Shabbat Parashat Pekudei 5782

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: The Relationship between Good and Bad Traits

Date and Place: 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: I will explain to you what I meant in a previous letter (#20): “Every matter of greatness is connected to parallel shortcomings.” This is related to the idea that Hashem does not allow a human inclination to exist only for good and not for bad (see Yoma 69a regarding the attraction between men and women). All powers were created in their totalities. It is the sacred obligation of man to develop an approach whereby the general power will be used for good and not for bad.

The early thinkers long ago pointed out that a phenomenal memory allows a person to remember all of the wisdom and the good that he saw, but also all the vanity and the evil. This phenomenon is true of all of man’s skills and attributes. Therefore, shortcomings always cling to positive attributes. Thus, the greatest elements of knowledge and the dearest attributes are by necessity connected to correspondingly great shortcomings.

Only when one reaches a high level, when he sees divine truth openly, then he need not be afraid of evil. This is because evil and the unseemly are not found with truth except to the extent that the divine light is hidden from those who grasp or feel it. When Hashem will be the source of light and grandeur, then we will be able to say, “Your nation consists only of the righteous” (see Yeshayahu 60:19-21).

In order to reach such a level one needs internal preparation and personal refinement, to the point that his strongest interests in life will coincide with the divine interest. Then there is no Satan, no spiritual danger, and no need to restrict any human power and interest from expanding. There is also no need for difficulties, which exist to prepare the world to check the powers of evil, and therefore these difficulties will cease to exist. When we take each step toward Hashem’s desire for the world, we elevate life and prepare ever better for the purpose of complete good.

In the world, we primarily need nations to act as opposed to individuals. That is why when we elevate ourselves, we do so from the perspective of our part in the Assemblage of Israel, to elevate and strengthen it. On the one hand, we need to say that “the world was created for me” (Sanhedrin 4:5) and wonder when our actions will reach the levels of the actions of our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov (see Tanna D’bei Eliyahu Rabba 25). Their greatness lay in their ability to elevate their actions to that of the nation that would come from them even while that nation was in potential rather than actuality. This can apply in our days, as well. Although there is already a Nation of Israel to which we are connected, we are also connected to the situation of the forefathers, i.e., to look forward to what will be in the future. We do this with a connection to the nation as a whole, which ignores the value of the individual and even a single generation and focuses on the connection to the nation in the broadest sense. This is reminiscent of the large revolution around the sun in relation to the individual planets.

Anything that focuses on potential must be connected to something with a lacking. Of all the nations, Israel is the most focused on the potential that has not yet come in practice, as this is part of our name and the content of all of our special qualities. Therefore, we must be affected by major shortcomings. On the other hand, they are all great levels of attainment when they are handled properly. “He did not look toward iniquity in Yaakov and did not see spiritual decadence in Israel; Hashem, its G-d, was with it, and the friendship of the King was within it” (Bamidbar 23:21).   

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