Library

In the Library is a listing of all Masters Series sources, including:

 •  posters   -  Official citations for the 18 Masters Series posters

 •  quotes  -  Books and translations from which the Masters Series quotes were taken

 •  images  -  Collections from which images of authors were obtained

 

 

 

sources / quotes

“From every human being there rises a light…”

     —Baal Shem Tov

Source of Quote: Levin, M. (1949) Classic Hassidic Tales:  Marvelous Tales of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem and of His Great Grandson Rabbi Nachman, Retold from Hebrew, Yiddish and German Sources. New York; Dorset Press.

 

 

 “Most of the things worth doing in the world were declared impossible before they were done.”

      —Louis Brandeis

Source of quote: Proceedings of the Meeting of the Board of Arbitration Selected by the Representatives of the Cloak and Skirt Makers’ Unions of New York, and the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ Protective Association, with the Representatives of the said unions and the said protective association, August 3-6, 1913, Vol. II, pp218, 221-22.

 

 

“Man’s life depends on the trees of the field.”

     —Adaptation of Deuteronomy 20:19

Source of Quote: Telushkin, J. (1997) Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Events and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible. New York: William Morrow.

 

 

 “A community is too heavy to carry alone.”    

     —Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:10

Source of quote: Rabinowitz, J. (Trans) (1983) Midrash Rabbah:  Deuteronomy. New York: Sonico.

 

 

 “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But, if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”

     —Rabbi Hillel, Pirke Avot 1:14

Source of quote: Wein, B. (Editor) (2003) Pirkei Avos: The Birnbaum Edition. Brooklyn: Shaar Press.

 

 

 “A human being is like a letter of the alphabet: to produce a word, it must combine with another.”

     —Benjamin Mandelstamm

Source of quote: Mandelstamm, Benjamin, 1806-1886 — Mishle Binyamin

 

 

 “If you believe breaking is possible, believe fixing is possible.”   

     —Rabbi Nachman of Breslau

Source of quote: Kamenetz, Rodger. (2010) Burnt Books. New York: Random House.

 

 

“Once I had tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there was no going back.”    

     —Blu Greenberg

Source of quote: Greenberg, Blu. On Women and Judaism A View From Tradition; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1981

 

 

 “When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.”   

     —Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Source of quote: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

 

 

“It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.”   

     —Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

Source of quote: Wein, B. (Editor) (2003) Pirkei Avos; The Birnbaum Edition. Brooklyn: Shaar Press.

 

 

 “I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children.”

     —Talmud, Taanit 23a

Source of quote: Talmud Bavli: Tractate Ta’annis, The Schottenstein Edition (1991). Brooklyn: Mesorah Press.

 

 

“Who is Wise? One who learns from all people. Who is honored? One who honors everyone.”

     —Ben-Zoma, Pirke Avot 4:1

Source of quote: Wein, B. (Editor) (2003) Pirkei Avos: The Birnbaum Edition. Brooklyn: Shaar Press.

 

 

"Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech."

     —Susan Sontag

Source of quote: Susan Sontag, Styles of Radical Will; Dell Publishing Co., Inc., Reprinted by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York; 1966; page 48

 

 

“There is nothing more whole than a broken heart”

     —Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

Source of quote: Bergman, Shmuel Hugo (1991)/ Dialogical Philosophy From Kierkegaard to Buber; (translation by Gerstein, Arnold A.). Albany: SUNY Press.

 

 

“The heroic hours of life do not announce their presence by drum and trumpet.”

     —Benjamin Cardozo

Source of quote: Judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, An address delivered In Chancellors Hall, 1925

 

 

“A miracle cannot prove what is impossible.  It only confirms what is possible.”

     —Maimonides

Source of quote: Moses Maimonides: A Guide for the Perplexed, III:24, Friedlander, M. (Trans) (1956). New York: Dover.

 

 

“Love is stronger than death.”

     —Song of Songs 8:6

Source of quote: Adapted from Song of Songs 8:6

 

 

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware."

     —Martin Buber

Source of quote:  Buber, Martin (Trans)(1955) The Legend of the Baal-Shem.  New Jersey:  Princeton University Press.

sources / images

Image Credit: Baal Shem Tov's handwritten siddur is in the collection of Agudas Chabad Library, Archive #1994. The book is open to the Amidah or Shemone Esreh prayer, with blessings Yeshuah through Modim visible.

 

   

Image Credit: Photograph of Louis Brandeis is from the Harris & Ewing collection (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hec/) at the Library of Congress

 

     

Image Credit: Photograph of Torah scroll by James Steidl

 

Image Credit: Edition of Deuteronomy Rabbah, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

 

Image Credit: Edition of Pirke Avot, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Zagare (Benjamin Mandelstamm's hometown) by Jack Trubik

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Rabbi Nachman's chair, courtesy of Machon Nachalat Zvi, Jerusalem

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Blu Greenberg courtesy of the author

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from the Ratner Center Archives, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminar

 

Image Credit: Edition of Pirke Avot, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

 

Image Credit: Choni the Circle-Drawer, Official Medal, 2010/5770, Sixth in the “Jewish Folktales” Medal Series

 

Image Credit: Edition of Pirke Avot, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Susan Sontag, Public Domain, under Arts & Entertainment/February 16, 2010/Toran Ybanex (Boise Writing Examiner)

 

Image Credit: Grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, Public Domain

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Benjamin Cardozo from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Digital ID: cph 3a38655 (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a38655)

 

 Image Credit: Photograph of Maimonides' statue in Cordoba, Spain by Daniel Villafruela

 

Image Credit: Ivory Pomegranate from Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. This small ornamental bone object, determined to be authentic to the period of King Solomon, may be the only surviving artifact from Solomon’s Temple. NB: The inscription is not authentic to the period and may be a modern forgery. http://www.bib-arch.org/news/news-ivory-pomegranate.asp

 

Image Credit: Photograph of Martin Buber from the Ratner Center Archives, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminar

 

Photograph of Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles on our home page by Timothy Hursley

 

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Framing of posters for Masters Series Traveling Exhibition:

The Valley’s Oldest Frame Shop:  J. H. Miller Picture Framing Company, West Springfield, Massachusetts