Joshua Halberstam > Quotes

“Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life.”
― Joshua Halberstam

“If you want to tell the truth, write fiction”
― Joshua Halberstam

“Well, that started me on the path out. I realized my religious tradition couldn’t account for everything, not even everything sacred.”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“Panic isn’t the fear of danger, but the fear you can’t control your fear, and”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“The monster always represents the disruption of categories, the destruction of boundaries”
― Joshua Halberstam

“Elisha’s father said, “Did I ever tell you about this urge I had as a boy to look at the Kohanim during the blessing?” “You, Tateh?” “Everyone must have that desire, though I suspect mine was stronger than most. I have this streak of curiosity, as I bet you’ve noticed.” “Did you peek?” “No, I didn’t. Perhaps if I had, other mischief might have followed. You break through one fence, why not another?” “I did peek,” Elisha said.”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“A man is what he is, not what he used to be. —Yiddish proverb”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“Long ago, I conquered my anger and placed it in my pocket. When I have need of it, I take it out.”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“What terrible secret could he disclose? That he stole a look at the kohanim during the priestly blessing?”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“The romanticization of nature was idol worship, he inveighed, the deification of the created over the Creator.”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are. —Talmud”
― Joshua Halberstam, A Seat At The Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices