Judaism has been struck by the same acceleration. New ideas and new philosophies have flooded this ancient faith. In this bewildering array, is there a bottom line?

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote an essay he called "Toward an Understanding of Halacha." It was subtitled "Jewish Law as a Response." That is the bottom line: If Jewish tradition is a response to God, then it can flourish. If it is an arbitrary mélange of customs, it will wither. But although Jews disagree about the history of our tradition, how it came to be and in what stages it developed, one idea must endure: Judaism is a dialogue, not a human monologue addressed to an indifferent universe.

We are all bound by the mitzvah of relationship: to God, to other human beings, indeed, to all that God has created. All of those relationships are touched by the changes in the world. But in each generation, in each new context, the ancient and blessed conversation—the dialogue that is Judaism—continues.