Aphorisms To Live By

Tuesday was the 23rd yahrzeit of Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neriah, founder of the Bnei Akiva yeshivot, educator, revolutionary, author, Rabbi Kook's disciple, and Israel Prize laureate. Here are just a few phrases from the great legacy that he left:

* "The commandment of "u'vcharta vachayim" (And you shall choose life') is not like elections (bechirot) that take place once every few years. Choosing the Torah and commandments is a daily matter."

* "A land that eats up its…inhabitants (Numbers 13:32) - the land eats those who inhabit it and do nothing in it, who do not act."

* "Death was given to the world only so that people would know how to live."

* "A person who asks 'What is my duty?' rather than 'What is my right' – his world is totally different."

* "The greatest of all revolutions is the revolution that takes place in the heart."

* "I think, therefore I am a person. The more I think, the more I find the essence of the person in me."

* "Man does not fulfill mitzvot. It is the mitzvot that fulfill the man."

* "The word that I least understand is G-d, and precisely because of this, it explains everything to me."