Sholem Asch > Quotes

“Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.”
― Sholem Asch

“I love the place; the magnificent books; I require books as I require air.”
― Sholem Asch

“Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.”
― Sholem Asch

“To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.”
― Sholem Asch

“But it sometimes happens that the Angel of Forgetfulness himself forgets to remove from our memories the records of the former world and then our senses are haunted by fragmentary recollections of another life. They drift like torn clouds above the hills and valleys of our mind and weave themselves in the incidents of our current existence.”
― Sholem Asch The Nazarene

“Joseph protested: “But who has said that the King Messiah must be a second Authority, God forbid! The Messiah is sent to us, to Israel, to restore the Kingdom of Israel.” “Not the Kingdom of Israel alone, but the Kingdom of God for the whole world,” cried Saul, fervently. “Touching this point, I am utterly at one with the preacher. On this he spoke like one moved by the divine spirit, and I have never heard one who brought out more clearly the fullness of the meaning of the Messiah. It may indeed be that he crowned him with too much authority, making him almost the equal of God. Yet I say that if he had not applied these words to him that was hanged, if he, the preacher, had not claimed Yeshua of Nazareth to be the Messiah, he would be my best-beloved brother.” “Of whom dost thou speak, Saul?” “Of him, of the preacher who gave us the burning vision of the Day of Judgment, and of the coming of the Messiah,” answered Saul, his voice vibrant with warmth. “Do you, too, believe that the King of Messiah is, God forbid, a second Authority?” “I believe with perfect faith that he stands between us and God, and that all the Authorities have been relinquished into the hand of the King Messiah, to loosen the bonds of all that are bound, and to loosen the bonds of the world, and of all worlds, for all time,” answered Saul. “No, no,” argued bar Naba, “the King Messiah comes only for Israel, to restore the kingdom, as the Prophets have told us in the name of God.” “It is only the little of faith who await such a Messiah. And that Messiah is not worth the price we have paid with our waiting.” “But why can we not be like all the other peoples?” asked bar Naba. “But are we like the other peoples? Have we not been beaten and smitten and humiliated daily for the Messiah’s sake? Have we not denied ourselves the joys of this world, and still for his sake?” “But I am weary of carrying the burden of the world; I am weary of being the scapegoat for the sins of others. Is not Israel worthy of being an end unto himself?” “But I ask you, what is Israel if only an end unto itself? If it is a worm under the feet of the nations?  Israel is the light of the world, the guiding star of mankind. It is not asked whether it wills this or not. Israel has been elected to this end, as the Messiah was chosen before the creation of the world. Israel was elected to bear like a beast of burden, the yoke of the Torah, until God will send it a redeemer. And then will the redeemer bind the nations as the reaper binds the sheaves. He will bring them into the granary, under the wings of his glory. Israel will be the guiding star of heaven, the pillar of fire which goes before the whole world on the path of redemption. For such a mission no price of suffering is too high. Bar”
― Sholem Asch, The Apostle

“Do not be for ever uncertain whether thou art doing thy duty, for God probes the innermost feelings of man; He desires thy good intent; and if thy intent is pure, all is pure; for God desires the goodness of the heart of man. And if thou knowest that there is one who sees thy thoughts, and before whom thou must make an accounting for all thy deeds, thou wilt never doubt. The fear of God will keep thee on the right path. Find thyself a Rabbi and teacher and place thyself under his authority.” Saul”
― Sholem Asch, The Apostle

“Nevertheless the story was still told how he lay dead, how the wailing women had lamented for him, how he had been carried away to burial, and how the Rabbi had brought him back to life; and whatever the actuality, Eliezer had been looked on with a kind of dark respect in which there was more than a touch of fear. For most he was a man who had been dead. Men were uncomfortable in his vicinity, started back from him, trembled lest they touch him. It was even suspected that whosoever came in physical contact with him was defiled as by contact with a corpse. For he might be alive and yet dead, he might be a corpse set in motion. Such indeed was the impression he made on many, of a thing that was animated not by a will of its own. Moreover, alive or dead, or both, the long shrivelled body reeked of the grave, and those that saw him in the Temple court, standing behind his Rabbi, would mutter, “There goes the Rabbi with the golem that he has fashioned!”
― Sholem Asch, The Nazarene

“like one of us?” “Saul, Saul, I am not as learned as you, but do you not see that if the Messiah”
― Sholem Asch, The Apostle

“I have never been able to understand wherein lay this profound power which they [the rabbis] wielded over the people. For the people as a whole, and not only the following of pupils, was prepared to obey them in all things, no matter what dangers were entailed. We were, frankly, afraid of the power of the learned, and we kept close watch on them.”
― Sholem Asch, The Nazarene

“Not the power to remember, but it's very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition of our existence.”
― Sholem Asch, The Nazarene

“The hope of Israel, the anointed Messiah, one that was hanged!” Saul said with withering scorn. “He who will come on the clouds, attended by the heavenly legions, who will harvest the nations of the world and lay them like sheaves at his feet! He of whom King David sang: ‘In a little while I shall make the nations of the world a footstool for thy feet!” He whom God has appointed as a light unto the peoples! He, the chosen one of God, who was with Him before the creation of the world! How could he allow the gentiles to slaughter him like a sheep, and  not call the heavenly hosts to his rescue?” “But did you not hear the man quote from the Prophet Isaiah: ‘He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.’ And, ‘for the sins of my people was he stricken, and he made his grave with the wicked.’ Not because he did evil—God forbid!—was he punished, but he freely took himself our sins; he bore our sickness, and was smitten with our transgressions.” “You mean...?” asked the young man of Tarshish and stopped again for a moment, keeping his eye sternly on his friend. “I—I personally do not mean anything. But I do say that the words of the Galileans have put many thoughts into my mind.” There”
― Sholem Asch, The Apostle

“sins, leave”
― Sholem Asch, The Apostle