I was recently asked to prepare a presentation that offered the essence of Torat HaRav Kook in 200 words. This is what I wrote:
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (1865-1935) ZT”L shared an expanded and illuminated understanding of the Torah with the Jewish People and the world.
Let us review some of his most profound and relevant teachings:
“The heart must be filled with love for all.
The love of all creation comes first, then comes the love for all humankind, and then follows the love for Israel. It is the destiny of Israel to serve the perfection of all things.
The whole Torah, the moral teachings, the commandments, the good deeds and the studies have as their objective to remove the roadblocks so that universal love should be able to spread, to extend to all realms of life.
The inner essence of the soul must have absolute inner freedom. It experiences its freedom through originality in thought. The uniqueness of the inner soul, in its own authenticity, is the highest expression of the seed of divine light from which will bud and blossom the fruit of the tree of life.
Everything aspires, longs, yearns, according to a pattern that is adorned with holiness and girded with beauty. This life is not a meaningless phenomenon. “For by the light of Your presence You have given us the Torah of life.”
Prepared by Rabbi Itzchak Evan-Shayish, haorot@gmail.com , www.haorot.com
This was originally published here: https://limmudna.org/step-38-lights/
