Shabbat Parashat Vayakhel 5782

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: View of German Jewish Education and Prospects for Prized Disciples

Date and Place: 29 Sivan 5666, 9 Tishrei 5766 (1905), Yafo

Recipient: A young Moshe Zeidel.  A close disciple of Rav Kook, from their time in Boisk, he asked Rav Kook many philosophical questions. He would become Dr. Zeidel, a philologist philosopher, and educator.

Body: Please write to me about all of your good endeavors, what you are involved with in holy matters and secular matters, who you are close with, and what your future plans are, with Hashem’s help. I also wanted to know if you are exchanging letters with our friend, R. Binyamin Menashe Levin, and how he relates to you. [Levin was also then a young talmid chacham who studied in the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, then led by Rav David Zvi Hoffman, and later studied in the University of Bern. In the future, the two would collaborate in the publishing of a scholarly journal called Tachkemoni.] Tell me how his connection is going with the fearers of Hashem in Germany, those who are able to find the common ground between the needs of the time and Torah and fear of Hashem. I am very happy about this connection, and I hope that you too will follow this path and will receive the advantages that these dear brethren, the pioneers in protecting the covenant of Hashem in Germany, have.

You will be able to take for yourself the highest levels, specifically because it will come on top of our [classic Eastern European Jewish] education and the two will join together. From this wonderful connection of the two, you will have before you a wonderful model, which is both original and organic, which includes and unites the following elements: sanctity, wisdom, [intellectual] bravery, the pursuit of justice and truth, and the glow of life. Be strong, my dear one, and do not be afraid of the storms of time in the material and spiritual realms. 

Your dear letter has brought me happiness, my beloved. I would be very happy if you and our dear R. Binyamin Menashe Levin will be close to each other, as you are both dear to me. You are my witnesses through which I will see amazing things, namely, that Torah that is learned with the deepest possible understanding and the broadest knowledge will reach its mark. This will be able to make dear souls more pure and fine, and will give them a higher, stronger love of Torah and fear of Hashem. My best hope is that you will go on this path in a continually elevating manner. Hashem should help by shining light on your path through life.

It is the day before Yom Kippur. If not for our powerful love, it would not be possible at all to find time for any writing. But you are dear and important in my eyes, and at a distance, from the Holy Land, I think of you with a true love. This is because I know your excellent talents, your fine personal characteristics, and your heart, which is ready to conceive and to do good for others. It also touches me that you are used to my style of expression and understand what I mean better than those with whom I have never communicated in person, even if the latter are intellectually gifted.

I would like you to take a look at my second essay, Ikvei Hatzon, and I hope that what I write there will find favor in your eyes. May you know how to connect one thing to another and extract pearls from between the “wheels” of the intermingled ideas, which will prepare you to go about your service of Hashem with a complete heart and a truthful manner. This is most appropriate because Hashem created us for His honor, to serve Him, to praise Him, and to spread His glory.

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