How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"It's not customary to quote Scripture to someone, much less quote him chapter and verse. I think that if you're going to benefit from this experience, it's important that you try to act as is customary." (5.55)
How could such a rule-following dad end up with such a brilliantly rule-breaking son? Genetics = not always fair.
Quote #2
At Paterson no one regards me with suspicion or stays away from me because I have an interest in religion. I have to remember never to talk about anything religious while I'm here. It scares people. (6.86)
Marcelo enters the law firm trying to memorize his own set of rules: never do that, always do this. That he learns so much about nuance in a single summer is pretty remarkable.
Quote #3
"Who's Rabbi Heschel? I thought you were Catholic. I've seen you pray the Rosary at your desk… when you thought no one was looking." (11.29)
Jasmine learns something about the real world from Marcelo: people have widely varied religious beliefs and practices, and sometimes they blend religions together, which is a-okay. Not everything is so black and white.
Quote #4
The parking lot is empty except for Rabbi Heschel's car, a red Volkswagen Beetle she calls Habbie, after the prophet Habakkuk, because, she says, the car, like the prophet, has been crying for years without anyone paying attention. (12.1)
The story of Habakkuk, in brief: he saw the injustice and violence in the world and wondered why God would allow such things to happen. Sounds a bit like our narrator, no?
Quote #5
"All of our inclinations, even the sexual ones, are good when we are in Eden—that is, when we walk with God and all our actions, words, and thoughts seek to follow his will. But man can choose to be separate from God, and in this separateness he creates evil by imagining ways to use what is good in ways that hurt him or others, and then acting upon what he imagines." (12.52)
Take, for example, Arturo and Garcia. Both went into law wanting to help others, but one allowed himself to become corrupted by greed. He chose to be separate from human beings and align himself with corporations instead.
Quote #6
His eyes are closed, his head is lowered, and his chin rests on his chest. I immediately recognize the posture of someone in deep prayer. The man is playing the piano, but I am certain he is also remembering. (14.97)
"Remembering" is what Marcelo calls hearing the IM. In Keith Jarrett's case, "remembering" could mean summoning the music and musicians that came before him.
Quote #7
One day Abba saw me looking at the portrait and she said, "That's Jesus' heart. It shows how he feels for us." Then she took the picture down and sat beside me on her bed. "The thorns are His sorrow for all that we suffer, and the flame is His love." (16.5)
Here's some symbolism for you: if Ixtel had a crown of thorns, it would be made of shards of glass.
Quote #8
Then I try to block out the rushing thoughts by remembering a favorite piece of Scripture, but the remembering is not focused. It has a life of its own and what it presents are lines from different parts of Scriptures, senseless and disconnected, like an inner Tower of Babel. (16.8)
"Babel" and "babble" sound alike, which may be why Marcelo thinks of that particular Biblical reference when trying to focus his thoughts.
Quote #9
Rabbi Heschel takes off her sunglasses and dangles them by the side of the chair. "I think we, and I mean all of us, every single one of us who's in the religion business, have messed things up royally." (26.52)
Do you agree? Has the corruption of religion overtaken the benefits? Are any religions exempt?
Quote #10
"I think your brain is like mine. I never knew for sure that going to seminary was what God wanted me to do. 'Sure,' I used to complain, 'to Moses you appear as a burning bush, but to me you come as a burning hemorrhoid." (26.94)
Rabbi Heschel's perspective on modern-day miracles is both humorous and slightly pessimistic. We have a feeling Woody Allen would like her.