THE TORAH OF EDEN: IN HONOR OF RAV KOOK ZT’L’s 91ST YAHRZEIT

“The news reaches me from a distant world full of illuminations, The suns there are as broad as the ocean, The stars are like the light of our sun on the face of the sapphire stone….

Like dew full of the delight of heaven, it guides me to the hidden Eden. The treasure is stored there.”

We are marking Rabbi Avraham Itzchak HaCohen Kook ZT’L’s 91st Yahrzeit on Elul 3-Motzei Shabbat and Sunday.

From 1865 to 1935 Rav Kook lived an extraordinary life and offered profound guidance and leadership to the multitudes who loved him, to all Am Israel and to the world. Everyone who met him including Einstein, Chagall and the poor construction worker from Yemen realized that they were in the presence of a rare holy being. His love, genius, wisdom and vision inspired all.

In a poll carried out in Israel on the event of Israel’s 60th Day of Independence celebrations, Rav Kook was voted the person who was most influential in shaping the modern State of Israel. Ben Gurion was number two. 

After his passing, his family and students continued his work of growing the Israelite physical and spiritual renaissance. Their impact on modern Israel is incalculable. 

His writings and teachings are a legacy that is available to all humankind. They are indeed precious treasures waiting for us to uncover them and be illuminated by their light.

In honor of his Yaartzeit, I would like to take this opportunity and share some of my favorite pieces from the ‘Kook book’:

“The heart must be filled with love for all.

The love of all creation comes first, then comes the love for all humankind and then follows the love for the Jewish people, in which all other loves are included, since it is the destiny of the Jews to serve toward the perfection of all things.

All of these loves are to be expressed in practical action, by pursuing the welfare of those we are bidden to love, and to seek their advancement…

The whole Torah, its moral teachings, the commandments and good deeds have as their objective to remove the roadblocks so that universal love should be able to spread, to extend to all realms of life.” (Midot HaRayah-Ahava)

“When one forgets the essence of one’s own soul, when one distracts oneself from attending to the substantive content of their own inner life, everything becomes confused and uncertain. The primary role of teshuva/return/penitence…is for the person to return to themselves, to the root of their soul…It is only through the great truth of returning to oneself that the person and the people, the world and all the worlds, the whole of existence, will return to their Creator, to be illuminated by the light of life.” (Orot HaTshuva/Lights of Return 15:10)

“All the defects of the world, the material and the spiritual are derived from the fact that every individual sees only the one aspect........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)