Tzipiyah.com

We hear this claim all the time: Isn’t Judaism racist? Isn’t Jewish nationalism racist? Isn’t Zionism racist?

How can you have any ideology or movement which differentiates between Jews and non-Jews and not call it racist? If Zionism or Jewish Nationalism is about the Jewish People building the Jewish Land, then it seems to be a racist ideology! If Judaism encourages Ahavat Israel, then it seems to be a racist religion – what about other people? Most people who make this claim despise Rav Kook and his ideology because he seems to embody everything they criticize in Judaism.

Those who make this claim do not understand anything about Judaism, Jewish Nationalism or Zionism. Let me try to clarify these things, but first, a little story which will serve as a basis to our analysis.

Rav Aryeh Levine wrote in his memoires (and it is found in the book “A Tzaddik in our time”):

I recall the early days, from 1905 onward, when it was granted me by the grace of the blessed Lord to go up to the holy land, and I came Jaffa. There I first went to visit our great master R. Abraham Isaac Kook (of blessed memory), who received everyone. We chatted together on themes of Torah study. After an early minhah (afternoon prayer-service) he went out, as his hallowed custom was, to stroll a bit in the fields and gather his thoughts; and I went along. On the way I plucked some branch or flower. Our great master was taken aback; and then he told me gently, “Believe me: In all my days I have taken care never to pluck a blade of grass or a flower needlessly, when it had the ability to grow or blossom. You know the teaching of the Sages that there is not a single blade of grass below, here on earth, which does not have a heavenly force (or angel) above telling it, Grow! Every sprout and leaf of grass says something, conveys some meaning. Every stone whispers some inner hidden message in the silence. Every creation utters its song (in praise of the Creator).”
Those words, spoken from a pure and holy heart, engraved themselves deeply on my heart. From that time on I began to feel a strong sense of compassion for everything. (Pages 108-109)

Why am I bringing up this story? For one simple reason: those who claim Rav Kook lacked love of other human beings because his love of Klal Israel are closing their eyes to an obvious truth. Rav Kook had more love for simple plants than most people today have for other human beings! And of course, he liked animals more than plants, and human beings more than animals! So his love for human beings surpassed the love all of his critics have for other human beings!

If there was a contest for the person who felt the most love for other human beings, I have no doubt whatsoever that Rav Kook would win.

Then, why make a difference with Klal Israel?

It’s very simple – the same reason why it is completely normal, I would even say healthy, to love your siblings more than strangers. Klal Israel is a family, a nation, and as such we need not only to have national pride but also a stronger depth of love for each other. Sure, I obviously realize that some people in the Jewish Nation do express racist thoughts and sometimes even blind hate against non Jews. However, those people are less than a minority, they are almost significant. For most, the love for the Jewish Nation is definitely not mutually exclusive to the love of humanity.

A more intense love for Klal Israel does not equal a lesser love for humanity.

How do you, personally, balance you national love and pride with your love for all of mankind?

I’m coming out of hiding and admitting that I have been watching the show “Srugim”. While I’m not necessarily comfortable with everything shown on that show, I do believe it brings up a number of powerful serious issues in the religious community in Israel. One scene in this week’s episode was especially powerful:

If you do not see a video here, you need to click here to see the full post.

For those who do not understand Hebrew, the younger character is speaking to her aunt about her feelings after the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif. After praying intensely for months, with an intensity which has not been equaled in decades, the Jews of Gush Katif were still expulsed from their homes and a lot of people started asking questions: “Why did God not answer our prayers?”. The younger character, one of the youth from Gush Katif, in this show lost her faith because of this and could not connect to God anymore. She started rebelling against everything God represented. In the real world, the rebellions which some of the youth from Gush Katif went through was even more dramatic - the community was completely devastated.

In order to enhance your understanding of the problem, and understand the painful position taken from some of these youth, take a look at this video which shows us a glimpse of the intensity in which the prayers were conducted in. Take a moment to watch this video before reading on:

So, how do we deal with such a disappointment. How could we have prayed for so long and with so much power and not receive any answer?

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While the Third of Ellul is, for many, just the third day of a special month of Teshuva - While Gimmel Ellul is, for many sfardim, simply the second day on which to wake up for Slichot - in the past 73 years, Gimmel Ellul has become, in the Religious Zionist movement, a very special day. This is the day of the Yarzheit, or Hilloula, of Rav Avraham Hakohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel and the spiritual leader of the Religious Zionist movement. As has become the custom, we, at Tzipiyah.com, want to celebrate this Gimmel Ellul by celebrating Rav Kook’s life and learning from his teachings. I therefore want to share a video which I got the permission to upload on YouTube - a video I feel every single Jew should be watching on Gimmel Ellul. I am also including quotes from various sources on the personality of Rav Kook in order to better grasp how incredible this Tzadik was. Finally, I will conclude with a few quotes from Rav Kook himself so that we may also be inspired by his wisdom.

How better to describe to life of this spectacular figure than with the words inscribed on his grave:

He rose to Israel (made aliyah) on the 28th of Iyar (later to be Yom Yerushalaim).
He rose to Jerusalem on the 3rd of Ellul.
He rose to the heavenly skies on the 3rd of Ellul.

His whole life, as described on his grave, was a constant aliyah - constantly reaching to higher spheres of holiness.

The video

If you are not on Tzipiyah.com, click here to see the movie.

About Rav Kook

There is so much to say about this incredible person, but here are a just few quotes from some biographies. I highly suggest that all should read this book when they have a chance.

There is a well-known story about R. Kook which captures much of what made him so unique. When R. Kook moved to Israel, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Yaffo; this job included serving as the rabbi of the secular Zionists in the outlying agricultural settlements. One summer, Rav Kook and his colleagues went on a tour of these settlements in an attempt to encourage the pioneers to observe more mitzvot, especially the laws pertaining to agriculture and produce. Their campaign was met with minimum of success. One night, toward the end of the trip, Rabbi Y. M. Charlop, who was sharing a room with R. Kook, awoke to the sight of his teacher restlessly pacing about their small room. As he looked closer, he noticed that R. Kook’s face was flushed with passion and excitement. Rav Kook noticed him and slowly approached his disciple, placing his ice cold hands on R. Charlop. “What is wrong, master?” R. Charlop asked. R. Kook ” responded, “I am consumed with a burning love of God.”
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R. Kook did not write in normal expository prose. His writing flowed from inspiration; he attempted to capture his powerful experiences in words. His hand was driven to write by the overwhelming emotions bursting forth from him. Once he started writing, he didn’t stop. Sometimes he didn’t even notice that he had reached the end of the page and kept writing straight onto the table. He even preferred pencil over pen, because fountain pens constantly had to be re-dipped in ink, interrupting his passionate writing. Yet, despite the spontaneity of his expression, we never find thoughts crossed out or erased in his manuscripts. Not only did his thoughts flow, they flowed correctly the first time. (from Here)

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One of the Zionist leaders, Duvdevani, after the holocaust, wrote a letter to Rav Charlop, one of the top students of Rav Kook, with a very painful question. He asked him: “Now that the holocaust is over, so many people come to me, after making aliyah, completely devastated, completely depressed. They lost their whole family. They lost all hope, all faith. They don’t know how to move on. How am I supposed to react to that? What should I tell them? ”

Rav Charlop answered with a very short letter: “Tell them Nachamu Nachamu Ami”.

Duvdevani was puzzled. How would that console people after the holocaust? He wrote back to Rav Charlop: “Your answer is puzzling! How will that make people who lost their whole family feel better? On top of that, this passouk tells us that God wants to prophets to consoles us, but not how they consoles us! I need to know how to console those people from Klal Israel that need it right now!”

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Once, Rav Tzvi Yehudah sent two of his students to a kibbutz. The Kibbutz was having educational problems and wanted to bring people from all different parts of the Israeli Society in order to discover how to fix the problem, so they brought two religious people. As the night went on, the religious students started describing how they learn in yeshiva all day, go to sleep, then learn more. The people from the kibbutz became very interested. The yeshiva bachurim became the center of attention of the night.