4 Quotes & Sayings By Ovadya Ben Malka

Ovadya ben Malka is a rabbi, teacher, and author. He was born in Israel in 1944. He graduated from the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and also from the Mirrer Yeshiva in New York. In 1971 he was ordained by the Rabbinical Council of America as a rabbi Read more

In 2012 he was awarded a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. He was a visiting professor at Yeshiva University for many years and taught at Jewish schools in Israel and the U.S.

1
We give to God of our strength, not our weakness. But we also say: “Da lifneh mi ata omed”– Know before whom you stand. We know what we are in the face of that. We see the full picture– God and ourselves. We cannot see ourselves as more than we are because we see how much greater is the reality. But we must not lessen our value in our own eyes either, because we are a necessary part of this reality. It is no small thing that we are able to “stand” and to address that reality. It would be good if we could approach life the way we approach prayer, knowing before whom we stand. Ovadya Ben Malka
2
The fact that good people can be forced to do wrong doesn’t make them less good. But it also doesn’t make the wrong less wrong. Ovadya Ben Malka
3
It’s true that the hatred is still there. But it doesn’t change anything. Our obligations are the same–to live and sanctify all life with our own. To participate in the world the best we know how, leaving it a better place than we found it. To raise families and teach our children to value life. What more can we do? Should we refuse to live because of the threat of death hanging over us? We’ve always been under sentence of death. Every generation that lives out its days in peace is a victory. Every day we live is a victory. Ovadya Ben Malka