Biblical Literacy Quotes

“In a world that was even more chauvinistic than our own, the Torah mandates that the Israelite people love peaceful non-Israelites living among them no less than they love themselves.

The German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen rightly identifies this law as the beginning of what is known as 'ethical monotheism': 'The stranger was to be protected, although he was not a member of one's family, clan, religion, community or people, simply because he was a human being. In the stranger, therefore, man discovered the idea of humanity.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Events, and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible – A Complete Encyclopedia of Old Testament Stories and Laws

“Deborah agrees to accompany Barak, but can’t resist a jab at the sexism of the Israelite society: “Very well, I will go with you. However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for then the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman”
― Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Events, and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible – A Complete Encyclopedia of Old Testament Stories and Laws

“Abraham’s readiness to obey God’s command shows him to be ethically deficient by later standards, but not by those of his age. True, God had revealed Himself to Abraham, but He had not made known to him the full ethical implications of monotheism. Since other contemporary religious believers sacrificed sons to their gods, God, in essence, was asking Abraham if he was as devoted to his God as the pagan idolaters were to theirs.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Events, and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible – A Complete Encyclopedia of Old Testament Stories and Laws