Shabbat Parashat Chukat 5785

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Asking Restraint from Insulted New Yishuv – #334

Recipient and Background: This an open letter that Rav Kook sent to an assembly of prominent members of communities in the New Yishuv. They came together to protest the Old Yishuv and its rabbinic leadership’s treatment of the moshavot in regard to the leniencies that Rav Kook and others approved for them for Shemitta, especially the heter mechira (sale of the land to obviate the laws of Shemitta).

Body: I recently heard about your respected assembly and its goal to protest the persecution that the members of the moshavot suffer from the residents of Jerusalem, may it be built soon. This relates to their new casting of aspersions on the ruling of some of the greatest rabbinic figures, of blessed memory, regarding Shemitta, which has been followed without practical opposition from the time that the settlement of the Land began to be renewed.  

I am internally doubtful whether I have permission to enter realms that are not mine – to give instructions to people who are acting in a manner that they believe, from their perspective, is for the betterment of the Yishuv in their way of life and activity. Nevertheless, [my situation does not allow for silence] as a Jew who truly loves all of his brethren and desires the welfare of the Yishuv, both the New and the Old one, along with being heavily involved in the matter that has caused the whole dispute. Therefore, I am taking the liberty to urge all the honorable participants to notice how much we have suffered throughout time from civil wars. These have left us as an inheritance the Three Weeks (commemorating the destruction of the Temples) and their flask of tears.

Please demonstrate, at this time of bitter spirit and emotional upset, your spiritual greatness, your composure and the loftiness of your spirit, to rise above the pettiness you experienced. Remind yourselves that the honor of Jerusalem (the opposition of whose citizenship they were planning to counterattack) is our honor, indeed the honor of the whole nation, and we always try to extol it with a generous spirit and good wisdom. If it happens that the honorable assembly decides to remain silent about the whole incident and, instead of speaking out, involve yourselves in positive steps to strengthen our holy community in Eretz Yisrael quietly and calmly, this would bring great satisfaction to many straight-hearted and well-thought-out people who look forward to the welfare of our future on the holy soil.

However, even if it will be decided that the assembly will come out with some public pronouncement, I think that it is proper that it should not include anything impolite, and there should be no affront to the honor of any person or group. Rather, it should just announce to the members of our nation who are spread around the Diaspora that which is already known. Namely, that the path of the New Yishuv is on a safe road and that in all matters of practical life which impact on matters of religion and its rulings, they do not stray from the rulings of the great rabbis of Israel, who always, with their great level of Torah and righteousness, recognized the great value of the Yishuv. They knew what the Yishuv meant to Israel and its hope and did not attribute any value to the words of others who came to impede it. This clear consensus exists throughout the nation, which behaved in practice according to the famous ruling, especially in regard to the question of Shemitta, from the time we merited to see the foundation of our new community on our holy soil. Clear and acceptable words such as these, which truly come from the heart, are appropriate, in my opinion, to fulfill their function, in line with the words of the Rabbis about a woman who, without various forms of makeup, shows charm.

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