Rav Kook

“Rav Kook on Homosexuality” from Bezalel Naor, From A Kabbalist’s Diary (Orot, 2005), Chap. 12 (pp. 157-170)

The thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935), first Ashkenazic chief rabbi of mandatory Palestine, has served as an inspiration to many in this generation. His fusion of Halakha (Jewish law) and Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), and his awareness of and responsiveness to issues affecting modern society, have resonated with many souls who, in general, do not warm to the teachings of an Orthodox rabbi. Even when such individuals are in no position to agree with his strict maintenance of rabbinic tradition, they at least recognize that this virtuoso is no mere apologist for Orthodoxy. Rav Kook’s remarks, infused by what was undoubtedly a transpersonal consciousness, are too refreshing to be the stuff of apologetics.

Over the years, as a teacher of Rav Kook’s printed works, I have often heard students venture a guess that Rav Kook’s stance on homosexuals would have to be lenient. The reasoning goes something like this: Since Rav Kook expressed sympathy and understanding for the early secular Zionists, the halutsim, wouldn’t he have to demonstrate the same love, the same ahavat yisrael, toward homosexuals?! Actually, as known to anyone who has studied Rav Kook in some depth, his reaction to secular Zionism is not a simple affair at all, but rather extremely nuanced1 . And we should be surprised if his attitude to homosexuality prove facile or simplistic. The printed work of Rav Kook—as opposed to the jingos, tokens and slogans of party apparachiki—is indeed complex.

I have found two pieces in Rav Kook’s oeuvre that address the issue of homosexuality. The first, embedded in a teshuvah or legal responsum, reads as follows:

. . . That which he2 asserts, that Rabbenu Asher (ROSH) wrote for his time, and in his day, homosexuality was not widespread among the gentiles—he needlessly gives the gentiles the benefit of the doubt. One who knows their mores even today, after the gloating of modern culture3 , through laws emitted by the upper crust among them, and from the arguments of the most highly educated, concerning values of ethics and sexual modesty4 , will understand to what degree even today, there is room among them for to’evah (“abomination,” Biblical term for homosexuality5 ). This applies for several centuries prior to this one. And let his honor not forget that Rabbenu Asher (ROSH) wrote the book of legal decisions in Moorish Spain, in a milieu of Arabs, who even today engage in the “abomination of the Emorites.” One who has sojourned in Asia6 , and whose ears have heard of their everyday abominal practices, knows their character . . .7

It is not within the scope of this paper to comment on Rav Kook’s observations concerning Middle Eastern society. What does concern us, is his perception of modern European civilization. While the wording is ambiguous (a problem with much of Rav Kook’s writing), the author is definitely cynical when it comes to the much touted strides made by Western culture, law, education and ethics. In his seminal work, Orot, written about this time8 , Rav Kook reserves some especially scathing remarks for contemporary European society. The wholesale slaughter of the Great War, provoked in Rav Kook, as in many other sensitive individuals, profound disillusionment with the chimera of progress. The lines he penned from his St. Gallen exile are Zarathustran in tone, reminiscent of the prophecies of Nietzsche’s alter ego:

The sin of the murderers—the wicked kings and all provocateurs—is indelible. The blood that was shed in the land will be atoned only by the blood of those who shed it, and the atonement must come: Total dismantling of all the foundations of contemporary civilization, with all of their falsity and deception, with all their poison and venom. The entire civilization that rings false must be effaced from the world . . . Then the present civilization will disappear with all its foundations—literature and theater, and so forth; all the laws founded on inanity and iniquity, all evil etiquette will pass away. And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day 9. The spiritual fabric that in its present state could not prevent, despite all its glorious wisdom, wholesale slaughter and such fearful world destruction, has proven itself invalid from its inception . . . all its progress is not but false counsel and evil entrapment . . . Therefore, the entire contemporary civilization is doomed and on its ruins will be established a world order of truth and God consciousness10 .

Rav Kook put little, if any, stock in the veneer of respectability with which Europe cloaks itself. Beneath the surface there is ample latitude for immorality. Though to the best of my knowledge, Rav Kook never mentions him by name, nor does he allude to his theories11 , one is reminded at this point of the discoveries of the Viennese psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud.

As a whole, the piece quoted is unremarkable; all in all, what one would expect from an Orthodox rabbi. No sympathy for homoeroticism from that quarter!

The second reflection on homosexuality is to be found in the book many regard as the magnum opus of Kookian philosophy, Orot ha-Kodesh (Lights of Holiness). Of the two passages, this is without question the bolder. Here Rav Kook goes out on a limb to offer novel exegesis of a well known Talmudic ruling.

The arousal of the new science concerning the natural inclinations that some men have from their conception, and on account of this, they (i.e. the scientists) want to uproot the ethical protest of this—but the word of our God will stand forever12 . Already Bar Kappara interpreted in this regard, “to’evah (homosexuality)—to’eh atah vah (you stray thereby)13 .” For it is an evil inclination, which man, individual and collective, must combat. That small amount of desire that might be found in an individual which is ineradicable, was foreseen by the sages. Regarding it they said: “Whatever a man wants, etc. It is comparable to a fish which comes from the fish market. If he wants, he eats it fried; if he wants, he eats it boiled14 .” Thus, they (i.e. the sages) plumbed the depths of human nature to the point of compassion on those perverted from birth. Nevertheless, they commented: “Why do crippled (infants) arise? Because they “overturn their table” (a euphemism for anal intercourse)15 .” And though it is not a law, nevertheless, it is a conversation of ministering angels, namely sages who resemble angels of God16 . All of the people of God will camp and travel by their word17 . And all the remnant in Zion and the remainder in Jerusalem will be accounted holy18 , and despise perversions19 . And the way of the upright is paved20 .

As much rabbinic writing, this pensee assumes familiarity with Talmudic sources. The first allusion is to a passage in Talmud Bavli, Nedarim 51a. The Talmud relates that at the wedding of Rabbi Judah the Princes’ daughter to the wealthy Ben El’assa21 , one of the wedding guests, Bar Kappara, goaded Rabbi Judah as to the deeper meaning of the Biblical term to’evah (abomination) unique to homosexuality22 .

Every explanation Rabbi (Judah) proferred for to’evah was demolished by Bar Kappara. He (Rabbi Judah) said to him (Bar Kappara): “You interpret it.” He (Bar Kappara) said to him (Rabbi Judah): “First, let your daughter pour me a cup of wine.” She poured him a cup. He (Bar Kappara) said to Rabbi (Judah): “Get up and dance for me, that I should tell you.” (So Rabbi Judah danced.) “This is what the Torah is conveying: To’evah (abomination)—to’eh atah vah (you stray thereby).”

The Talmudic exegete Rabbenu Nissim (RaN) explains: “You stray thereby—by deserting heterosexual activity and choosing a man23 .” The Bible commentator, Rabbi Baruch Halevi Epstein, understands Bar Kappara to mean that a male who engages in homosexual intercourse strays from the course of nature24 . Rav Kook juxtaposes this jeu de mots of Bar Kappara to the outlook of modern science25 . Whereas science, or at least a certain current within the scientific community, regards homosexuality as natural for some men, Rav Kook musters Bar Kappara’s opinion as a way of saying that homosexuality represents a straying from nature.

Nothing very remarkable there. And, let it be stated, the controversy regarding the supposed biologic component of homosexuality, remains a heated debate in scientific circles. To date, it has yet to be proven conclusively that there is such a biologic basis for some men preferring an “alternative” lifestyle.

It is the next nugget in Rav Kook’s pensee that is surprising in its originality. In a seeming volte face, or at least a qualification, Rav Kook grants that in some isolated cases the homosexual urge may be innate. He further suggests that the Halakha’s reluctant acceptance of anal heterosexual intercourse may have been a concession to that urge! This is a groundbreaking concept not only as regards Talmudic exegesis, but in terms of empirical and perhaps observable behavior. The import of Rav Kook’s statement is that husbands who ask of their wives anal intercourse may be expressing a latent homosexual wish! That the Halakha sanctioned it—albeit grudgingly—means the rabbis recognized that in some instances, the individual is born a homosexual, and thus his urges are bound to find expression. By allowing the latent homosexual to engage in anal intercourse with his (female) wife they chose the lesser of two evils26 .

While it might be possible to interpret Rav Kook as saying that a homosexual is drawn to the specific act of anal intercourse per se, rather than to the overall intimacy of male companionship, etc., I believe this a forced interpretation. I think it more reasonable to assume that while engaging in anal intercourse with his wife, the latent homosexual will act out a homosexual fantasy.

Perhaps Rav Kook’s exegesis, at first blush so daring, is but an extension of the rabbis’ method of putting in perspective a number of dos and don’ts:

Lest your evil inclination deceive you saying, “All good things the Holy One has prohibited to Israel,” (therefore) the Holy One said: “Whatever I have prohibited to you, I have allowed you its parallel. How so? I prohibited to you menstrual blood; I allowed you hymenal blood. I prohibited to you blood; I allowed you liver, which is blood throughout. I prohibited to you swine’s flesh; I allowed you the fish called shibuta, whose flesh resembles that of swine. I prohibited to you a man’s wife; I allowed you his divorcee. I prohibited to you a non-Jewish woman; I allowed you a captive woman. I prohibited to you a brother’s wife; I allowed you his widow when he dies childless (levirate marriage). I prohibited to you a mixture of wool and linen; I allowed it in zizit (ritual fringes). I prohibited to you the fat (helev) of a domestic animal; I allowed you the fat of a wild beast 27.”

Yalta, one of the wise women of the Talmud, posed the following riddle to her husband Rabbi Nahman:

Since whatever the Torah has forbidden, it has compensated for—it forbade blood, it allowed liver; it forbade menstrual blood, it alllowed hymenal and postpartum blood; it forbade the fat of a domestic animal, it allowed the fat of a wild beast; it forbade swine, it allowed the brain of the shibuta-fish; it forbade a man’s wife, it allowed his divorcee; it forbade a brother’s wife, it allowed levirate marriage; it forbade a non-Jewish woman, it allowed a female captive—I now desire to eat milk and meat!

Rabbi Nahman said to his cooks: “Roast for her on the spit an udder28 .”

Rav Kook might well have added to this litany: “The Torah forebade anal intercourse in a male; it allowed it in a female.” One may argue that there is a world of difference between eating “mock swineflesh” in the form of mullet’s brain29 and stooping to anal intercourse. To this, one may counter that neither is a soldier taking home a female captive (eshet yefat to’ar) recommended behavior. In the latter regard, the rabbis enunciated the famous psychological principle: “The Torah spoke opposite the evil inclination (dibrah torah k’neged yezer ha-ra); better Israel should eat the meat of a dying animal slaughtered than they should eat that animal’s meat unslaughtered30 .” Wedding a non-Jewish captive is far from recommended; it too is a concession to an overwhelming desire. If the Torah were to forbid her, the Jewish soldier would take his warbride in defiance of Halakha. I believe I have made a strong case for subsuming Rav Kook’s innovation within the realm of rabbinic psychology.

The remainder of Rav Kook’s pensee is a paraphrase of the discussion in TB Nedarim 20ff:

Said Rabbi Yohanan ben Dehabai: “Four things were told to me by the ministering angels: Why are children born cripples? Because they (fathers) overturn their table (i.e. engage in anal intercourse with their wives31 ) . . .

Said Rabbi Yohanan: “These are the words of Yohanan ben Dehabai, but the sages said the law is not like Yohanan ben Dehabai, but rather whatever a husband wishes to do with his wife, he may do so. It is comparable to meat that comes from the butchershop. If he wants to eat it salted, he may do so; if he wants to eat it roasted, he may do so; if he wants to eat it boiled, he may do so. It is also comparable to fish that comes from the fish market.”

Said Amemar: “Who are the ministering angels? The rabbis!” . . .

A woman came before Rabbi (Judah the Prince). She said to him: “Rabbi, I set for him a table and he overturned it.” He (Rabbi) said to her: “My daughter, the Torah allowed you32 , so what should I do for you?!”

A woman came before Rav. She said to him: “Rabbi, I set for him a table and he overturned it.” He said: “How is this different from a small fish?!”33

A Talmudic discussion not to be taken lightly! The give-and-take, and especially the anecdote of the anonymous women and the rabbis, become the source for later authorities to decide whether anal intercourse (biah she-lo ke-darkah) is permitted.

Maimonides writes: “A man’s wife is permitted to him. Therefore, whatever a man desires to do with his wife, he may do . . . He may have with her vaginal and anal intercourse, provided that (in the latter case) he does not ejaculate34 . Nevertheless, it is a mark of piety . . . that he not stray from the way of the world and its custom, for this thing (i.e. sexual intercourse) is only for the sake of procreation 35.”

The great French Tosafist, Rabbi Isaac of Dampierre (RI) disagreed with Maimonides, and allowed anal intercourse even if it were to culminate in seminal emission. His is a different proviso—that anal intercourse be only occasional and not habitual36 .

The “final verdict” of Rabbi Moses Isserles (RaMA) in his gloss to Shulhan ‘Arukh, Even ha-‘Ezer 25:2, relects both opinions of Maimonides and Rabbi Isaac:

He (a husband) may do with his wife as he pleases . . . He may have with her both vaginal and anal intercourse, providing he does not waste his seed. Some are more lenient, and allow anal intercourse even if it results in seminal emission, provided that he engage in anal intercourse only occasionally and not habitually.

This is not to say that Rav Kook wrote in a prescriptive vein when he suggested that the Halakha’s careful acceptance of bi’ah she-lo ke-darkah (unnatural intercourse) was a response to a deep-seated psychological need on the part of some individuals. The paradigm for such thinking was established by the sages of the Talmud when they declared,”Dibrah Torah k’neged yezer ha-ra” (“The Torah spoke opposite the evil inclination.”) The application of this principle was Rav Kook’s response to the supposed biological basis for homosexuality current in scientific circles in his day. Already in Rav Kook’s day, the legislature and intelligentsia could be counted upon to support such an interpretation of the phenomenon of homosexuality. The piece that ensues is one more example of the startling relevance of Abraham Isaac Kook’s literary legacy.

FOOTNOTES

1 See e.g. the lengthy letter to Rabbi Jacob David Ridvaz (Wilovsky), published in Rav Kook’s collected letters, Igrot RAYaH (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1961), Vol. II, pp. 184-198.

2 Rav Kook’s correspondent was the wealthy Swiss gentleman, Rabbi Zalman Pines.

3 The word “kultura” occurs in the Hebrew original.

4 In other words, one is able to know the mores of the sociey by the legislation passed and by the arguments the very learned advance.

5 Leviticus 18:22; 20:13. See below note 19.

6 The letter is datelined “St. Gallen, 1916.” Rav Kook, stranded in this Swiss community for the beginning years of World War I, had spent the previous decade (1904-1914) as Ashkenazic rabbi of Jaffa, Palestine.

7 A.I. Kook, Mishpat Kohen (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1985), p. 358.

8 See Abraham Isaac Kook, Orot, translated and introduced by Bezalel Naor (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1993), p. 85.

9 Isaiah 2:17.

10 Orot, pp. 98-99.

11 Rav Kook’s son, Zevi Yehuda Kook (1891-1992), does on one occasion refer (negatively) to the theory of the unconscious. See my notes to Orot, pp. 261-262.

12 Isaiah 40:8. The ungrammatical form of the sentence is attributable to the fact that this a passage from a spiritual journal. Eight such journals went into the making of Orot ha-Kodesh (Light of Holiness). See the editor Rabbi David Cohen’s introduction to Orot ha-Kodesh (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook,1969), p. 22

13 Talmud Bavli, Nedarim 51a.

14 Ibid., 20b.

15 Ibid., 20a.

16 Ibid., 20ff.

17 Cf. Numbers 9:20.

18 An improvisation on Isaiah 4:3.

19 Cf. Proverbs 8:13. In the Hebrew original, the word is tahapukhot. It is possible Rav Kook alluded thereby to the rabbinic term for anal intercourse between husband and wife, hafikhat ha-shulhan (“inverting the table”). See TB Nedarim 20b.

20 An improvisation on Proverbs 15:19. Why Rav Kook’s citations of Biblical verses are sometimes inexact, would be a topic for lengthy discussion. Suffice it to say, there is a school of thought which holds that at least some of Rav Kook’s writings are the product of “automatic writing.” Here is not the forum for a treatment of “maggidism” and other automatisms.

Orot ha-Kodesh, Vol. III, p. 297. The editor entitled the piece, “Perversions of the Natural Inclinations.”

21 A wedding may seem an inappropriate setting for such a discussion, but a precedent may have been set by the reading of ‘Arayot (the section on sexual misconduct in Leviticus 18) on the afternoon of Yom Kippur. Some commentators connect this to the matchmaking festivities that went on that day (see Mishnah, Ta’anit 4:8). It was hoped injecting this somber note would prevent the gaiety from getting out of hand. See Tosafot and Piskei Tosafot , Megillah 31a.

In the course of the discussion, Bar Kappara goes on to explicate the terms “tevel” (Lev. 18:23) and “zimah” (Lev. 18:17).

22 See commentary of Rabbi Samuel Edels, Hiddushei Agadot MaHaRSHA, ad locum, that though the term “to’evah” may refer to other (non-sexual) sins, it is not used in the context of any of the other forms of sexual misconduct. See above note ? See also Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad, Ben Yehoyada, Sanhedrin 82a.

23 Nedarim, ad locum.

24 Epstein, Torah Temimah (Vilna, 1904), Leviticus 18:22. Epstein finds support in the expanded version of Pesikta Zutarti: “You stray thereby, for it does not result in procreation.”

25 I am not sure to which scientists Rav Kook is referring. I do know that a century ago, Sigmund Freud speculated some fetuses developed into homosexuals because the mother was infected with venereal disease!

26 In Leviticus 20:13 homosexual intercourse is a capital offense. Nowadays, since the disappearance of the Sanhedrin (Jewish high court), homosexuality is one of thirty-six offenses subject to karet (divine retribution). See Mishnah, Kreitot 1:1.

27 Midrash Tanhuma, Shemini, 8.

28 TB Hullin 109b. In other words, the udder of a cow, which contains a residue of milk, is nevertheless allowed to be consumed. This is the Torah’s compensation, as it were, for forbidding meat and milk together. Tosafot, ad locum, cull a different recension of this midrash from the poetry of Rabbi Eliezer ha-Kallir for Parshat Parah. Tosafot write that the Kallir based himself on the Yerushalmi.

29 Assuming “mullet” is the correct identification of the fish shibuta.

30 TB Kiddushin 21b-22a. See also RaSHI, Deuteronomy 21:11.

31 There are some rishonim (medieval authorities) who interpret the euphemism of “inverting the table” to refer not to anal intercourse but rather to alternative positions of vaginal intercourse. Rabbi El’azar Azikri (Safed, 16th century) quotes RaSHI, Nedarim that it refers to the so-called “missionary position,” i.e. female above and male below. This interpretation is not contained in the printed version of RaSHI. See Azikri, Sefer Haredim (Venice, 1601), mizvat ha-teshuvah, chap. 3 (chap. 64). Shitah Mekubezet, Nedarim, attributes this interpretation to the Spanish Rabbi Yom Tov ben Abraham (RITBA). (Not found in the RITBA to Nahmanides’ Hilkhot Nedarim printed at the end of Tractate Nedarim in the Vilna edition of the Talmud.) Rabbi Abraham ben David (RABaD) of Posquieres (Provence, 12th century) interpreted “inverting the table” to mean “performing the (sex) act of animals,” known in the colloquial as “dog style.” See Rabbi Abraham ben David, Ba’alei ha-Nefesh, Kafah ed. (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1982), p. 122. According to the Haredim (ibid.), this definition of “inverting the table” was included by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher in his code Tur, Even ha-Ezer, chap. 25, but nowhere does it occur in the printed version of the Tur. The Tur does quote RABaD to the effect that “inverting the table” would be permitted only with the wife’s consent. See Rabbi Abraham David (Wahrman) of Buczacz, ‘Ezer Mi-Kodesh to Shulhan ‘Arukh, Even ha-‘Ezer 25:2.

I think the reader will gather that none of these opinions are mainstream. The RaSHI and RITBA never made their way into print, and the RABaD failed to surface in the printed edition of Tur.

32 Rabbenu Nissim (RaN) ad locum explains: “The Torah allowed you–For it is written, “If a man takes a woman” (Deuteronomy 24:1), she is his to do with her all his desires.”

33 Aramaic “bonita” or “binita.” The commentators explain that the fish may be eaten roasted, poached or boiled, as one desires.

34 Literally, “waste his seed.”

35 Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Issurei Bi’ah 21:9. Thus the halakha (law) is like Rabbi Yohanan; the opinion of Rabbi Yohanan ben Dehabai is recorded as a middat hasidut (mark of piety).

36 Tosafot, Yevamot 34b, s.v. ve-lo ke-ma’aseh Er ve-Onan. This is based on an understanding of Onanism as a deliberate and habitual waste of semen. Actually, this is the second solution of Rabbi Isaac (RI). His first solution coincides with Maimonides’ opinion.

Translated by Rabbi Yehuda Sarna

Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Levin related: On one of our walks which I used to take with Rav Kook, every day, to Busk (Latvia) in 1901, these holy ideas emerged from his mouth. I immediately handed him my pen, and as he sat on one of the stones near the ruins of the fortification he wrote these words:

“Literature, painting, and sculpting are able to bring to fruition all the spiritual concepts engraved in the depths of the human spirit, and so long as one brush is missing, which is stored away in the depths of the spirit – which ponders and feels – but has not been realized, there is still an obligation on the purposeful work to realize it.

The matter is self-evident, that only these treasuries, that when they are opened they will sweeten the air of all existence. It is good and beautiful to open them.

‘From every utterance which came out out of G-d’s mouth, the entire world was filled with fragrance’ (Shab. 88b)

However those hidden things, whose burial is their nullification, our shovel must be ready to dig out, but also to cover. Woe is to him who uses this shovel for the opposite purpose, for the sake of a woman.

The tremors of the spirit from the natural emotions of love, which indeed has a great portion in our reality, ethics, and life, are worthy to be explained through literature from every angle, since it brings out those things which were hidden. However, they need be guarded from the angle of drunkenness which is sometimes present in these feelings, since this angle turns them from their natural purity to vulgar impurity. Only holy people can be holy ministers.

Source: Hamizrach (1903) p352-354

The true talent of a visual artist, when he is at the peak of his abilities – and especially one whose talent has been sanctified by the Spirit of G-d – is to be able to see the depths of existence, both in their physical and spiritual dimensions….

All these things which are said generally of the Creator – as we value the wonders of the creative wisdom altogether, we must find a model in a wise and whole man devoted to purposeful creation. The highest and most blessed of all artists was Bezalel, who created with the Spirit of G-d. he completed a real picture, which demands a great wisdom of positioning the physical parts in it, positioning its lights and shadows, its buds and flowers, etc., the intention and extreme attention to detail to reach the essence of the purity of existence.

Source: Ein Ayah, Berachot, volume 2, p. 263, article 30.

The beautiful arrangement of life, every preparation for the intensification of a person’s aesthetic sense, blazes paths for higher lights to appear from the higher spiritual treasury, which flows without interruption, and desires to spread to its fullest in every place which it finds ready for it.

Source: Arpelei Tohar, p. 9

When I lived in London, I would visit the National Gallery, and the paintings that I loved the most were those of Rembrandt. In my opinion, Rembrandt was a saint. When I first saw Rembrandt’s paintings, they reminded me of the rabbinic statement about the creation of light. When G-d created the light, it was so strong and luminousthat it was possible to see from one end of the world to the other. And G-d feared that the wicked would make use of it. What did He do? He secreted it for the righteous in the world to come. But from time to time, there are great men whom G-d blesses with a vision of the hidden light. I believe Rembrandt was one of them, and the light of his paintings is that light which G-d created on Genesis day. Interview, Jewish Chronicle, 9 September 1935 The Holy One, blessed be He, dealt charitably with his world by not putting all the talent in one place, not it any one man or in any one nationa, not in any one country, not in one generation or in one world; but the talent is scattered… The store of the special treasure of the world is laid up in Israel. But in order, in a general sense, to unite the world with them, certain talents have to be absent from Israel so that they may be completed by the rest of the world and the princes of the nations. Orot, p. 152, para. 2 Bezalel is considered a leader even though all he did was create the Tabernacle and its vessels. But since the image of the Tabernacle and all its vessels, as well as individual designs which were made as purposeful creation – with G-d’s Hand these images engraved the spirits of Israel with Torah, testimony, and fear of G-d. Designs contain the spirit of their true creator, and according to the high level of the artists’ soul, his attainment of holy traits, a pure and good mind, and the Spirit of G-d, so will his designs enrich and benefit others. Therefore, though we cannot make too many sculptural designs – to establish and entire ethical system based on them – since we have the pure Torah of G-d which includes every path of life to the highest degree. But those designs which we were commanded to make, it is understood that they contained great power to direct souls to the beautiful ideas contained in them. If so, the purity of spirit of the entire nation was dependent on them, since it was G-d’s advice to educate the people through the Tabernacle and the designs of its vessels. It was likewise dependent on the spirit and holiness of the great thinker who conceived of this holy creation – Bezalel. Therefore, he certainly is a leader and shepherd of Israel. Source: Ein Ayah, Berachot, volume 2, p. 261, article 27.

Selected Readings from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, Orot, Naor trans. (1993). Copyright 1993 by Bezalel Naor.

The Inner Light of Torah in the Land of Israel
The delight of the Torah is ignited by an inner awareness. A man begins to sense the great tapestry of each letter and point. Every concept and content, every notion and idea, of every spiritual movement, of every vibration, intellectual and emotional, from the immediate and general to the distant and detailed, from matters lofty, spiritual, and ethical according to their outward profile, to matters practical, obligatory, seemingly frightening, and forceful, and at the same time complex and full of content and great mental exertion – all together become known by a supernal holy awareness. The simplicity of faith that is inherent in love of Torah finds its lofty truth and great song, for living, enduring things, that powerful currents of life, full of delight, joy and beauty, pass through and fill, and an infinite sweetness is felt in the palate of the thinker. Your palate is like the best wine, that glides down for my friend gently, exciting the lips of those that are asleep. How beautiful and how pleassant are you, delightful love!
The love wells up and is renewed. Waves upon waves roar, the sound of harps and lyres providing harmony for their secret conversation. From the depth of the nation’s soul, from the height of the soul of man concentrated in its midst, from the breadth of all existence that is within the inner point of Zion, source of delight, lacking any definable content or description, from there, from all, roars and storms the noise of life’s loud wheels, speaking in holy secret. The Torah is revealed in its charming beauty. The living, original soul of the nation, fresh and rich; the soul lofty of spirit, satiated with delight, is presented before us in its versicolor beauty. My soul longs for it. My heart and my flesh shout with the joy unto the Living God. As with fat and marrow will my soul be satisfied; and with tuneful lips shall my mouth prasie.

The Torah is revealed in its crowning majesty to the fresh generation full of the vigor of youth. The vision continues to pound at the doors of its (the generation’s) proud soul. It has not yet removed its veil of mystery; this comely “daughter of heaven” is concealed, but her rays of glory already penetrate through the veil, they fill our lives with brightness and thelight of life. She already rains down life-giving dew on the interior of our souls that are roused to renascence. The Torah of the Land of Israel is increasingly aroused, together with physical building, productive labor and self-awareness.

(Orot ha-Tehiyah, par. LXI [pp.209-210])

The Mysteries of Torah Bring Redemption
The secrets of Torah bring the redemption and return Israel to its land, for the Torah of Truth, with the strength of its inner logic, demands with its broadening the whole soul of the nation, and through it, the nation begins to feel the pain of Exile and how it is utterly impossible for its character to be actualized as long as it is opressed upon foreign soil. Yet as long as the light of the higher Torah is sealed, the inner demand of return to Zion is not aroused with the depth of faith. The arousal that comes as a result of the troubles and persecutions of the nations is but an accidental arousal, of purification. It is capable of firing up weak elements, but the foundations of life must come from the essence of the formal demand of the nation.
And this will be magnified and strengthened in proportion to the light on the inner Torah – the depth of its opinions and mysteries – coming alive in its midst with great genius. Toward this end, the wind churns about, uprooting mountains, making breaches, inducing labor and birth pangs, but the end is the breaking of a way before the supernal light that wells up from the powerful soul of Knesset Yisrael (Ecclesia Israel), the mysteries of its torah, its Kabbalah (tradition), the inheritance of fathers and mightiness of soul, with its particular charcter, its Weltanschauung and exalted ethic, which broadens infinitely, which is adorned with every higher culture and reaches to the heights of heaven, which marks the particularity of a peculiar nation, a nation that knows its God and gives rule to the high holy ones.

(Orot ha-Tehiyah, par. LXIV [pp. 209-210])

Fallen Giants and the Flames of Inner Torah
The return (teshuva) destines for Israel, to uplift their “horn” with complete redemption, will come about through the return of the might of divine inspiration (ruach ha-kodesh) which is the beginning of the prophetic ability, which envelops the entire nation. Since this supernal spirit stuggles to manifest, lesser spirits are banished and dispelled. The special content of Israel as a nation which dwells alone, will not crystallize solely through external, measured actions and academic pursuits but by the uplifiting of life with its inner quality. The result will be produced by an inner mighty will, to be crystallized by the great of soul, who recognize the pulsebeat of the entire nation as a whole.
They are the exalted masters of the foundation, who will raise up all the descents, whether their own, those of the Jewish People, or those of the fallen giants, who stood to be messiahs but fell, were trapped and broken. their (the fallen giants’) sparks were scattered and seek a living, enduring correction in the foundation of David, king of Israel, The breath of our nostril – the annointed (meshiah) of God. The spirit of Messiah pervades the light of the inner torah, and the more the great and pure of heart combat the forgetting of the higher Torah and its supression, the more the power of national renascence will be aroused, will remove its soiled clothes and don holy rainment. It will become apparent to Israel and the whole world that the footsteps of these poor, are (in fact) the footsteps of eternal redemption, for Israel and the entire world, for all who are connected to life, and for the souls of those who slumber in dust, who also await the day of redemption, a new light upon Zion.

(Orot ha-Tehiyah, par. LXX [pp. 213-214])

Atheism and Higher Belief
Because the picture of the greatness of the divine light is so immense inside the souls of the last generation os “the footsteps of Messiah,” to the extent that they do not yet have the capability of structuring real life according to the lofty greatness, there results the disbelief and spiritual impoverishment resembling destruction, which we witness in our generation.
But the way of healing is to generate vessels, explications, and plans, which will pave paths to actual implementation based on the loftiest illuminations. For this reason, there is such a demand for freedom of spirit and strength of body, for only a strong spirit and healthy body can contain without shattering the highest illuminations and withstand active life full of vigorous creativity, and derive therefrom ways of life. All these preparations are necessary for the complete Return (teshuva) that stands beyond our wall.

(Orot ha-Tehiyah, par. XLVII [p. 197])

On Modern Hebrew Literature
It is impossible for israelite literature to succeed without the sanctification of the souls of the writers. Any writer who does not labor to purify his character, to crystallize his deeds and thougts, until his internal world itself is full of light and internal wholeness perceptible within him, together with concern to make up for lackings, to be filled with humility mixed with strength and tranquility of spirit with an intense intellectual and emotional arousal to benefit and comprehend himself, and an exalted desire to reach the pinnacle of purity and holiness – as long as one does not stand on such a niveau, he cannot rightfully be called a writer.
Only “the early ones were called scribes, for they would count the letters of the Torah.” The counting of the letters in the Torah raised them to a niveau of pure spirit and powerful soul, so that the title “scribes” was fitting for them. If we desire to resurrect Israelite literature, we must follow this holy way, to come to writing from holiness. There will be there a route, a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. And they shall go redeemed.

(Orot ha-Tehiyah, par. XXXVI [p.191])

Redemption an Ongoing Process
The redemption continues. The redemption from Egypt and the complete redemption of the future are one unending action: the action of the strong hand and outstretched arm, which began in Egypt and works though all eventualities. Moses and Elijah are redeemers in a single redemption; the beginner and the ender, the opener and closer together fill the unit. The spirit of Israel hears the sound of the movements, the redemptive actions, brought about through all eventualities until the sprouting of redemption will be complete, in all its plentitude and goodness.

(Orot me-Ofel, par. XXVIII [p. 139])

Selected Readings from Various Works of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook / Translated by Yaacov David Shulman / Copyright 1998 by Yaacov David Shulman

Every time our heart beats with a true expression of spirituality, every time a new and exalted thought is born, we hear the likeness of a G-dly angel’s voice at the doors of our soul asking that we allow him entry so that he may appear to us in the totality of his beauty.

To the degree that we meet this angel with an unfettered spirit, a pure heart, strong and healthy emotions, and an inward and solemn desire for the love of the most exalted, honored and uplifted—to that degree will a host of exalted souls appear to us and shine their light on our darkness.

Then, our dealings with the objective spiritual world will be constantly sanctified; our relation to it will grow constantly stronger; the regularity of that contact will cause our minds to be at rest and clear. And then the talent of self-expression, which is a remnant of the great glory of prophecy, will begin to emerge within us; and it will bring us healing upon its wings.

We will be safe from all illusion, evil, and falsehood—with which our imagination can degrade us—if we will hold on strongly to the tree of life of the Torah of our fathers: walking in the pleasantness of its tradition, in its commandments and directives in all aspects of life, in our relationship to mankind, family and nation, to life and all its necessities.

But we do not have to be shackled by the chains of conformity, which can choke the free, supernal spirit and defile the holy that comes from the supernal world, from the world of freedom, where freedom is given the angels—a total freedom to strive, a complete freedom of will and creativity.

Then, in accord with the greatness of one’s freedom, so will holiness grow; so will life be exalted. “And I will rejoice in Hashem, I will have joy in the G-d of my salvation.”
Every individual will visualize in truth and whole-heartedness that which his soul shows him; he will bring forth his spiritual harvest from potential to actual without a trace of false expression. From sparks such as these, light will gather together into torches, illuminating the entire world with their glory. From these particles of inward truth, the great truth will emerge.

Oros Hakodesh I, p. 165

The Flow of the Soul’s Creativity

Those who possess great souls live precisely from within their wellspring. These wise, creative people, to whom the new is the foundation of their life, recognize only in the pouring forth of newness (which ceaselessly streams before their spiritual sight) the constant spreading forth of their caliber and the intensification of their spiritual strengths. They recognize the soul in the depth of its primal being: how it constantly pours forth its cataracts.

With no less actuality than a shining body that unceasingly radiates light, so does the soul—which experiences recognition and desire, feeling and visualization—pour forth the rays of its spiritual, living light. This stream pours forth ever more strongly, creates ever more strongly. No amount of pages will suffice to explain the vision of any period of this streaming forth of the soul in even the smallest of people. Thus does this wealth grow until it comes to be within the exalted thinkers, the greatest creators: to such a wondrous level that the masses are astonished at the illuminations revealed in the fruit of their creations.

And this is so even though the portion that is revealed is by necessity the lowest level of the essence of creation. As for the essence of the creation in its hidden aspect: wondrous are its acts, and its streams, which are the streams of the mind, rush forth. It does not allow us to grasp the inner essence, the quality and the details of these pouring streams.

The most worthy talent is the penetration into the depth of our essential being. Yet how trivial is the work of that talent and how much does it infect the exalted heights with toil and weariness of soul. To the degree that one recognizes this and recognizes how much that penetration must grow aware of the demand of the inner Edenic quietude—to that measure will grow the exalted being within creativeness. Then sparks of holiness will begin to shoot forth upon all of life and its spiritual ramifications.

At every moment, even the most infinitesimal, we create—whether knowingly or unknowingly—a profusion of endless creations. If we only teach ourselves to feel them, to bring them into the realm of our conscious recognition, to habituate ourselves to convey them into the framework of expressions that are fit for them, their beauty and glory will be revealed. Their action will be revealed before all of life.

The eternal truths will flow from the wellspring of life, from the source of the soul that does not know of any empty matters or falsehood. That soul is carved from the torch of truth; whatever streams from its light will be only truth and righteousness forever.
Oros Hakodesh I, pp. 170-71

The Inner Spark

The very essence of the soul, which expresses and experiences the true, spiritual life, requires complete inner freedom. This freedom is its life.

This freedom comes to the soul from the midst of its essential thought, its inner spark. One’s learning and contemplation cause this spark to continually flame. But really, this independent spark is the basis of idea and thought. If room is not provided for the independent spark with its light to appear, then whatever comes to it from without will be of no avail.

This spark must be guarded in its purity. Then the inner thought—in the depth of its truth, in its greatness and exaltedness—will awake.
Then this holy spark will not be extinguished because of any learning and any contemplation.
The internal unity of the soul in the core of itself represents the supernal greatness of the illuminated, Divine seed—”light is sown for the righteous.” From this seed, the fruit of the tree of life shall sprout and blossom.

Oros Hakodesh I, p. 175

The Freedom of Inner Creativity

Spiritual creation is free. It doesn’t deal with any superficial influence. It creates in accordance with the journey of its spirit to the core. To the degree that its essential faith grows, so does it rise to the heights of truth.
On the other hand, falsehood and the evil attached to it come only from a superficial influence. This influence affects spiritual creativity like a scab. It commands spiritual creativity to speak with the power of falseness, and not according to its own spirit. “He has chosen to follow the command” (Hosea 5:11)—the command (the sages say) of idolatry.
Oros Hakodesh I, p. 176

Constant Self-Revelation

Do not oppose the essential soul when it reveals itself. That self-revelation is constant. Even when the thickest clouds mask the soul’s brilliant light, it shines with all its power. It carries the world and every human being to the goal of his fulfillment—a goal that transcends all definitions.

The soul speaks without speaking. It acts without acting. With it alone do we ascend those steps to which we are impelled by the impulse of that which is truly life, in its most profound mysteries. “Then shall you rejoice in G-d.”
This is the secret of thirst and the mystery of its quenching.

Oros Hakodesh I, p. 173

The Perfection of Life That Time Will Bring

The sexual drive streams into the future,
To the perfection of life that time will bring:
The life of the world-to-come within this world.
That future life is filled with complete beauty and pleasure.
Thus, great is the yearning and the strength of desire
Of the sexual drive, which is all-encompassing;
Only upon this drive does ultimate holiness rest its light.

The pure soul leads the sexual drive to its goal
Within the boundary
Of Torah, wisdom, rectitude and modesty:
The sources of righteousness.
“Whoever guards the covenant is called righteous.”

The basis of the holiness of Israel is tied
To the world of the future.
A holy spirit continuously embraces
The entirety of the nation and its individuals.
“Your people are all righteous.”

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 296

The World of Humanity

A supernal ethical gaze
Flows from supernal consciousness of the divine.
It places its seal on the nexus
Where G-d’s will and the ultimate purpose of sexuality join.
That seal is the eternal and infinite aspect
Of sexuality
Concealed in one’s human character.
In this invaluable point,
All supernal pleasures
Are concealed.

There exists a precious strategy whose goal is to rectify
This holy foundation,
To turn sexuality and its essential offshoots
To the holy goal of life.
That strategy is the cornerstone of all ethical values.
It establishes the world of humanity,
Both internal and external.

Days will come
When the general culture will gaze with exalted appreciation
At the divine glory
Pervading those thoughts
That now appear benighted
To those who are sexually gross,
Who have an unrefined consciousness,
Who remain outside the camp of Israel.
Those thoughts are connected,
In the mystic aspect of ethics,
To sexual rectification,
To all the fast-day prayers and outcries
Of those who have strayed.
“Light is sown for the righteous,
And to those who have an honest heart,
Joy.”

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 296

The Plague Will Not Enter Your Tent

You can profoundly rectify your mis-spent sexuality
By sanctifying your will
And illuminating it clearly,
Until the light of holiness will stream
Through even your strongest physical drive.
That drive is rooted in holiness that is incredibly strong,
Because it contains the expression of life:
The sexual drive.
The light of holiness will stream within it
To such a degree
That its holy aspect will rule your life
And direct its action and expression.
Then sexuality’s secular aspect,
And certainly its unclean aspect,
Will be totally nullified
Before its holy aspect.
Then, in truth,
The plague will not enter your tent;
You shall be righteous
And guarded from stumbling.

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 298

Prepare Yourself for the Measure of Silence

The entire realm of consciousness,
With everything that comes from it,
To the lowest of all levels
(Which comprise the entirety
Of existence)
Shifts from times of silence
To times of speech.
At the time of preparing
To receive the supernal outpouring,
All is still and silent.
And when those forces that received
Pour forth to those below them,
Speech begins.

And also regarding human beings,
The situation is in flux.
When you direct your consciousness
To perfecting those qualities
That are lower than where you stand,
A constricted consciousness rules,
And your practical ability is active.
But when your supernal attention
Grows in strength,
That particularized consciousness
Cannot act.
Silence begins to rule.

When you come to this,
The normal activity of consciousness,
In secular or holy matters,
Is below you.
You find within yourself,
Constantly,
Great opposition
To all activity of consciousness
That is rational and ordered.
Prepare yourself for the measure of silence—
Pay attention to the voice from the heights
Bringing blessing, good will,
And spontaneous giving.
The word of G-d will come to you.
Day to day will express speech.
Oros Hakodesh I, p. 116

Limiting Goodness with Goodness

Those who have great souls cannot be separated from the most encompassing inclusiveness. All of their desire and ideal is, constantly, the good of the entire universe in its full breadth, height and depth. This entirety is filled with infinite details of individuals and societies. It is crowned to the degree that it is filled with the perfection of its individual members and its groups, small and great, which complete it.

Supernal inclusiveness, which perfects all, is found within the movement toward knowledge and love of G-d. That movement emanates automatically from the inclusiveness, in accordance with what that movement has acquired and its wealth.
The knowledge of G-d that comes through great love must be filled with its own true light, in accordance with what each individual soul can bear and receive. The absolute light of that knowledge of G-d illumines the universal love: the love of all universes, all created beings, and the entire realm of life and its existence.
The love of all existence fills the heart of those who are good: the pious among all creatures and among humanity. They look forward to the happiness of all. They hope for the light and joy of all. They draw the love of all existence—which contains the full spectrum of the multiplicity of its creations—from the supernal love of G-d, from the love of the total and complete perfection of G-d, Who is the Cause of all, Who brings all into being and gives life to all.
Love descends from the world of Emanation to the world of Creation by being divided into many details, into contradictions and opposites. This fulfills the purpose of constriction, the compression of value and love, into individual details, each for the sake of another detail; into many details, each for the sake of many others; and to details in general because of the complete entirety that they comprise.
The shining lens of love stands at the height of the world, in the world of divinity, in a place where there are no contradictions, borders and oppositions—only satisfaction, goodness, and infinite breadth. The offspring of that shining lens of love is eternal love. When eternal love draws sustenance from the shining lens of love, it attains a great deal of its nature. In its descent, it cannot bear any stinginess or jealousy. When it is forced to constrict itself, it constricts love with love; it limits goodness with goodness.

When those who are suffused with love see the world, and in particular, when they see living beings involved in bickering, hatred, persecution and quarreling, they immediately yearn that they and their lives may be partners with desires that bring about the joining together of life and its unity, perfection and tranquility. They feel and know that the closeness of G-d for which they yearn with the fullness of their soul only functions to bring them to a unification with inclusiveness and for the sake of that inclusiveness.
When they come to the strata of mankind and find factions of nations, religions, sects and opposing ideals, they strive with all their strength to encompass all of it, to connect and to unify. With the healthy spiritual sense of their pure soul, which rises and flies to the G-dly heights above all constrictions, they recognize that all details must be full, that the best societal forms must be elevated and must enter with all the satisfaction of their details into the light of a perfected life. They desire that every detail will be guarded and elevated, and the complete entirety united and filled with peace.
When they come to their own nation, their heart is connected with all the depth of their life with the nation’s happiness, endurance and elevation. Yet still, they find it divided and split, divided into various parties. They cannot effect a complete unity within any particular party. Rather, they desire to unite with the entire nation, totally and entirely, in all its fullness and goodness.

Oros Hakodesh II, pp. 242-43

All of the Plague Has Turned Pure White

Within the totality of the world—
Both this-worldly and spiritual—
The only evil to be found
Is that which exists
In its isolated state.
But in the gathering of everything,
Everything is good—literally—
Not because evil is nullified into the majority
(As the desiccated accounting would have it),
But when seen from the perspective
Of the value
That is independent and ideal.

From this, you can understand
That to the degree
That the quantity of movement
Toward wholeness grows,
Evil decreases
And goodness is revealed.
Not only that,
But the gathering of evil in all its parts
Appears as the depths
Of a very great goodness,
Connecting in the depth of the heat of its yearning
To total goodness,
With which evil will not abide—
“All of the plague has turned pure white.”

The life that is hidden
In this eternal point of view
Is what maintains the world,
Placing a bandage on the face
Of all destructive forces,
Not allowing them to cause
The world to totter.
“And he will guard heights upon heights.”

Oros Hakodesh II, p. 454

The Liberated Light

From the well of kindness, your love for humanity must burst forth—not as an unreasoned commandment, for then it would lose the most clear aspect of its brilliance, but as a powerful movement of the spirit within you.
This love must withstand very difficult challenges. It must overcome many contradictions, which are scattered like boulders upon which you may stumble. These are found in isolated Torah statements, in the superficial aspect of a some Torah laws, and in a multitude of points of view that stem from the constriction within the revealed aspect of the Torah and the national ethical sense.
It is clear that when the love of humanity grows remote from its divine source, its blossom withers. And the divine source expresses its light through the conduits of Torah and mitzvah, and through the definition of the Jewish nation as unique.
All this requires the effort of a great spirit: how to maintain these conduits where they stand, and yet draw the waters of kindness in their original purity and breadth.
Again and again, we must descend to the depths of darkness in order to excavate— precisely from there—the most liberated light, the greatest and most elevated.

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 318

Realms of Darkness

When you feel humiliated, empty, lacking all spiritual strength, when you fall and stumble, realize that a great light has been prepared for you.

All these imperfections and breaches—this-worldly and spiritual, in what you did do and didn’t do, from all the days of your life—stand before you. All your sins testify against you.
You are stunned. You feel regret from the midst of great anguish.
Then you rise and repent. You emerge from the depth of the abyss to the elevated pinnacle, from impurity to purity, from blackness to a great light.

As you emerge and rise, you pass through realms of darkness that so greatly eclipse you.
But you know that “G-d is merciful and gracious,” that “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not fear evil, for G-d is with me.”

From the midst of these confusions of the abyss, you will cry out to G-d.
Your voice will be heard. You will call out for the light of knowledge. It will shine upon you. Wisdom and kindness will support you and crown you.
Swiftly, you will return to the citadel, filled with wisdom, joy and strength.

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 252

When you feel that you have fallen because of a weakness of the spirit of ethical awareness, consider that from the depths of the abyss you must draw forth precious pearls.
Then you will rise and renew your abilities, in strength and tranquility. You will approach the eternal light with even greater capability than in the primal days.
This rule governs the entire generation It governs the eternal era.

Oros Hakodesh III, p. 252

Your Independent Intuition

It is not the intent of any influence that comes from outside yourself and into your inner being—whether from secular or holy sources—to silence your spirit and mute your independent intuition.
Rather, its intent is to wash you with a flow of light, so that you will absorb it into the essence of who you are. In this way, and from the midst of this, your independent sense of things will grow ever stronger.

When you are desolated by internal shoddiness, you think that the intention of everything that comes from outside yourself is to abrade your independent sense of reality, to crumple you and to make you totter. You become short-tempered and you cease to grow.
Together, the holy and the secular influence your spirit. When you integrate them, you are enriched. You must take what is fitting from each of them.
From the holy, take the light of life and an inner character.
From the secular, take the container, the superficial understanding that provides a basis for grasping the content. The secular provides material for analogies and explanations, for contexts of understanding the ways of the world and good character traits.

There is an abundance that is the sense of division between the holy and the secular.
That abundance becomes ever more clear when you gather the wealth of these various sources. It strengthens and illumines your spirit.

At last, you come to the innermost circle of Torah. The diseased cloud within you that hides the Torah begins itself to glow more and more with the light of Torah. From the fog, lights are revealed in their full beauty.

Oros Hakodesh I, pp. 67-68

The Gold Of That Land Was Good

“‘And the gold of that land was good’—this teaches that there is no Torah like the Torah of the land of Israel” (Bereishis Rabbah 16:7).
In every generation, it is fitting to have great love for the Torah of the land of Israel. This is particularly true now. We must give our generation the life-giving medicine of the Torah of the land of Israel. We must show this generation the greatness of truth and clarity found within our G-dly treasure, in the ideas and insights of the true Torah, in the beauty and exalted nature of its mitzvos, and in its overall view of life. This can be achieved only via the light of the Torah of the land of Israel, via its depth and breadth. Only that connects all one’s awareness and ideas so that one can completely experience it and, more, transfer that experience to others. All of this is possible only via the light of the Torah of the land of Israel.

Our generation is ready. It must be influenced by ideas that have a fresh life and greatness. Shriveled, small matters can no longer capture its heart. Its communal nature has grown exceedingly. We must give everything to this generation in an inclusive fashion: a stream of the flow of life of the entire nation.
This brings us to the essential difference between the Torah of the land of Israel and the Torah of chutz la’aretz (outside the land of Israel). Whatever is small and individual (whether in the general context of spiritual ideas or, more particularly, of those ideas that deal with the great breadth of Torah and faith) when viewed from the perspective of the Torah of chutz la’aretz becomes great and inclusive as soon as it draws to itself the atmosphere of the land of Israel.

The Torah of chutz la’aretz is only aware of how to care for the individual, for his spiritual and physical completion, his temporal as well as eternal condition. But the Torah of the land of Israel is concerned with the totality, with the nation: with its soul and energy, its body and spirit, its total present, its total future, and the living imprint of its past— simultaneously. All details enter it and are subsumed in its exalted state. This is the inner renewal, deep and broad, of the Torah of the land of Israel. It declares that all individual thoughts and ideas proceeding in an impoverished and scattered state—the atmosphere of the land of other nations—must form one bundle, must clothe themselves in one general intent related to the life of the entire nation, under the influence of the land of Israel.
translated from Chevyon Oz, quoted in Moadei Harayah, pp. 157-8

Teaching the Children

We must make it easy for our children to explicitly find in all areas of life the exalted ideals that come from keeping the Torah and its commandments.
The Torah should not be “the word of the L-rd, law by law, line by line, a little here, a little there” (Isaiah 28:13). The Torah should be a commandment that is all-inclusive and living, established and faithful—that brings the light of life and the halo of glory to each of our children and to the whole of our people.
Our faith must be filled with wisdom and knowledge.
Our awe must contain glory and honor of the G-d of Israel, of G-d Who is awesome in beauty.
This is one with the greatness of life and the light of joy demanded from each individual whose soul dwells in that light, and from the entire nation that is strong and desires life.
“Children of Zion, be glad; rejoice in the L-rd your G-d” (from Isaiah 33:6).

This is the most holy service of Torah in these generations. The most outstanding scholars—in particular, those who find within themselves a talent and inner ability for ethical and poetic teachings, for exalted thoughts in the highest areas of wisdom—are forbidden to suppress and restrain that praiseworthy endowment. They must broaden and expand it. Each day, with their knowledge, wisdom and talent, they must present broad and suitable teachings.
Such people particularly must devote to such teachings the majority of their talents. They should not be concerned that this dedication will diminish and simplify their study of practical Torah. It may limit them to study the clear halachah and its simple explanation, to clarify each matter as it comes, calmly and unhurriedly, with a broad overview of the given halachah and the basic theory behind it.

But it is from this that true brilliance comes—of its own, and when required—without the great toil of extended casuistics.
The majority of casuistics is intended only for those who otherwise lack the ability to slake their thirst for the breadth of Torah and the strength of intellectual freedom.
A little casuistics is always pleasant and reasonable, good and fine, even for those who are most occupied with their exalted spiritual progress.
But the basic business of these sensitive souls must be “to open the eyes of the blind, to deliver the prisoner from the jail, to bring forth from the dungeon those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7).

Ikvei Hatzoan, p. 140

Exile and Mediocrity

We experience exile and mediocrity becasue we do not proclaim the value and wisdom of the land of Israel. We have not rectified the sin of the biblical spies who slandered the land. And so we must do the opposite of what they did: we must tell and proclaim to the entire world the land’s glory and its beauty, its holiness and its honor.Then, after all these praises, let us hope that we have expressed at least one ten-thousandth of the loveliness of that lovely land: the beauty of the light of its Torah, the exalted nature of the light of its wisdom, and the holy spirit that seethes within it.Eretz Chefetz

The Exodus Never Ceases

The exodus from Egypt only appears to be a past event. But in truth, the exodus never ceases. The arm of God that was revealed in Egypt to redeem the Jews is constantly outstretched, constantly active. The revelation of the hand of God is the breaking through of the light of God, shining great lights for all generations.

Moadei Harayah, p. 292

Faith

Not with depression, not with fearfulness, not with sentimental weakness must we turn to the divine light, but with a clear knowledge that what flows from the depths of our heart to approach G-d is a natural, complete and healthy faculty. It is more than just a natural faculty— it is the basic, natural faculty of our soul. It emerges in us from the soul of the Life of all worlds, from the soul of all existence, of all being.
The more we increase knowledge, increasing spiritual illumination and a healthy physicality, so will this wondrous light shine in us, a lamp on the path of our life.
Oros Ha’emunah, p. 80

Selected Readings from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen, Orot ha-Torah / Translated by Bezalel Naor / Copyright 2012 by Bezalel Naor

Chapter I “Written Torah and Oral Torah”

1. The Written Torah we receive through the highest, most expansive channel in our soul. We feel from it the living, general light of all existence. Not the spirit of the nation created this great light – but the spirit of G-d.

In the Oral Torah we begin the descent to life. We sense that we receive this light through the second channel of the soul, the channel which approaches practical life. We feel that the spirit of the nation molded the Oral Torah in its distinct image. Here the Torah of G-d and the Torah of Man converge. And these two lights make a complete world, in which heaven and earth kiss.

Chapter II – “Torah Lishmah (for Its Sake)”

1. The wisdom of the torah is the divine revelation, according to His will, which comes from our striving and studying. Every Torah student actualizes the Torah which lies latent in his soul, and certainly the light which is created by the Torah’s connection to this soul is not to be compared to the light created by her connection to another soul. Therefore one is literally proliferating Torah by one’s learning, and since G-d desires that Torah be proliferated, the correct intention is to study out of one’s love for the great light which is the revelation of G-d’s existence, that it wax and wax . . .

4. One of the ways of studying Torah for its sake, is with the intent to enrich the Jewish People with great spiritual powers. The more the light of Torah, its love and respect, increase in the heart of one Jew, the stronger and more powerful becomes the nation. The individual soul of this person becomes enhanced and more whole, and sends forth branches and roots . . .

5. When we study Torah for its sake, we perform a kindness with the Jewish people. How? The spirit of the nation is strengthened through the Torah, which is the essence of the spirit of the nation. Every individual who studies Torah reveals new powers in the soul of Israel through the spiritual nourishment which he receives from Torah. (on the other hand) all weaknesses which develop in the spirit of Israel, have their source in abandonment of Torah.

Chapter III – “Specifics of Torah and Generalities”

1. The connection of Torah to G-d – this is the work of the very gifted few. We deal in specifics of Halakha, we know in a very general way that all the words of Torah flow from G-d. But the soul yearns and pines for G-d . . . And to uplift all the specifics of Torah to that level of soulfulness – this is the project of very great souls. To connect the lower, limited Torah to the higher, all inclusive Torah . . .

5. When Torah is studied with pure intention, then the exalted purpose of Torah extends to all its details, and great love goes out to the entire world. But when Torah is studied with impure intention, then the details of Torah stick out and the result is small-mindedness, perturbation and meanness, “and it were better were he not born”.

8. In the realm of Science it is equally correct to say “How tiny are Thy works!” as to say “How great are Thy works!” As astonished as we are by astrophysics, galaxies and stars, so we are thrilled by subatomic physics. And by taking into account both extremes, the macro and the micro, we come to an accurate appreciation of existence. And so it is in regard to Torah. The tiny details of Torah are no less important than the great, expansive ideas. The proper study of Torah combines both aspects.

Chapter VI “Study of Torah”

6. The practical studies of Torah are the food of the soul, they build her in the same way that physical nourishment builds the body. And the theoretical studies, the thought, the poetry, are the breath, the air of the soul.

Chapter IX “The Ways of Torah”

8. Sometimes a soul which is ripe for great spiritual studies, becomes saddened when it deals with specific laws and feels confined by them. However, the soul’s healing will not come by abandoning the practical Torah, but rather by learning to uplift those specific details to the spiritual source which is great and all-encompassing. At times this uplifting is accomplished by the intellect; at other times by the emotion; and sometimes by both working in consonance . . .

Chapter X “ The Mysteries of Torah”

1. When is it good to study the mysteries of Torah? When the inner yearning for G-d’s proximity is strong and intense, gives no respite to the soul and will be satisfied only by the secrets of Torah . . .

2. Not always is man right for spiritual revelations. Those many periods which are devoid of illumination are destined to be used for the practical studies of Torah. But as soon as the light of the soul bursts forth, we must give it free rein to expand, to imagine, to apprehend, to yearn . . .

Chapter XIII “The Torah of the Diaspora and the Torah of Erets-Israel”

3. The Torah of the Diaspora deals with the correction of the individual; the Torah of Erets-Israel is concerned with the soul of the entire People . . .

4. As part of the spiritual renascence which awaits the Torah of Erets-Israel, the borders between subjects and disciplines will shrink. The entire spiritual world will be beheld with an overview. Pilpul, renewal of the Land, Halakha, Poetry, Physical Education – all these which were seen in the Diaspora as disparate and contradictory –will now be bound together . . .

6. Only in Erets-Israel may Torah scholars work their way down from generalities to specifics. The all-encompassing intellect, enlightened by the inner holiness of the atmosphere of Erets-Israel, transcends all limitations. It overviews Aggada and Halakha, knowledge and action . . . And because the scholars of Israel are meant for this greatness, as long as they dodge their destiny and try to emulate the method of study of the Jews of the Diaspora, they will be weak in body and mind, and their uniqueness will remain unrevealed.

7. The Jewish People live in the Diaspora a life-style which lacks originality. All the more so Torah scholars, whose life is the spirit, cannot aspire to originality in the Diaspora. Communal concern, physical labpr, Halakha, Aggada, Talmud, Kabbala, Ethics, research, poetry, levity and seriousness, grammar and gematria, are all perceived as contradictory, through inwardly all are united. Spiritual harmony is to be discovered only in Erets-Israel. Real Torah is in Erets-Israel.