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21 " The Torah and Judaism are behaviorist in their approach to life. How we behave is ultimately more important than how we think or feel. This is one of the greatest differences between the Torah and the contemporary mind, which attaches far more importance to how people feel. "
― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis
22 " When to get angry and when and how to express it are among the most important lessons humans can learn. Cain’s rage at Abel is a classic example of misplaced rage. "
23 " This verse uses the Hebrew word milacha to refer to work instead of the more common word avoda. Milacha is not truly translatable; it is best understood as creative work—work that produces something. "
24 " Genesis 1:1. When bara is used in the Torah, it is used only with reference to God—because only God can create from nothing. "
25 " They must also acknowledge that the only sovereign states to have ever existed on that land have been Jewish: the first Jewish state, 1010 (the reign of King David) to 586 BCE; the second Jewish state, 530 BCE to 70 CE (AD); and the third Jewish state, 1948 to the present. No other sovereign state ever existed in the land of Israel. "
26 " The ancient Rabbis associated the names Adonai and Elohim with two characteristics: mercy (Adonai) and justice (Elohim). Their reasoning was that both are necessary for the world to function. "
27 " the yetzer hatov also must be reined in. Much of the evil of the twentieth century was caused by ideologies that appealed to the yetzer hatov. Communism—in its insistence on “equality” and that the state should own all the means of production and use that ownership to eliminate poverty—is the best example. It resulted in about 100 million dead innocents (non-combatants) and more than a billion people deprived of elementary human rights. (The other great twentieth-century evil, Nazism, was rooted in racism, and therefore primarily appealed to the yetzer harah.) "
28 " according to Jewish teaching, the ban on blood consumption specifically banned tearing off the limb of a live animal. This practice was used in the ancient world to avoid killing an animal and losing some of its meat to decay. This practice kept the animal alive—and its meat fresh—for a few more days, but it resulted in terrible suffering to the animal. As this ban is written before Jews existed, it is considered a universal ban—one of the “Seven Noahide Laws” incumbent upon all of humanity. "
29 " In my view, both opinions are valid. But I side with the minority. It is extremely difficult to be decent when living among indecent people. Few people have the moral courage to reject their environment. "
30 " The believer has to account for the existence of unjust suffering; the atheist has to account for the existence of everything else. "
31 " If people with anger issues were offered a million dollars to significantly reduce the number of times they expressed excessive anger over a six-month period, most would become adept at controlling their temper. But in the absence of million-dollar incentives, people destroy marriages, family relationships, and friendships—things worth far more than a million dollars. "
32 " In 2008, then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama told an audience, “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools, and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. "