Saturday, July 6, 2013

The value of great literature

Hi,

"But the humanities do not simply teach us language in general. They initiate us into the world of ruah memalela ['the speaking spirit' - Onkelos to Bereishit 2:7] at its finest, introducing us, in Arnold's celebrated phrase, to 'the best which has been thought and said in the world.' Great literature presents either a rendering, factual or imaginative, of aspects of the human condition, or a record of the artist's grappling with the ultimate questions of human existence: man's relation to himself, to others, to the cosmos, and, above all, to the Ribbono shel Olam [Master of the Universe]."

(Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, "The End of Learning", Leaves of Faith pg. 113)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

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