What is Friendship?

Friendship is a journey of sharing between two or more people. No one can journey through life completely alone. Linking our lives through relationships permits us to share our hearts with others who, in turn, reveal themselves to us. When this is done in a free, healthy, and positive context, it is more satisfying than almost any other human interpersonal experience. To be loved and accepted – and to respond in kind – is at the very heart of what it means to be a human created in the image of God.

Friendship is also a shared journey in which we combine forces with others to fulfill God’s will. Sharing events and experiences is an integral aspect of friendship. But deep friendship moves beyond leisure activities, encouraging partners to reach their creative potential, to serve others with resolve and hope, and to make the world a better place. Friendships change history in both small and large ways.

This is an extract from: Making Friends, Making Disciples by Lee B. Spitzer.

http://www.abcnj.net/about-us/dr-lee-b-spitzer

Friendship; the Secret of the Universe

Any serious study of friendship must begin by recognizing that a standard definition o friendship does not exist! In Simple Words, the distinguished Jewish scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz examine the meaning of a host of common terms – such as nature, good, faith and death – to reveal wisdom about how humans see themselves. Sandwiched between chapters on masks and family, he probes the meaning of the word friends. Steinsaltz writes: “The term ‘friendship’ does not have an exact, universal meaning. Its precise definition may be, like pornography, a matter of geography, and indeed, its meaning varies from country to country and from culture to culture.”

We may not agree on a universal definition, yet friendship captures the hearts of all who dare to imagine that we can transcend loneliness and solitude. Henry David Thoreau wrote: “No word is oftener on the lips of men than Friendship, and indeed no thought is more familiar to their aspirations. All men are dreaming of it, and its drama, which is always a tragedy, is enacted daily. It is the secret of the universe.”

This is an extract from: Making Friends, Making Disciples by Lee B. Spitzer.

http://www.abcnj.net/about-us/dr-lee-b-spitzer