Go in peace you man of death.' When he saw two men he would say ‘May you have peace you men who are sure to quarrel.' When he saw three, he would say ‘may you have peace you men of peace.' - Eccles Rabba 4:9

It is said of R Yohanan ben Zakkai that no man ever greeted him first, not even a gentile in the marketplace

He who pays his respects to his fellow man is as though he were paying his respects to the Presence. - P Er 5:1 22a

Whenever a man whose hands are soiled by robbery calls to the Holy One, He does not answer. - Exod Rab 22:3

R Yohanan said in the name of R Meir Whoever does not escort others or allow himself to be escorted is as though he had shed blood, for had the people of Jericho escorted Elisha, he would not have stirred up bears against the children. - B. Sot 46b

This question was asked of R Tanhum of Nevi: What is the law concerning extinguishing a lamp for a sick man on the Sabbath? He replied A lamp is called a lamp and a man's soul is also called a lamp. It is right that a man's lamp be extinguished for the sake of the Holy One's lamp? - B Shab 30a-b

R Isaac said: Let respect for the community always be with you, for you will note that when blessing the worshippers, the priests' faces were turned toward the people and their backs were toward the Presence. - B Sot 40a

If the Shekhinah has arrived and the men do not come together as they should, the Holy One blessed be He exclaims, "Why when I come is there no man?" What does no man mean? It means that the limbs have not been restored and the body not completed, and when the body is not completed there is no man. Come and see. When the body is completed below, celestial sanctity comes and enters the body. - Zohar III 126a

When I confront a human being as my You and speak the basic word I-You to him, then he is no thing among things, nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, limited by other Hes and Shes, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition that can be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is You and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but because everything else lives in his light. - Martin Buber

This situation [an encounter with the Other] is an experience in the strongest sense of the term: a contact with a reality that does not fit into any a priori idea, which overflows all of them - and it is just for this reason that we have been able to speak of infinity- A face is a pure experience, conceptless experience. - "Philosophy and the Idea of Infinity" Emanuel Levinas

The turn to the other is the quintessential turn of postmodernity itself. It is that turn, above all, that defines the intellectual as well as the ethical meaning of postmodernity. The other and the different come forward now as central intellectual categories across the major disciplines, including theology ... Part of that return to otherness ... is the return of biblical Judaism and Christianity to undo the complacencies of modernity, including modern theology. - David Tracy, "Theology and the Many Faces of Postmodernity,"

"Is divinity possible without relation to a human Other?." - Levinas

When in the presence of the Other, I say "Here I am!", this "Here I am" is the place through which the Infinite enters into language, but without giving it to be seen ... I will say that the subject who says "here I am!" testifies to the Infinite. It is through this testimony ... that the revelation of the Infinite occurs. It is through this testimony that the very glory of the Infinite glorifies itself. - Levinas