The Orchard Quotes

“His face is twisted in revulsion.

"Your description of the Sanhedrin's chamber disgusts me. God is not found in magnificent buildings.”
― Yochi Brandes, The Orchard

“Rabbi Eliezer knows that a man like Akiva, who was born and grew up outside the world of Torah, is precisely the kind of man who can understand that which is walled off from others. It is human nature: people forced to uproot themselves painfully at a young age are able to retain flexible attitudes later in life, while those who remain in the same surroundings all their lives develop ossified attitudes and icy souls, and they hold the same opinions all their lives. Sometimes, they appear to have changed, but these are not real changes that stem from the depths of their hearts; they are merely old ideas in new dress.”
― Yochi Brandes, The Orchard

“interpretations speak to the mind, while stories penetrate directly to the heart.”
― Yochi Brandes, The Orchard

“I believed that only constant surrender would ensure our survival, but Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kokhba proved to me with a string of brilliant victories that if the nation of Israel believes in itself and unifies in a common goal, no power in the world can stand against it, just as it was in the days of the Maccabees.”
― Yochi Brandes, The Orchard