Shabbat Parashat Pekudei 5784

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Hoping to Create a Kosher Ship to Palestine – #197

Date and Place:  15 Iyar 5669, Yafo

Recipient: Yekutiel Menkowitz, a wealthy Jew from Vilna, who had great love for the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael and was in touch with many of its leaders.

Body: I received long ago your dear letter about the idea of making one of the [European] ships kosher. I “knocked on several doors” on the matter looking for supporters and helpers. Unfortunately, “the gates” have not yet opened for me, as each one exaggerates and says it is impossible. I personally have not given up hope and am prepared to act on this matter as best I can. 

I have just given letters to a rabbinic emissary to take to the council in Odessa and the Russian [shipping] agency there. We will see what Hashem will have come of it. I share your conviction that this would increase the number of wealthy Jews and Jewish leaders to come to the Holy Land. On the heels of such people, who are blessed in Hashem’s eyes, there will be a blessing to the Holy Land and a great strengthening of the emerging liberation of Israel, with Hashem’s help.    

2. No to Attempt to Broaden the Heter Mechira – #198

Recipient: Moshe Leib Lilienblum, a writer and member of the Haskala Movement.

Body: You know that the Yishuv is my soul’s life. I knew, before I publicized the rules of the Heter Mechira, how the matter needs to work, both regarding the needs of the farmers and of the workers. I was well aware that some believe in extreme leniency in these matters, but this is not my inclination. After all, just as we need a Land, so we need a religion. We also need to entrench the idea that the nation must not forget the institution of Shemitta, just as its memory and our affection for it is alive in our souls.

Every Jew must know that Eretz Yisrael is not only superior to other lands regarding his body, but also concerning his eternal soul. This is the only way to elevate the flame of the love of Zion in practice and continue it for generations.

The matter you raise does not greatly impact agricultural workers. There are four Torah-level elements of work (Rav Kook required that these be done by non-Jews) – sowing, harvesting fruit, harvesting grains, and pruning. As it is, almost all sowing is done by non-Jewish workers, and no tragedy will befall the Yishuv if the “Shabbat of the Land” will be recognizable by means of some change in a minority of places. Regarding harvesting and pruning, I have already made provisions for leniency, just that farmers should not apply them themselves but must get a ruling from a rabbinic authority. The same thing is true of plowing. Regarding planting saplings, I only forbade it when this is done for patches that are for beautification and expansion and for crops that are not important economically.

I never thought that the Council wanted to get involved in such questions. Therefore, I request that you suggest to the Council to sign the sales authorization without delay. Realize that I received from Paris a form signed personally by the Baron.

Please know that the farmers are very happy with the arrangements with the Heter, and they know the situation better than those who are concerned for them from a distance. I also do not understand what the question of how lenient to be regarding work has to do with not signing the authorization, which, either way, must be done.

That which you wrote that Rav Shlomo Mohilever o.b.m. did not require a sale to permit Rabbinically forbidden work, I do not agree with this approach at all, and Yiftach in his generation has the authority of Shmuel in his generation (Rosh Hashana 25b).

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