"Life is not a vicarious activity"

“Many Jews would say that the State of Israel is the answer to the unsolved problems of the Jews in the Diaspora.

If we just send our children to Israel to be “inoculated” against assimilation, we will not have to worry about Jewish continuity in the U.S.

Israel is important — there is no question — but not everyone is going to Israel.

The Jews did not all return to Jerusalem when the Temple was rebuilt, and they are surely not all returning now.

Depending on Israel to save American (or Russian or European) Jewry is asking a lot — Israel has enough to do to save herself.

We cannot live in the past, and we cannot live through others.

Life is not a vicarious activity.

Just as I cannot eat for someone else or sleep for someone else, I cannot study for someone else.

Life is something each of us must do on our own.

And if this is true of the mundane actions that keep my body alive, it is even more true of the exalted activities that nourish my spirit.”