Shabbat Parashat Vaetchanan 5783

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Seeking the Return of Religious Aliya – #159 – part II

Date and Place: 5667 (1907), Yafo

Recipient: Rabbis in the Diaspora. We only have the first section of the letter, and it is unclear what Rav Kook was advocating. Perhaps it was to increase religious aliya; perhaps it was funding for projects in Eretz Yisrael to strengthen the religious community. In any case, the beauty of the letter’s sentiment and style of writing are too engaging to skip over it.   

Body: The letter began with a description of the holy people who were in the forefront of inspiring early aliya and the unfortunate change to it moving to people who are far from purity.

We have seen the results of the fact that in the early stages [of the return to Zion], the truly righteous people gave of their splendor to help create the desire to be connected to the holy love for the building of the Holy Land, and the longing to return the captives of the Diaspora to the Land from the lands in which they are scattered. [This spiritual energy] still “nourishes” the holy love that exists to build Zion and implant the root of the salvation of Israel in the Land with truth and justice.

However, over the many years, the true (i.e., religious) builders have had their hands weakened from supporting the strengthening of our Desired Land and the gathering of her sons to her with a true love. Thus, this tremendously important matter is increasingly neglected. This is particularly inappropriate at a time when there is an incredibly elevated, holy obligation to strengthen ourselves and exert ourselves – to establish things and to create appreciation for the love of the building of the Land of Life and to connect the souls of the holy flock to it with a love for sanctity on the most practical level. This requires creating holy communities whose populace consists of people who are complete in their standing as members of the Holy Nation on the holy soil.

There is much to make the heart rejoice and appreciate what the G-d of our salvation, may He be blessed, has done for us. He has shown us “the light that is emerging on the eastern horizon.” There are still righteous leaders of Israel who show their love and connect their hearts to their Father in the Heaven, with the sanctity of the love and fear of Hashem, with deep belief in Him and an ability to cling to Him with intellect based on purity and bright light. This comes from the upper source of the soul, which emanates from the sanctity of Am Yisrael, which exists in every generation. This includes the last generations, in which the opening of the hope for salvation has started to emerge, albeit with an opening that is only as wide as the eye of a needle. We shall hope that Hashem will shine light upon us so that we will be able to create wide openings like that of a grand hall (see Shir Hashirim Rabba 5:2). Then the path of the righteous will be like the light of the glow that increases until the appointed day has fully come.

Indeed Hashem has inspired one of the most special among special people, one of the holy rabbis, who had the good fortune to be touched by the sanctity of the Holy Land already from the time he was a special youngster. Hashem’s light appeared upon him in the form of the secrets of the Torah and the storehouses of the fear of Hashem, in the secret places of light in the Land of Life. I am speaking of … [this is the end of the part of the letter that we have].

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