וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
Love your fellow as yourself: I am God.
Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time. Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogeneous, to whom all hours are alike, qualities, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate: the Day of Atonement. According to the ancient rabbis, it is not the observance of the Day of Atonement which, but the Day itself, the "essence of the Day," which, with man's repentance, atones for the sins of man.
Jewish ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time.
Heschel, The Sabbath, p. 8
(ה) וּמִי שֶׁהוּא מְדַקְדֵּק עַל עַצְמוֹ בְּיוֹתֵר וְיִתְרַחֵק מִדֵּעָה בֵּינוֹנִית מְעַט לְצַד זֶה אוֹ לְצַד זֶה נִקְרָא חָסִיד. כֵּיצַד. מִי שֶׁיִּתְרַחֵק מִגֹּבַהּ הַלֵּב עַד הַקָּצֶה הָאַחֲרוֹן וְיִהְיֶה שְׁפַל רוּחַ בְּיוֹתֵר נִקְרָא חָסִיד וְזוֹ הִיא מִדַּת חֲסִידוּת. וְאִם נִתְרַחֵק עַד הָאֶמְצַע בִּלְבַד וְיִהְיֶה עָנָו נִקְרָא חָכָם וְזוֹ הִיא מִדַּת חָכְמָה. וְעַל דֶּרֶךְ זוֹ שְׁאָר כָּל הַדֵּעוֹת. וַחֲסִידִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים הָיוּ מַטִּין דֵּעוֹת שֶׁלָּהֶן מִדֶּרֶךְ הָאֶמְצָעִית כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתֵּי הַקְּצָווֹת. יֵשׁ דֵּעָה שֶׁמַּטִּין אוֹתָהּ כְּנֶגֶד הַקָּצֶה הָאַחֲרוֹן וְיֵשׁ דֵּעָה שֶׁמַּטִּין אוֹתָהּ כְּנֶגֶד הַקָּצֶה הָרִאשׁוֹן. וְזֶהוּ לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין. וּמְצֻוִּין אָנוּ לָלֶכֶת בַּדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ הַבֵּינוֹנִים וְהֵם הַדְּרָכִים הַטּוֹבִים וְהַיְשָׁרִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כח ט) "וְהָלַכְתָּ בִּדְרָכָיו":
(5) One who works on themselves increasingly, and distances themselves [ from the negative behavior enough that they] even [veer] from the balanced state,2Shabbat, 30-31. G. a little one way or a little the other way, is called devout. How may one do it? One who will distance themselves from the extreme point of arrogance and become exceedingly humble is called devout for, this is the tendency of piety. If one distances themselves to the balanced point only and practices meekness he is called a wise man for, this is the tendency of wisdom. A similar pathway exists in all the rest of the [behavioral] tendencies. The ancient devotees diverged their tendencies from the middle-path facing the two extremes; some tendency they bent opposite to the last extreme and some tendency they bent opposite the first extreme. This is more than being within the limits of the law.3Baba Mezi’a 30a. G. As for us, we are charged to walk in these middle-paths, which are the good and straight paths, even as it is said: "And thou shalt walk in His ways" (Deut. 28 9).
(יא) שלשה מביאין לידי דאגה. צער גדול. וגדול צפרנים. ובגדים פצועים:
Three things bring anxiety: great pain, long fingernails, and ripped clothing.
(משלי יב, כה) דאגה בלב איש ישחנה
רבי אמי ורבי אסי,
חד אמר: ישחנה מדעתו
וחד אמר: ישיחנה לאחרים
§ The Gemara explains another verse in Proverbs: “If there is anxiety in a man’s heart, let him quash it [yashḥena]” (Proverbs 12:25). Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi dispute the verse’s meaning. One said: He should forcefully push it [yasḥena] out of his mind. One who worries should banish his concerns from his thoughts. And one said: It means he should tell [yesiḥena] others his concerns, which will lower his anxiety.
Once, the Hassidic Master, Reb Zusha came to his followers with tears in his eyes. They asked him:
"Zusha, what's the matter?
And he told them about his vision; "I learned the question that the angels will one day ask me about my life."
The followers were puzzled. "Reb Zusha, you are pious. You are scholarly and humble. You have helped so many of us. What question about your life could be so terrifying that you would be frightened to answer it?"
Reb Zusha replied; "I have learned that the angels will not ask me, 'Why weren't you a Moses, leading your people out of slavery?' and that the angels will not ask me, 'Why weren't you a Joshua, leading your people into the promised land?"'
Reb Zusha sighed; "They will say to me, 'Zusha, why weren't you Zusha?'"
- Quoted in Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim, p. 141
ת"ר מפקחין פקוח נפש בשבת והזריז ה"ז משובח ואין צריך ליטול רשות מב"ד
§ The Sages taught in a baraita: One engages in saving a life on Shabbat, and one who is vigilant to do so is praiseworthy. And one need not take permission from a court but hurries to act on his own.