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Who Said...
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!...Ha, ha, ha, ha..."
Lamont Cranston said it on the classic American radio show in the 1930's, but he wasn't exactly the first. King David beat him to it in Psalms 121: "G-d is your Guardian, your shadow at your right hand." And how do we know that G-d knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? In Psalm 44:22, where King David says, "Would not G-d search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart." In the 13 Articles of Faith in the siddur, Article 10: "I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, knows all the deeds of human beings and their thoughts, as it is said, 'He fashions their hearts all together, He comprehends all their deeds." (Psalms 33:15.) In addition, according to the Oral Tradition, it is clear in the very beginning of the Torah that G-d knew of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and of Cain having killed his brother Abel even before they admitted anything. G-d's queries to them about what they did were posed only in order to afford them the opportunity to confess their wrongdoing and repent. As for the spooky "ha, ha, ha,ha..." we'll let Lamont Cranston take the credit for that.
Who Said...
"How the mighty have fallen!"
King David, eulogizing the King Saul in the Second Book of Samuel (1:25).
Who Said...
"You can't judge a book by its cover."
>Rabbi Meir in Ethics of the Fathers (4:27). The exact quote: "Don't look at the vessel, but what is in it. There is a new vessel filled with old wine, and an old vessel that does not even contain new wine." He was referring specifically to those who appear outwardly to be old and wise but are lacking in wisdom, as opposed to those who are truly wise despite their youth and seeming immaturity. (Contributed by R. Haim Busch, Zichron Yaakov.)
Who Said...
"I'll have to ask my wife first."
Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah, Talmud Brachot 27b. He had been asked to assume the position of nasi, to head the community in the first exile, in Yavneh, soon after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Before agreeing, he said that he would have to consult with his wife. Indeed, she cautioned him that he might be raised to high position and then summarily relieved of it. When she saw that that did not deter him, she pointed out to him that he was still a young man, lacking the white hairs that go with wisdom and authority. On that day, a miracle occurred, and he was suddenly distinguished by 18 streaks of white in his hair. (The Ben Ish Chai comments that it was his 18th birthday, and that the birthday of a person has potential for great things.) Rabbi Eliezer did accept the offer; but, as his wife had foreseen, the ride was not without bumps, and he soon was forced to share the leadership with Rabbi Gamliel, whom he had been selected to replace.
Who Said...
"Is there no balm in Gilead?"
It was not Edgar Alan Poe in Annabel Lee, he merely quoted it. The original source is Jeremiah 8:22, in which the prophet laments the condition of the Jewish people in the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Comparing the righteous to healing balm (which came from a place called Gilad), he asked rhetorically if there were no righteous individuals who could teach and lead the people to repentence.
Who Said...
"...The glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome."
Edgar Allan Poe, in To Helen.
Who Said...
"Head and shoulders above the rest."
The First Book of Samuel, Chapter 9: Verse 2. "...and there was no one in Israel finer than he; from his shoulders and upwards he was taller than all the people."
Who Said...
"Long live the king!"
The Israelites, when Samuel the Prophet announced to them that Saul would be their first king. (Samuel 1, 10:24.)
Who Said...
"Life is like a down escalator."
Rabbi Yissachar Frand. What he meant is that our bad habits are like a down escalator, working on us without any deliberate action on our part to drag us down in life. In order to move forward and upward, to beome better people, we have to make a concerted effort.
Who Said...
"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
The Prophet Isaiah (Chapter 22, Verse 13). After warning the people of the looming retribution for their iniquities, their response was not to repent, but to plunge further into their indulgence of sensual pleasure.
Who Said...
"Where is G-d? Wherever you let Him in."
The Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern.
Who Said...
"Show me
a proof that G-d exists that I can see with my own eyes."
"All right - the Jews!"
This exchange was the culmination of a protracted dialogue in theological matters between the 18th century German monarch, Frederick the Great, and his Lutheran pastor.The survival of the Jewish people despite exile, dispersion and seemingly endless persecution, was, to the pastor, indisputable proof of the existence of G-d, since only Divine will could explain this phenomenon.
Who Said...
"When I come before the Almighty, I will have to answer for many things. But what will I tell Him when He asks me, 'Shamshon, did you see my Alps?' "
---Near the end of his life, Rabbi Shamshon Raphael Hirsch announced that he was going to tour Switzerland on foot. The remark was made in response to his disciples, who were alarmed and tried to dissuade him from risking his health.
Who Said...
"Out of the mouths of babes!"
The Book of Psalms, Chapter 8, Verse 3. The full translation is: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings have You [G-d] founded strength, because of your enemies, to still the enemy and the avenger." With uncorrupted intelligence even children can perceive the hand of G-d in creation. Such intelligence is "strength," G-d has established for man so that he can perceive and silence the enemies of truth. (From the Artscroll Tanach.)
Who Said...
"Bring me the book." "Which book?" "There is but one - the Bible!"
Sir Walter Scott on his death bed.
Who Said...
"Ask not of a thing whether or not it can be done. Ask only if it should be done."
Rabbi Yosef Yovel Hurvitz (1848-1919), the Alter of Navardok, who established scores of yeshivot in Eastern Europe in the pre-World War Two years, despite the lack of financial resources and against a backdrop of widespread, violent anti-Semitism.
Who Said...
"If you have good, you don't need better."
Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kaniefsky, the Steipler Gaon. Aside from being a great scholar, Rabbi Kaniefsky was a stalwart ethicist, living a life of poverty and simplicity, first in Euope, then in Israel, until his passing about twelve years ago.
Who Said...
"This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre."
Azzam Pasha, the secretary-general of the Arab League, announcing the Arab decision to be partners in peace after the Jews of Palestine accepted the United Nations partition plan of 1947. Although the Zionist leadership reluctantly agreed to virtually indefensible borders and the internationalization of Jerusalem as the price of statehood, the Arabs flatly rejected partition. There would be no Jewish state, they said, and no UN supervision of Jerusalem.
Who Said...
"Baruch HaShem! (Bless the Lord!)"
Jethro (Exodus 18:10). When Jethro went to greet the Israelites in the desert after hearing of the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, he said: "Blessed be G-d who has saved you from the hand of the Egyptians..." Undoubtedly, others before him---notably those who were themselves saved---blessed and thanked G-d for the miraculous salvation. Why, then, does Scripture associate this expression with Jethro, who only joined the people afterwards? One answer is that for that very reason, Jethro exemplifies the ideal of someone who appreciates the great things that G-d does, even when the kindness is done for someone else.
Jethro was honored with having that portion of the Torah called in his name because he left a position of honor as a priest of idolatry in the land of Midian to join the Jewish people in the wilderness in service of the true G-d. He and his family later converted to Judaism and were allotted a portion in the land of Israel.
Who Said...
"If
you want to know if you are really serving the community purely
to help others, try working on a communal project with somebody
you don't like."
Rabbi Yosef Yovel Hurvitz (1848-1919), the Alter of Navardok.