Erica Brown

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night," Edgar Allan Poe.

Horayot 13b: "Matters within dreams are insignificant." The fact of the dream may be more important than its content.

“Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it,” Norman Maclean.

Horayot 11a; “When you study, study next to a river of water. Just as the water flows, your studies will flow.”

"The early bird gets the worm. The early worm... gets eaten," Norman Ralph Augustine.

Horayot 11a; "A person should always be first to perform a mitzva." Sometimes he (or she) who hesitates misses the first possible moment to bring more goodness to the world.

"There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous," Blaise Pascal.

Horayot 10b: "Even the good done by the wicked is bad for the righteous." It may prevent one from seeing the bad for what it is, but at least it redeems some of the depravity.

"Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends," Virginia Woolf.

Horayot 9a: A priest is "greater than his brethren in beauty, power and wealth." And one cannot become a priest. Is it possible to inherit all these gifts?

Horayot 6b: "And does one derive the possible from the impossible?" The answer sounds like "no" but people ask this of us all the time.

Horayot 7a: "Isn't his ruling nothing at all?" What insult could hurt a judge or legal decisor more?

Horayot 8b: "The Jewish people were commanded 10 mitzvot in Marah," a stop before Sinai. Before they got the rules, they got the rules,

“Most priests wish they were as righteous as they seem to most members of their congregations," Mokokoma Mokhonoana.

Horayot 5b: "One tribe is characterized as a congregation." If a tribe errs it must bring sacrifices because it is considered a corporate entity.

“A court is an assemblage of noble and distinguished beggars,” Charles Maurice de Tallyrand.

Horayot 4b: “If the most distinguished member of the court was not present...” who determines that?

"When the congregation becomes the norm by which sermons are measured, a minister has put a mortgage on his soul," Ralph W. Sockman.