The Rain Falls

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The rain falls.
Its pebbles skate along the street.
Its white horses rear up,
Its red petals stream along the curb,
We are all in its cold, wet throat,
Lugging our book bags
In a newly painted morning.

Wrinkled clothes
Lie across the living room floor,
Also playing cards,
Also a camel stands at the window,
Watch out, he’s got a nasty temper.

Once, in heaven, I sat down on the park bench to rest,
The boats sailed across the pond,
That sailed upon the clouds,
That twisted into vertiginous distances,
Twisted strands of the Milky Way,

The wet nose of the wind
Vibrated, then, the larynx
Of the air,
The staircase rose
And the orange blossoms.

A Great Mountain of Fire

by R. Nosson of Nemirov

Once, Rabbi Nachman came into the house.

He said, "What can you do when there is a great mountain of fire right in front of you? On the other side of the mountain is a wonderful, precious treasure. But you can only get to that treasure by passing through the mountain of fire--and it is absolutely necessary that you get to that lovely, wonderful treasure."

A few days later, Rabbi Nachman spoke about this again. He laughed and said, "I already have learned what to do about this."
Sichot Haran #191

I Require Counsel

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I require counsel so that the joy and tranquility of the spirit that I experience when I am involved with my spiritual thoughts and with religious concepts and hidden matters will remain with me as well when I perform the mitvot of deed and prayer, and when I deal with the texts of the revealed Torah.

Chadarav, pp. 132-133

There is a Depression That Comes From Spiritual Wealth

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There is a depression that comes from spiritual wealth, and there is a joy that comes from a poverty of mind.

How can that be?

[Spiritual] phenomena overwhelm me. Visions of visions come before my spiritual eyes. I gaze into books, into the holiest and most elevated books, and their wellsprings are alive and pour forth. They cause many wellsprings to flow with their primal power into my inner spirit.

And with each vision an inner commotion is born.

[I ask myself:] Where does all this come from? The beginning of the vision and its certainty—where is that drawn from?

And [with this self-questioning], my soul suffers in its sadness [as it contemplates] this joy of its wealth.

[But] this sadness [is good, for it] refines the spirit, sharpens the mind and moistens the richness of spiritual life. And knowledge that comes from the source, and from the source of the source, as well as a very precious ability to heed—[both of which] are great and broad—are born.

And they come with a certainty that is assured, and they raise the soul to a supernal place.

But in that supernal place the question returns anew regarding these new instances of certainty, which comprise a most supernal wealth. It at first makes its appearance with the diadem of its splendor, with the brilliance of its joy, but it is afterwards followed by the question: whose son is this youth? Is he fit to join the congregation?

And that inquiring thought is reawakened, it seeks paths—it seeks [them] and it finds [them]. [So then there comes a] new certainty [that] finds very deep roots in the soul, that comes to the power of deed.

A strong impulse to influence [the world] and to unify a broad circle of life comes and presents itself, until [there is] new ascent, as a result of which everything [before] is forgotten.

All of the previous wealth fades away, and images of a higher world come, a pure atmosphere, pure and fresh. Luminous bodies shine in a form that had never before been imagined. And there is no memory of the past; [there is only] the present and the future, heartwarming and pleasant. Creativity multiplies and certainty rises to its peak.

But [then] an inquiring spirit comes and inserts a new sadness. [But that is] in order to give birth to a supernal joy and the revelation of a rectified world.

“That which was not told to them they saw, and regarding that which they had not heard, they looked.”

Chadarav, p. 113

A Diadem of Mountains

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

I gave you silken rivers, rivulets of stars,
But you need a diadem of mountains.
You demand rocky terrain,
Brambles, peaks and horizons.

You seek a vertiginous dirt path,
A swinging rope bridge,
You need to hear the snow tiger
Growling outside your cabin upon the vast snow plains.

You require a troupe of men
Who will carry your bier into thick, uncharted jungles,
Where you will snap your fingers and bark out orders
In a strange, uncouth tongue
And dance your songs of triumph.

You must master the wisdom of the sailing ship
And set out into bronze mornings.
You must call out new islands and discover distant planets
From an uncharted tropical sea,
Where your loveliness is legendary amidst the island peoples.

Fierce, celebrated, all-powerful,
You must arrange great ceremonies
To which even giants will stride, from across the long, shadowed hills,
To pay you homage.

Rivulets of Stars

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

I threw out the baby with the bath water.
I was tired of drinking bath water.
And who needs babies anyway?

Move over.
We both need to sleep,
To snore away our lives.
Of course it gets quite crowded in this bed.
I keep having to kick away guitars, old sandwiches.
I find that friend’s doorbells are digging into my back.
I curl around bassoons and double basses
So that in the morning, in the warm, body-scented sheets
I have an enormous crick in my neck.

There is so much to discover in the world—
Everywhere I have dropped crumbs of meaning.
I have left drops of my soul with so many people
And barged into the house wielding an empty wheel barrow.

I came home one evening with a packet of stars
But they all melted into a puddle when I opened the sack.

Really, when stones are rolled onto the mouths of wells,
What good are stars?
What good is light when there is no water?
And water, water shines like rivulets of stars.

In the Beginning

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

And what is my constant yearning, or—better put—my set nature, the nature of my spirit and the flow of my thoughts? Only that of starting anew—“in the beginning.”

I always stand at the beginning.

There may be fragmented and confused particles of knowledge—but they will never put me at a remove from the primal point, upon which everything depends.

It is possible that there is something here of a weakness, that I am afraid of too much breadth.

But on the other hand, it is impossible to say that there isn’t a grain of hidden capability that is drawing me to delve into the beginning, into the start of everything, into the foundation of being, into the secret of existence, into the ideal of ideals, into that which is elevated and holy.

Chadarav, p. 126

Listen! Cries the Ocean

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Listen! cries the ocean.
So listen.
The whole night it roars like a freight train,
It rises up and sizzles against the seawall.
For an hour you can be the ocean,
And contain within yourself swift color-shifting squid
And long trees of frond-waving kelp
Amidst which the fish wind their swift glissando bodies.
In the north your waves can rise and fall like mountains.
You can lie beneath the black night sky, covered by the sheet of ice and sleep
And at the same time glaze beneath a sun hot as yellow pepper,
You can swing back and forth drawn by your desire for the moon,
The fog can cover you for hundreds of miles
And conceal your cold thoughts.
You can have no thoughts,
You can be a shapeless god who does not live
But moves with the majesty of life.

A Person Who Is Constantly Pained

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

A person who is constantly pained because of his sins and the sins of the world must always pardon and forgive himself and the entire world.

And in this he draws forgiveness and lovingkindness onto all of existence, and he gives joy to God and joy to people.

First he must pardon himself. And then he draws a general pardon onto everything, starting with that which is closest to him: the extensions of his roots from the aspect of his soul, his family, his friends, his nation, his generation, his world, and all worlds.

And in this he is a “foundation of the world” on the highest level, on the level of the Holy Tongue. And “a soft tongue can break the bone”—the bone of a donkey, “a bone that is evil on the outside”—so that all of the hidden good is revealed in everything.

And then he attains to the blessing of Abraham, whose likeness appears in every generation.

Arp’lei Tohar, p. 54

Inside Your Blood Cells

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Inside your blood cells children are talking to each other.
They race through the tunnels of your limbs.
They are so busy chatting that they do not notice
Whether they are in your toes or in your aorta.
That is as it should be.

I blanked out this morning
And found myself in a dream.
And it wasn’t about the past
But it wasn’t about the future either.
I had fallen into a giant computer
And was watching as it chatted to itself
And I woke up with a sense of wonder.

I woke up to find
Playing-cards arrayed in rows
Across the chairs and the floor,
And they marched across my eyes,
And everyone else was sleeping.

When Our Soul Sparkles

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

When our soul sparkles, every time we learn, we look for the universal soul with its lights, which brought those very topics that we are studying into being.

Then the spiritual radiance is revealed with its richness of hues, and a person clings with his spirit to this light, which is the light of a primal, Godly life.

Then blessing increases entirely--on this person’s soul and on everything.

And then this person ascends upon the rising path of those who learn Torah for its own sake, because he makes peace in the heavenly assembly (the angels) and in the earthly assembly (Israel).
Arpelei Tohar

In Conflict with the Entire World

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

If I must be a man who is in conflict with the entire world because of the tendency for truth that is deep in my spirit, which does not tolerate any tendency toward falsehood, I cannot be someone else.

I must bring out from the potential to the actual only the essential foundations of truth that are hidden in my spirit, without any concern for what the world thinks with all of its value judgments.

That is the maxim of the person who seeks truth, who awakens with his supernal might. That is the might of the world. That is an eternal might that is connected to the fate of the eternity of Israel, which is girded with might.

Chadarav, p. 146-147

Little Highways

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The little highways of anger riddle your heart,
Mercury globules spill through the tunnels.
In a crowded restaurant you find it difficult to swallow,
You are eating your children alive.
The calendar on the wall is tattered,
The things you have to do
You should have done long ago,
And you never paid attention
To the messages you received.
Solid as iron are the molecules of oxygen
That spin before your eyes.
The road you walk upon
Of soft dark red
Extends darkly forward,
And the walls of the corridor pulse solemnly
As you walk to a small bright room
Where you will be allowed to meet your children
Again.

To Love All

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How much does [my] heart sigh to love all: all creatures, all beings, all of creation, all the multitude of the things of the Maker of everything, the roots of things, life, power, the rising glory, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, beauty, eternity and beauty, the fundament and the monarchy.

How precious are Your friends, God, and how much does my heart desire to love all souls, and the beauty of the good things and finished things within them.

How pleasant and sweet are the refined spirits of those of uplifted heart, of those profound thinkers, of those with holy yearning, of those who grasp the Torah, mighty in faith, heroes of the spirit, those who create expression and poetry, those who dedicate the holy, those who beautify life and the world, how mighty are these leaders.

How beloved are the pious of the world, [whose] minds [are] filled with the emanation and beauty of holiness. How have I loved all of them together; how strong is my affection for each one of them. How glad am I for their goodness, for their honor, for their tranquility, for the delight and comfort that they find in their lives.

What is greater for me than to take part, aid, work and be active to increase the light of life, to broaden the settings [in which they are set] so that the loveliness and glory will be seen, the divine radiance of the pleasantness of love, of eternal love—which entwines its many branches, rises beyond all being and spreads out over all creation, brings into sharp relief the beloved faces, increases the knowledge, sharpens the feeling, strengthens life, strengthens the refinement and enflames the strength, fills all the breadths of the soul with a supernal might, with the might of God, with the energy of truth and light.

Chadarav, pp. 176-178

a True Inner Humility

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I hope for a true inner humility—which will not weaken [my] inner might with its spiritual joy, the development of its abilities and the increase of its light, but will in fact gird them.

“It is good to be of a lowly spirit with the humble” (Proverbs 16:19).
Chadarav, p. 152

Frothy Mold

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Frothy mold was growing along the inside of my scalp.
It was used to going where it didn’t belong—
On worn stairs or tables where elbows had rested without fail
Or in the wrinkles in long-used books.
How do you know, for instance, right now,
That mold has not engulfed your car,
Your children, or your wife?
I ran wildly through the health food store,
Wildly leaving marks of my choppers
In the organic fruits, the raw oats, the flasks of goat milk.

That is the Question

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How important it is for me to thoughtfully clarify my spiritual state!

[I have to consider] how much I am supposed to struggle against my feelings and the progression of my thoughts, which lead me constantly to the supernal aspect, to the elevated and the exalted, so as to gaze with holy elevation, with the foundations of supernal ethics, with the soulful breadths of the world of Emanation—whereas obligation pushes me to aspects of this-worldly action?

But to what degree can the obligation of this-worldly action push aside the august spirit? That is the question.

Chadarav, p. 128

The Light of Supernal Truth

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

By means of an inclusive methodology, I will attain everything, including all particulars—particular fields of knowledge, clear judgments in halachah and in determining cases, in Talmudic argument and homiletics.

But all of these are only parenthetical. The essential thing is that I seek the light of supernal truth in all of its manifestations.

“Then shall you take delight in Hashem, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the inheritance of Yaacov your father, for the mouth of Hashem has spoken.”

Chadarav, p. 128

Brass Tacks

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

There were brass tacks all over the floor
And brass words whizzing through the air
And the rush of the wind, or rocks, or what-have-you.
There was yesterday and there was tomorrow.
There was the rain that had been swallowed into the night
And left behind puddles in the street
Like the streaks of a giant snail.
There was love and there was breakfast.

I Cannot Deny My Inner Desire

by Rav Avraham Yizchak Kook

I cannot deny my inner desire, the essential desire of [my] soul, which is constantly revealed from the depths of my heart, which is a faithful desire, filled with trembling.

And this trembling is filled with the might of holiness, because I tremble for the word of Hashem.

The fear of heaven is my speech and my inner essential musing; all of my wellsprings are [immersed] in it.

Society, environment and a life of deeds lie on my path like stumbling stones that do not allow my holy yearning, filled with the holy light of the fear of Hashem, encompassed with an inner love, to emerge into continuous revelation, so as to be strengthened in all [of its] traits.

And behold I, whenever I come into contact with people, I come into confusion, and the concealment of the content of the fear [of God] grows very strong, to the point that I find myself abased and abandoned.

But my hope is in Hashem.

Chadarav, pp. 145-146

I Cannot Deny Within Myself the Spirit

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I cannot deny within myself the spirit that yearns to grasp the elevated service of raising the holy sparks [within] everything that comes into the circle of [my] activity—of all the physical necessities and all possessions that come into my contact with me and [that enter] into my boundary.

And that tranquility that comes to me, even [if only] because of a dim imagining of the holy form of this pure-hearted and holy work, fills me with strength and fortitude, [when I consider] that [these things] come to be rectified when the light of Torah and the worship [of God] are broadened in all aspects, as they branch outward.

“He makes Torah great and mighty.”

Chadarav, pp. 144-145

From My Nature

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

From my nature I am summoned to do everything for the sake of the deed [itself] and to speak of matters for their own sake.

For me, the variety of ulterior motives and blemishes of thought and desire are merely external things. And if I strengthen myself with great faith in the quality of the light of my soul, which is united with pure humility, I will conquer everything. Then the light of Hashem will shine on me clearly and broadly, and I will be able to speak words of truth, without any fear and without any desire to curry favor in the world.

Chadarav, p. 146

Random House

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

I was arranging my words
So that I could send them to Random House.
What a mistake!
There secretaries were flying out of the walls,
Abandoned IBM Selectric typewriters occasionally belched up
From the industrial carpet on the floor,
Colored salmon, charcoal gray, chartreuse,
The view outside the window shook, took off its clothes,
Put on some hard-edged skyscrapers, wiggled its sun,
Threw up a screen of clouds, of confused flamingos,
Of executives with hard-pack Pall Malls in their breast pockets.
It was all pell mell,
It was all going to hell,
Downstairs a bell cracked,
Freedom spilled out like shiny foil wrapped candies,
The hard kind with the soft taffy at the center.
My manila envelope spilled open, my words snaked across the corridor,
Past the water cooler,
Where a rhinoceros stood, shaking his heavy jaw.
I walked into the boardroom,
Where cab drivers, housewives, fast food deliverers, architectural students
And a variety of idealists
Were gazing into crooked mirrors, baring their teeth at each other.
Words were ejaculated, and small, misshapen moles scurried across the offices,
Blindly seeking the elevators, where they might descend to the basement
And find the cool tranquility of darkness.
Everyone was there in Random House,
And so I pressed into a crowded, noisy room
And held my manila envelope close to my breast
And watched the small black letters clamber out
And hurry to the morris dance.

It's Best to Talk

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

It’s best to talk to no one,
To the wind,
To God,
In the company of moths and trees
That are so patient they will sagely listen
All night long.

Somehow you have built a city
In which you reside, alone,
With your guitar
And the smell of yesterday.

Shake the dreams like a veil of silver coins.

I Must Know My Measure

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Being by nature a person of aggadah and of mysticism, I have no need to [look with] envy [upon] the portions of halachah and the revealed Torah.

Nevertheless, I am also summoned and obligated [learn] those areas [of the Torah], for it is not without cause that Hashem graced me with ability [to study] them as well.

But I must know my measure, so that I will grow depressed regarding the slightness of my portion in revealed matters (even though in aggadah and in the hidden I am [also] very poor and impoverished).

I must remain firm, because the cause of this imperfection of mine is that a multiplicity of areas constantly draws me in every direction, so it is my nature to taste a little of each matter. So if I am weak in the revealed Torah and halachot, that is caused by my inner attraction to aggadah and the hidden.

This phenomenon of my capacity is particularly apparent at a time of settled [but] unrehearsed speech with people who are qualified for [such discussion], as well as at every moment that [my] spirit is awakened. Then I find within myself a hidden treasure, which must be my consolation even in a time of concealment and great darkness.

“When I sit in darkness, Hashem is my light.”

Chadarav, pp. 103-104

Which Parts of the Torah are Particularly Necessary for Me

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There is no doubt that I must pay attention to my inner sense of which parts of the Torah are particularly necessary for me and congruent with the needs of my soul. This is the case even though I shouldn’t [allow myself to] be drawn after [these parts] entirely, [since] it is sometimes necessary to battle with one’s feelings.

[Still, I have to know that] there is a reason that [my] inner spirit is roused to pull me to hidden, [kabbalistic] teachings—even matters beyond my level and degree.

Indeed, “the heart of a wise man knows a time and a judgment,” “to know how to sustain the tired person with words.”

Chadarav, p. 105

Here are All the Idols

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Here are all the idols,
Bustling about,
Jostling each other on the way to the synagogue,
Speeding along in their little idol cars to idol destinations.
And death oozes out from all of the crevices,
From all of the spaces between bricks,
From between teeth.
But in the gaze between our eyes there is no space,
Nor in the heart that is filled with effortless light,
Nor in the joy that waters the morning grass,
Nor in the colors of the street beneath the moon that hangs like a silver fruit.

How Great is My Inner Struggle

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How great is my inner struggle. My heart is filled with an exalted and broad spiritual yearning.

I want the divine felicity to constantly spread within my entire being—not because of the pleasure of that delight, but because this is how it should be, because this is the state of reality, because this is the substance of life.

And I am always sighing, roaring from my inner essence with a great voice: give me the light of God, the delight of the living God and His play, the great appearance of the visitation of the palace of the King of the world, God, the God of my father, to Whose love I am dedicated with all my heart, the fear of Whom elevates me.

My soul rises ever higher, it transcends all lowliness—the smallness and limitations that a life of nature, of the body, limited by environment and social mores, oppressed within manacles, completely put in chains.

But a flow of obligations [then] ensues: endless [exoteric Torah] studies [with all its details], confusions of ideas and the emergence of intricate arguments born of an exacting examination of letters and words. [This] comes and surrounds my soul, which is pure, free, light as a cherub, pure as the essence of heaven, flowing like a sea of light.

I am not yet able to gaze from beginning to end and thus understand the felicitous message [of such study], to feel the sweetness of each detailed insight, to look with light within the areas of darkness of the world.

And so I am filled with pains, and I hope for salvation and light, for supernal exaltation, for the appearance of knowledge and light, and for the flow of the dew of life even within those narrow conduits, from which I may draw sustenance and be sated, so as to delight in the felicity of Hashem, so as to recognize the pure, ideal Will, that which is elevated and hidden, the supernal might, which fills every letter and point of a letter, every halachic contention and complex argument.

“And I shall play in Your commandments that I have loved.” “And I shall speak of Your laws.”

Chadarav, p. 129

Go Eat Candles

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Go eat candles, wicks, clay candle holders,
Menorahs, oil, spark, flames, dreidels.
Eat light, swallow gold,
See how the darkness of the hills, the wasteland, the unknown chaos
Awaits its crevices of golden lava shining
To flow into the river of your thoughts.

Even if I Feel a Taste of Spiritual Bitterness

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Even if I feel a taste of spiritual bitterness when I study the secrets of the Torah, my heart will not fear.

I will increase my constancy and clinging in thought, until the bitter waters become sweet, as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Chadarav, pp. 108-109

One May Not Withhold the Mystical Imagination

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

One may not withhold the mystical imagination, which is the secret of creation.

Mystical thought causes new souls to sprout, redeemed souls, souls that redeem, messianic souls.

Within [this] secret of secrets, the hiddden and the revealed unite. From the concealed source, the revealed and exposed are blessed; all of the cultures of society are blessed from the source of straightness hidden within the depths of the secrets.

And I—behold, I yearn for the blossoming from Hashem, for the light of salvation to appear. I will not turn back upon my path, even though many are my enemies, those who rise against me.

But more than all my enemies, I myself rise against myself. My smallness rises up against my greatness. The degradation of my spirit berates its glory.

But my glory will not bow its head in fear of the shadows of smallness. Although [those shadows] may stretch themselves out a great deal, they are only shadows. And where the sun shines its light, they will flee.

Chadarav, pp. 108-109

We Have Run Out of Roosters Who Know How to Tell Time

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

We have run out of roosters who know how to tell time.
They sleep through the morning,
Then one day, when we are in the middle of an important business meeting,
They hop up onto our head and start scratching.
We may be attempting to fix the car, as usual,
By throwing stones at it,
When it hops up onto the hood
And marches about imperiously.
It seems that wherever we look there is the rooster.
He appears when we turn down the blankets,
We had been hoping to spend some time with a good mystery,
Or in the orison of the chorus of the fall.
We try to run him off the road,
We shoo him away from the trash bin,
We wave our hands at him frantically
When he appears outside our window during breakfast.
He will no longer come again at dawn,
That was too easy for him.
Sometimes we wake up and go hunting for him through the dark streets
And see his shadow on top of a lamp post,
Or hear the silhouette of his invisible crowing in the vast black canvas of sky
And the shadow of wise foliage.

A Holy State of Consciousness

by R. Nachman of Breslov

With the mitzvah of the Hannukah flame, we draw onto ourselves a holy state of consciousness, which is the olive oil, the awareness: we are constantly aware of the world of spirituality—in general and [even] in detail.

Kitzur Likutei Moharan 54:16 (from V’hilchata k’nachmani)

May My Heart Not Fall

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

May my heart not fall even if my thoughts are considered fantastical. [Even then,] when such imagination turns to holiness and morals, it is useful and necessary. And who knows the real truth amongst human beings—whose thoughts are vanity?

Each one of us can only develop the ability of his spirit in the way of light, truth and goodness—every individual in accordance with the root of the tendency of his soul.

And since I feel my inner tendency in the content of my thoughts, which pour and well forth within me at every moment—and in particular at a time of speaking [with] and influencing [others]—behold, that is my portion and inheritance.

Although I must strengthen myself in the other parts of the Torah, and in particular in practical halachah, it is impossible and unnecessary to go against the nature of my spirit.

Chadarav, pp. 110-111

The Thick Artery of the Nile

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The thick artery of the Nile
Pulsed through Egypt.
The Hidekel, meanwhile, meandered through the course
Of memory.
All the rivers were lit, lit within or
Sparks of rain showered onto their surfaces.
Lines of color coursed within the sinews of their currents.

Along their banks grew thick clusters of reeds,
Where the frogs sang the joy of their universe
And the dragonflies darted through the Eden
Of their dreams.

Delving into Details

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

How much does delving into details of halachah and subtle Talmudic thought at times cloud my spirit, which that yearns for great things and general principles.

Nevertheless, I must overcome [this] and properly prepare myself so as to be competent clarify halachah and, at times, engage in normative Talmudic disputation. This is because ultimately a person should not differ from the custom of his place. It is a restriction [that comes from] the proper “way of the land” not to be awake among those who are sleeping, nor asleep among those who are awake.

And when a person accepts some limitation due to this restriction of “the way of the land,” then spiritual breadth comes to his spirit from the aspect of the great concept stored in the totality of that trait of “the way of the land,” which [has the property of] rectifying the general culture of human beings.

Chadarav, p. 131

The Waves are Not Tired

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The waves are not tired of rolling into shore,
The moon is not tired of dipping across the sky,
The mountains are not tired of their steady faithfulness,
The clouds are not tired of their shiftless drifting,
The car lights are not tired of their silent speeding across roads across the valley,
The radiator steam is not tired of its morning hiss,
Nor is the coffee tired of its wisps of steam,
But I am tired.
I have climbed down into the crevices of my brain,
I have slept in the shadows of words,
I have awoken to find that the same sultry dull summer morning
Of dry, baked earth awaited my hoeing and watering,
I have brought my desiccated peas home,
I have yearned for hills and streams of water.
I did not know that the earth itself was burning my feet
And that I was drying of thirst,
And raised my face to a sprinkle of scant rain
That raised puffs of dust.
No wonder those who looked at my dilapidated plow,
My heavy-headed, stark-ribbed ox,
My broken barn
Didn’t see the soil where tongues of flame lapped up.
Good morning,
Said the traveler, watching himself wearily hold the plow pulled by a dragging ox,
Watching himself look up at the sun crawling like a clock across the bony sky.
And his first arrow burst into his chest
And he watched his blood flow down into the thirsty soil.
And he gazed down from the lip of the canyon,
Seeing himself below holding his bow,
Seeing himself below lying upon the cracked soil
And his eyes met his.
The thunder was not tired of rumbling across the sky,
Nor were the swift shifting rivulets tired of carving their soft names
Into the hard brown earth.

The Torah of the Future

by R. Nachman of Breslov

The Zohar teaches that in the future the Torah of the hidden Ancient One will be revealed.

The Torah is received principally through our mindfulness.

Our mindfulness is Moses. It is the messiah. It is “the wise man [who] has gone up with the city of mighty men” (Proverbs 21:22). A person who possesses this aspect of Moses, of the Messiah, is able to receive the Torah. He can draw forth the illumination of the Torah and teach it to others.

The revelation of the Torah comes from the union of [the two expressions of the Infinite One called] the Holy One, blessed be He, and the In-Dwelling. “Listen, my son, to the rebuke of your father, and do not reject the Torah of your mother” (Proverbs 1:88). “Your father” refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. “Your mother” refers to the Congregation of Israel [which is the In-Dwelling] (Zohar Yisro 85, Pinchas 213).

They are united when the spirits of Israel rise, like water rising.

And the wise man can take the souls and lift them, like water rising. “He who takes souls is a wise man” (Proverbs 11:30).

From this union, the Torah is born.

When the wise man rises with the souls, “with the city of strong man rises the wise man,” then “He brings down the strength of its security.”

Likutei Moharan 13

Inner Yearnings for the Goodness of Hashem

by Rav Avraham Yitchak Kook

When I am not engaged in Torah, it is not out of carelessness but out of inner yearnings for the goodness of Hashem in the secrets of the Torah, for a supernal connection. “My soul has desired in the shadow of Your hand to know every mystery of your secret.”

Many indeed are the obstacles that keep me from actualizing the depth of holiness in my soul, but I will not allow that to make me step off my path. It shall be called the path of holiness, and the supernal Torah is the source of my delights, and that will bring me the blessing of the Torah, and depth of piety, and the humility of the just, the light of strength and elevation.

And my heart will be opened to succeed in the truth of the light of Hashem, and pray on behalf of every individual who groans and is oppressed, for every individual who needs compassion, for the entire world, for the generation, for the rejected souls, for every sorrow and lack, and my eyes will be illumined to feel the suffering of the world, the suffering of God’s Presence, with a good consciousness, with an understanding of Hashem.

And I will rejoice in Hashem, I will be happy in the God of Israel, the God of my salvation, the God who girds me with might and makes my feet like [those of a] deer, to “conquer with my songs.”

And as to the fact that my thoughts are oppressed, that the desires and longings come to me out of sequence, higher than my level, there is no reason to fear that, for that is the complexion of the generation, and of myself in particular—for I must unite everything: all feelings, all knowledge, fields of study, images, speeches, facts, poems and rhetoric, stories and halachot, aggadot and parables. And my mind must turn to the nation and to each individual, and gaze upon supernal sights, and know the lowest depths in order to raise pearls from there, sapphire and emeralds.

Despite all my poverty and impoverishment, I must know that the stance of my soul is a wonder, and all the various factors in my state of being.

And for all of them I will thank Hashem and rejoice in the gift of my portion, and I will strengthen and invigorate myself to serve Him, for the sake of His name with love, with a great mindfulness, and with a tendency for ultimate truth, for the sake of a love of the holy, the elevated, the good and the straight, to bring from the potential into actuality precious qualities, to turn the masses away from sin, to increase the light of supernal lovingkindness on His nation and upon all of His creations.

Chadarav, p. 116

Wondrous New Things

by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

If even a simple person sits before a holy book and gazes at the letters of the Torah, he will be able to see wondrous new things. When he gazes at the letters, they will begin to shine and combine, as did the letters upon the breastplate of the cohen gadol. Then he will see new things, wonders and combinations. He will even be able to see things that the author did not have in mind.

A great person can see this without effort. But even a totally simple person can come to and see such new things, if he will sit and gaze at the letters of the Torah.

But do not make this into a test, for then you might see nothing at all.
Likutei Moharan 281

If I Express Myself in Extravagant Terms

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

If I express myself in extravagant terms, if I speak exaggerations, do these really contain falsehood? I am revealing the thought of my soul, I am uncovering the lights of my spirit!

And the revelations of lights and the uncovering of the soul constitute a creation of great worth. I stand upon the peak of “the remnant of Israel shall not do injustice, and will not speak falsehood, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.”

Chadarav, pp. 111-112

Angels, Nomads, Wolves

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

You were digging the night like a grave.
Lights shone like distant camps
Of angels, nomads, wolves,
The day creeped up the dingy curtain of the eastern sky,
The sun pushed up its reluctant head,
The birds circled once, twice, testing the air,
The dawn was gummy in their mouths.
The air took a deep breath.
Constantinople—there was a city for you,
There the Baal Shem Tov’s daughter wept washing clothing at the seashore
(As her father stood in his inn in blissful wonder),
The wealthy couple passed her with their wondrous message,
Sailing ships floated across the horizon.

Creating a Container of Space and Time

by R. Nachman of Breslov

Looking at something creates a container—the container of space and time.

Before you look at something, it is indeterminate. But when you look at it, it gains definition….

And that is the meaning of “trust.” “Trust” is a type of looking: you look to and hope in God alone, and you trust in Him…

And when you look toward Him with trust, you create a container—the container of space and time. God’s energy flows down from above without cease, but it is outside the realm of time. So it could be that you need something now, but it will only come into the world in two or three years.

But when you look [toward God] with trust, you create a container of space and time for that energy, so that it will come when [and where] you need it. “The eyes of all look towards You”—and as a result, “You give them their food in its time” (Psalms 145:15).

from Likutei Moharan 76

Serious Obstacles

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

Amazingly, Middle East talks are facing serious obstacles.
The discussions between Charlie Manson and Roman Polanski are also in danger of breaking down.
Meanwhile, there is little doubt that more will have to be done
To encourage a fruitful exchange of ideas between lions and antelope
(Of course the antelope must agree, once and for all, to take off their horns).

Do Not Be False To Your Spirit

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

A person should not be false to his spirit. He should not deny his inner feelings because of the stormy pressure of societal assumptions.

If he feels the elevation and holiness of idea in a particular field, he should be sure to satiate himself constantly with the richness of supernal pleasures from that place that his heart desires.

And I—who am so filled with the consolations of God when I learn the secrets of the Torah—even when I feel myself exceedingly bare, my hands will not weaken. I must strengthen myself, even though it is impossible not to give this-worldly concerns the attention that they require, both in regard to the aspect of this-worldly well-being and in regard to the aspect of the basic obligation to study the Torah and attain its knowledge in all fields.

Chadarav, pp. 102-103

A Man with a Scraggly Beard

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

A man with a scraggly beard was sitting at his desk writing poetry
When a distracted citizen ran pell-mell into his room.
“Why are you sitting writing poetry?” asked this distracted reader,
“When there are demonstrations in the streets,
Not to mention that the rising sun is sending scarlet scarves of clouds across the sky?”
This was at any rate the substance of a poem that a reader sent to me,
In which he described a poem that his mother had written to arouse him from bed.
She had been looking at a green moth with folded wings, she said,
And imagined that it had been thinking,
“As green as I am against the window screen,
There is an apple more green than I
And a thought more green than that apple,
And a window more clear than the sight of the mountain.”
I was thinking of all this when my sister called.
She had a poem in her hand,
But I said, “Who has time for poetry?”
That was exactly how her poem went:
She had a poem in her hand,
But I said, “Who has time for poetry?
Only the gnarls of leaves, only the knots of bushes,
Only the crumpled roads,
Leading nowhere.”
“Leading nowhere?” I cried.
“That sounds so dismal;
Isn’t there a more cheerful way to end a poem?”
But I said (she said) you should listen to the entire thing.
That (she said, I said, he said) is the gist of it,
And the green moth dreamed its green moth dreams.

A Key to Return

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I feel ashamed to involve myself in the secrets of Torah, because of the lowliness that I feel in my spirit.

This itself must serve as a key to return and grasp the great light of the Life of the world, Who encourages the lowly and enlivens those whose hearts are broken.

Chadarav, p. 108

When I Am Summoned

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

What do I feel when I am summoned to study matters of the spirit? A sickness of the heart and discomfort. Why is this so? Because as that spiritual demand grows stronger within me, my spirit grows especially aware of its moral poverty, and of its spiritual [poverty] in general.

But the spiritual weakness born of this phenomenon is an absolute imperfection, it is a stain upon the soul. One must battle against it with a stalwart heart. The spiritual gaze must be rich, constant and broad, powerful and straightforward.

The weakness and inner pain caused within the spirit by the conflagration of the fear of heaven is in itself an imperfection and sickness. One must acquire clear concepts in this area of holiness, until this uncultured aversion will decrease and be replaced with strength and a broad consciousness.

Chadarav, pp. 107-108

He Crawled Along the Avenues

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

So Norman Mailer is dead.
He crawled along the avenues,
He broke the mirrors that he kept staring into.
Like plaque he has stuck to our brains.
When his face was thrown up against the horizon,
How could we not dream of him,
When his name was scrawled in every prayer book we opened?
Perhaps we need a root canal,
How dazzling our teeth of knowledge will gleam.
We will inhale the violet herbs of the fields,
The moon will burn our eyes white.

I Will Speak with My Heart

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I will speak with my heart, and my spirit will seek, it will seek and it will find, it will seek with the lamp of Hashem, which is the human soul. And [God’s] thought of Israel, which preceded everything else, will illumine with the ultimate strength the source of all the letters of the Torah.

“Behold, a nation like a young lion will stand and like a lion will arise.”

“Behold I shall open your graves and take you up from your graves with me, and bring you to the land of Israel.”

“‘And I will place my spirit upon you and give you life’—in the past, I gave you Torah, in the future I will give you life.’”

The soul of Israel, the source of Torah, will find itself. And when it finds its essence, all of the letters of the Torah will gleam before it with their beautiful radiance of life, and they shall be called by a new name, a new name that the mouth of Hashem will designate.

From the brilliance of the sight of the salvation of the whole, the light of the individual— which has nothing besides that which is in the whole—will shine.

“And the survivor in Zion and the remnant in Jerusalem will be called holy, each one who is written for life in Jerusalem.”

Chadarav, p. 188

An Assumed Honor

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

I will not, for the sake of an assumed honor, abandon my yearning for the secrets of Torah.

The knowledge of Hashem, the God of truth, constantly raises me, even when I am in the house of my sojourning, in the land of my wandering, in exile and in lowliness—which is the greatest atonement, which grants atonement for everything, and which is therefore very bitter, depressing the spirit.

Even though the coarseness of the lowly physical does not allow a person to feel properly, nevertheless there is a sense of an inner smallness, lowliness and the abandoning of a haughty spirit, the donning of humility and purity, and the desire for repentance.

I will place my refuge in Hashem God. And the yearning for our return to our holy land, to dwell in the courtyards of Hashem, to gaze upon His pleasantness, lift me up and give me life.

And Hashem will give me a tongue of learning. He will lift up my spirit and purify my mind and heart and all of my plans, and reveal to me the light of the inner being of my soul.

And from the holy land He will send His help, and a ray of light will shine for me from the heights, the very highest mountain, from the holy and from Zion, the house of our desires selah.

And I must strengthen myself in my Mighty One. “My spirit has desired in the shadow of Your hand to know all the mystery of Your secret.”

If I am very lowly, if my will is weak, if I have been taken captive in the hands of lusts and weaknesses, behold, Hashem helps me, Hashem is among those who support my spirit.

I will not fear and I will not be afraid. I will not be abashed and I will not be shamed. The Torah of truth will lift me up. I will exalt the name of Hashem in song. In the midst of the masses I will praise Him.

Chadarav, pp. 105-107

How Gentlemen Earn Their Pensions

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The earth isn’t very new after all,
The leaders of Israel have been shrinking and shrinking,
Now they no longer care about their place in history,
They bring a shovel to the negotiating table
To bury their neighbors
So that they can take over their villas.

The Jew smiles at Goebbels, at Torquemada,
At Martin Luther, at Nebuchadnezzar,
Come in, did you bring Adolf?
Let’s negotiate the heads, the eyes of my people,
Their teeth, their children, their water,
Their sky,
In a decade we’ll meet again in southern France,
We’ll all be retired and gentlemen,
And this is how gentlemen earn their pensions.

The more clever these Jewish leaders become,
The shorter and stouter do they grow,
They scurry about, being realistic and clever,
And even as they do the ceiling comes down
And the office cubicles grow more and more narrow,
And the President of Syria and the Prince of Saudi Arabia
And the American Secretary of State
And many other curious onlookers
Jostle to gaze down on them,
As they squeak and twitch their whiskers.

At the End of the Holy Sabbath

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Who can properly evaluate the great worth of the holy nation at the end of the holy Sabbath? Who can properly praise the radiance of the exalted holiness of the Jewish soul, which was already elevated in the radiance of its beauty by the holiness of the holy day, the most beloved of all days?

Who will gather the strength to sing about, describe and envisage the precious glory of the wondrous people, who rise to the heights of the world, who wear the sun as a necklace in its place, who fly to the heavens, who rise with the holiness of their desire to the heights of the canopy of the highest heavens, upon [each of] whom during the entire day of the Sabbath the light of Hashem shone, appeared and glowed at his meals, in his prayers, in his feelings, in his delights, in his tranquility and glory?

And who will speak even more of the great worth of the holy people and the righteous, those who know how to praise the Sabbath and to give it the honor that it deserves in accord with its elevated holiness, who they distribute riches to all their nation, the riches of heaven, the wealth of the blessings of holiness of elevated feelings and mighty desires? How precious they are to me!

“And as for me, how precious are Your companions, God, how mighty are their leaders.”

You are pleasant to me, Torah sages amongst Israel, sages of the Torah, men of rare quality.

You are pleasant to me, righteous men, straight in heart, faithful in spirit, faithful ones of a chosen nation.

You are precious to me, all of you, all of your masses, it is all holy.

In the inner being of their soul a holy fire burns.

I see your honor, I am crowned and beautified with the loveliness of the radiance of your spirit—beloved of [my] heart, children of holiness, you shall be a blessing in the land, in the beloved land shall you be blessed, upon the holy land shall you spread out [like] branches.

All of the nations will praise you, kings will fear your glory, and you shall be called the cohanim of Hashem, the servants of our God.

Every pure thought of yours will come forth, every clear idea shall be elevated and rectified through you, every soul will delight with you in your strength, everyone will become beautified through you, will grow greater because of you.

Chadarav, p. 185

At the End of Every Holy Sabbath

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

At the end of every holy Sabbath, Elijah sits beneath the Tree of Life and records the merits of the Jewish people.

Therefore, it is proper for anyone who possesses a connection to the desire for the secrets of the Torah—(which corresponds to a visitation of Elijah on some level) even if [that desire] exists only in some imaginary fashion or is an emotion or some product of human intellect; and certainly if he has risen (with the [help of God’s] supreme lovingkindness) to higher levels—that following each Sabbath, on Saturday night, he too emulate Elijah’s deeds and engage in [bringing to light] the merits of the Jewish people.

And he should recognize intellectually, and with a shining and clear insight, the holiness of the Jewish people and the preciousness of their qualities. And he should cling to the entirety of the holy nation, the nation of Hashem, which is the beloved jewel of [God’s] inheritance. Every single individual of that nation possesses an endless, infinite phenomenon of the light of [God’s] holiness, so that the entire world in its entirety is founded upon [these individuals], even on those [people of] Israel who are empty [of merit].

And he should tremble in holy awe at the holiness of the sublime, Godly holiness of the soul of every individual Jew. He should be filled with longing and endless love for the holiness of the exalted nature of the cornucopia of Israel in general, and for the success of each individual of Israel in all the work of his hands: in the physical, in the spiritual and in everything good.

Fortunate are you, O Israel: “fortunate are you, O Israel; who is like you, a nation saved by Hashem.”

I have loved you, my nation and my people, I have desired you with all my heart and with all my spirit. I have desired you with all the warmth of [my] heart, with all the fire of my bones.

I yearn to see your honor, your beauty and your glory, when you will be uplifted and elevated, when you will grow in the beauty of your nature, when all of your wondrous special traits hidden within you will come out of potential and into actuality, when you will be planted and titazrach in the land of your nature, in the land of your beauty, and the harmony of your might and the height of your horn will be revealed to all directions.

“The nations will see your righteousness and all of the kings you honor, and call you with a new name that the mouth of Hashem has chosen. And you will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Hashem, and a diadem of royalty in the palm of your God.”

Chadarav, p. 183

If You Take Down the Bricks

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

If you take down the bricks of this flying tower one by one,
These bricks with which so many have been stoned,
These brickbats of thoughts concealed in windy towers,
These towers on sandy plains
Where princesses with great coils of hair cried,
Where princes climbed the narrow bridges of their tresses,
Where the kites of their imaginings whirled out of control in the sky,
Where the sun shone on the jerboa, who was hustling home with the news
Of new food to his mewling children,
Who writhed in the darkness like naked fingers,
Who basked in each others’ warmth and moistness.
The moistness in my bones causes my flesh to melt,
It causes the room to melt, that man with the pasty face
And my thoughts and my eyes and my ears and my shoes
And the whiteness behind the whiteness
And all the niggling boxes of my words
And the little cages where discontented gerbils mutter grievously.
Change just one eyeball every week,
One ear, one conscience, one brainpan,
One kneecap, one set of veins on the back of your hand,
Your children are sleeping in their warm small imaginations
And they seek the feel of your new limbs.

We Yearn to be Filled with Greatness

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Our goal is always directed not only to be redeemed from the narrow straits, not only to be healed of wounds and to be saved from sicknesses, not only to emerge from the conditions of poverty and from the dark of blindness—no!

A thirst to [do away with the] negative in itself depresses the spirit and does not give satisfaction to life.

It is not for this that we were brought into being by the Creator, He who is good and does good, the compassionate Father, the Source of all lovingkindness, all love and all compassion.

Rather, we yearn to be filled with greatness, great contentment in the soul, a fresh life filled with illumination in every corners to which we turn, Eden and infinite pleasure in every breath that we breathe, a never-sufficient youthfulness from the Source of the life of all worlds.

You, only You, Hashem—I seek Your greatness, I hope for it and I aspire to it.
And we come to the land of Israel, and we hope for deliverance, and we long for the redemption of the soul—but not to be saved from the chains of exile, not to escape the deformities of its sufferings that cause us to wear away.

No! Infinitely more than that—[we come] for the sake of revealing all of the light, for the sake of causing the streams of eternal life to flow from the Source of the holy of holies, from the Source of Israel, from the Source of [Israel’s] supernal soul, from the Source of that delightful love, [which comes from] the Rock of Ages, Who illumines for us with rays of glory a lovely land, the holy land, the land of life and the land of light.

“My soul longs and indeed expires for the courtyards of Hashem, my heart and my flesh will sing to the living God.”

How fortunate we are, we are blessed and fortunate with an eternal happiness and an exalted eternity.

“Fortunate are you Israel, who is like you, a nation saved by Hashem.”

Fortunate are you, [nation of] Israel, fortunate are you, fortunate are you.

Chadarav, 200-201

"How Miniscule Are Your Works, Hashem!"

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

In the worldly fields of knowledge about our sensory environment, we see that just as it is correct to say, “How great are Your works, Hashem,” so also should we exclaim in astonishment, “How miniscule are Your works, Hashem!”

Yes, just as we are filled with wonder at the great astronomical lights, at the vast distances filled with wondrous stars, and marvelous forces of nature, so also are we struck with wonder when we look at the depth of creation on the microscopic level, at the details of the limbs of the smallest living creatures, of the fineness of matter and the most sensitive forces in the most inaccessible planes.

Then, with a full knowledge of these two opposite poles, of such great size and such smallness, the picture of the universe is filled in a person’s heart in its proper dimension.

And the same applies to the Torah.

The totality of supernal concepts within Torah, in its general principles, in its supernal paths of justice and in its exalted spiritual wisdom show us the Torah’s complete world of greatness, its general concepts that are like the stars of the sky.

But it is precisely from that elevated perspective that we must realize that just as we find great wealth in those great principles, so also will he find mountains upon mountains, masses of original and precious insights in its every jot and title, in its every smallest detail. The precise definitions and the breadth developed in every branch grow into all the details of its leaves and shoots, to an immeasurable degree.

So then, even a person who very much tends to enjoy the greatness of mind that comes from contemplating expansive ideas will find it pleasant to engage in Torah for its own sake in the very finest of details.

Then he will succeed in attaining both the great and the small. “A great thing—that is the study of the mystical chariot; a small thing—those are the halachic discussions of Abaye and Rava.”

Orot Hatorah 3:8

The Newness of the Earth

by Yaacov David Shulman

The newness of the earth crackles like a log in the fire,
Like a cellophane wrapper,
Like a nuclear conflagration.
Radio towers stick up out of the earth
Like worried, frizzy hair.
The dawn rises with a tired, dusty yawn,
And the hills breathe the somnolent sleep
Of a hundred thousand dreams of earth and slow-flowing rivers of lava
Across mountain brains of massive thought.
Like Mexican jumping beans, our cars pop along their highways,
Our airplanes skitter through the atmosphere,
Our newspapers land upon our porches,
Are brought into the house, read and put out,
Day and night flicker,
Our babies grow up, become grandparents, are buried,
A pack of birds flits along the air currents,
A baby nurses from her mother.

The Intellectual Process of the Torah

by R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseszner rebbe)

A person is used to all kinds of intellectual processes the entirety of whose existence lacks intrinsic quality, essence and being, but only maintains an existence like the shadow of an object—which, even though it exists and it indicates the matter whose shadow it casts, itself is only of nothingness, without being.

After all, what being and essential quality does a person gain when he thinks that two times two equal four? True, his mind is now filled with knowledge and intellectual process—but what is the value of that knowledge and its existence? It is nothing—it has no strength and no being—it is like the existence of the shadow.

And if a person thinks, for instance, of a technique that someone discovered in mathematics, to calculate sums of fractions easily [paraphrase], does that bring him any closer to the person who devised this technique?

If the discoverer was wicked, will everyone who studies his techniques grow wicked? Or will a person purify himself and improve his ways if he studies the techniques of a pure and good person, since he is contemplating the intellectual achievements of that person?

He will gain nothing by doing this, for even though the existence of the intellectual process of the person who devised the technique is in his mind as he thinks of it, its existence is an existence of nothing, like a shadow.

And this understanding and habit that have become implanted in the minds of people regarding the mind and its actions are an understanding of a shadow and of nothingness.

There are some people who realize that the intellectual process of Torah is not like that of mundane matters (heaven forbid), that the Torah and its intellectual processes are the Holy of Holies, whereas other intellectual processes are trivial and mundane.

Nevertheless, in regard to how the intellectual process of the Torah affects a person at the time that he contemplates it, they err and think that it is comparable to that of the effect of any intellectual process. They do not purposely compare the effect of the intellectual process of the Torah to other intellectual processes.

However, they possess no other concept of the effect of the intellectual process on a person besides its trivial effect, the intellectual process of shadow and nothingness. Therefore, when they contemplate the effect of the intellectual process of the Torah on a person and fail to take into account its difference from the effect of other intellectual processes, they sin inadvertently, heaven forbid, since they think that the intellectual process of the Torah has the usual affect [of other intellectual processes] on the person who contemplates it.

That is to say, according to their concept of the effect of the intellectual process, its effect is one of nothingness.

That is like [the popular] conception of an angel. No matter how hard we may tell a simple person that [an angel] is not a man and does have a human image, when he thinks of an angel, he cannot help imagining it as looking like a person with wings. This is because his entire life his idea [of an angel] has been a messenger who speaks and acts. But [that kind of a description] only meant to give us some way of approaching the topic.

So even if we speak to them and explain that the light of the [divine] intellect is drawn down to a person who is engaged in contemplation, we will not make them any wiser, for they will pervert the very idea of this drawing down, as though it is like a more intelligent person who simplifies the description of a mathematical function so that a less intelligent person can understand it, and the like—which is, again, drawing down nothing.

This perverse error of equating all matters that are called “abstract” has cast down many victims.

If we call mathematics abstract, then everything abstract has a similar existence—so they think—and they do not stop to consider that mathematical concepts have no existence outside the human mind. A person thinks it [into being], and even in his mind its existence is no more than a shadow without tangibility.

Holy abstract matters, on the other hand, are like a soul, which has existence and tangibility—to the point that it vivifies and moves the body.

In this regard, we must proclaim that a person who errs in this matter, heaven forbid, does not believe in the holiness of the existence of the Torah and of how it is drawn down [into our lives].

The abstract quality of all holiness and Torah has intrinsic [being], unlike other things that are called abstract, but which are nothingness. The abstract quality, the spirituality, of the Torah and holiness has existence and being. Indeed, it is the essence of existence. Even the understanding of Torah that a person attains with his human understanding cannot be compared to any other understanding, heaven forbid. It transcends any human understanding.

The existence of the light of the intellectual process of the Torah and how it is drawn down are comparable to the existence and drawing down of the soul, which, even though the senses cannot feel it and it is abstract, nevertheless it is not abstract in the same manner as mathematics, which has no being, heaven forbid. To the contrary, it contains the essence of a person’s existence, and from it come his energy and all his being.

Mavo Hashaarim, pp. 194-196

The Cruelty to the Children of the Spirit

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The cruelty to the children of the spirit that are lost because I do not give them life by clothing them in the appropriate expressions for them, via which they would be able to appear in all their character, that cruelty embitters my heart, and fills me with spiritual languor and great anger of the spirit.

This is an echo of the proclamation, “Woe to people for the insult to Torah,” which comes forth every day from Mt. Chorev, which every individual hears on the tablet of his heart. And everything depends on how deep is the impression that remains of that hearing.

Indeed, repentance comes from hearing [that]. And the great compassion for strangled ideas will bring me to repent. [It will bring me] to an inner quickness, to express myself at breadth, with exactitude, in detail, that my soul will use to spring forth at every moment from the mass of feelings and ideal yearnings, which contain blessing for the individual and for the many, for the Jewish people and for mankind.

I will no longer tell my heart to be astonished and desolate, or entirely taken up with plans that are not the essence of the yearning of my soul. But I will indeed return to that inner, pure content, which my spirit within me constantly awaits.

“And I will wed you to me forever, and I will bind you with justice and with justice, and with kindness and with compassion. And I will bind you to me with faith and you shall know Hashem.”

Chadarav, p. 64

The Mole of Responsibility

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The mole of responsibility came crawling along my marrow,
It sniffed with its inquisitive snout
The thick rich earth of my cerebrum,
It descended into the belly of self-satisfaction
And laid down its head on its paws and slept.
In the morning it had transformed itself into a glowing lion
That stood staring at me across the restaurant floor,
I could barely bring my spoon to my lips,
I left my croissant untasted.
All about me I saw people sitting at tables
With moles burrowing through their marrow,
Their faces looked pinched and they called for more coffee
And Kahlua.
That lion’s hair was glowing and he looked ready to eat me alive,
So I quickly leapt into his maw and I said,
“Gallop, mighty lion, gallop!”
And we are galloping still.

A Cloud Like a Buffalo

by Yaacov David Shulman

A cloud like a buffalo pushed its massive shoulders through the membranes of my dreams,
Dreams of valleys turned to liquid slow-motion torquing birds
And my heart went out
And came back into the street with its silence
Resonating the growl of morning car transmissions
And a dog bark of calligraphic yips
Springing against the swift stinging white paper.
No more falling into cotton mysteries,
Death has been gazing down from the high-rise apartment building
For two decades,
Sometimes we meet in the elevator.
Sometimes on the beach sandy pebbles press against my soles
And there is a rush of sound and chatter.

How Elevated It Is

by Rav Avraham Yitchak Kook

How elevated it is, how much concealed truth and song it is—the mystical thought that man affects all of existence from the aspect of his spiritual power.

The light of life within free will, which can rise when a person chooses good (with strength, might and wisdom), rises to an extremely elevated realm, whose worth no space [is large enough] to contain.

How wondrous is the moral perspective that emerges from such a form of great responsibility, a responsibility for all existence, for all worlds. [This responsibility comes] because a person has the power to increase within [those worlds] grace and light, life, joy and glory, when he walks upon a straight path, when he strengthens and girds himself with a pure might to master the ways of a good and mighty life, and rises from strength to strength.

But [on the other hand] it is within his power to cause pain in [life’s] every good portion if he lowers his spirit, if he corrupts his ways, if he darkens his spiritual light, if he ceases his moral purity.

The high moral peak [that a person] builds when he takes into account the [entire] world, so great and splendid—with its appearance, [that moral awareness] refines his spirit to the point that it can no longer be degraded. [His spirit then] rises upon over the walls and towers of all existence, of all being, of all the eternity and loveliness of all the worlds—so that, with their assistance, it is protected from all evil.

How could the quality of evil [possibly] rise up to take a portion of the life of [this] man and his deeds, when such an exalted and elevated awareness as this is spread out before him?

It is true that [this person’s] previous moral corruption can close his eye so that will not be able to gather the strength to see the clear light of that universal awareness, that his ear might be uncircumcised, dulled by sins, until it can by no means heed the voice of God calling powerfully from the midst of the elevated moral wealth, which encompasses the entirety of eternal worlds.

But if only a good thought of once more being sanctified and purified from all sin rises upon his heart, then his eye is opened and his ear grows keen. And the voice of God powerfully calls to him from the entire totality of worlds to transcend the dwelling places of darkness and to rise with that great spiritual elevation that is fitting for his great responsibility over all being, which is spread out before him.

**

The knowledge that man is the central meaning of all reality expands his moral responsibility and arouses his desire to do great things.

After the form of the physical world has been made great by means of many revelations, then [our] knowledge presents us with free rule in the form of man. And this revelation [within man] is the most elevated concentrated essence of being. This is because life is certainly the concentrated essence of insensible reality. And the concentrated essence of life is free rule, which comes to the height of its strength when it unifies with the absolute good, and as it appearance in actuality in the most possible form.

Orot Hakodesh, pp. 63-64

It Breaks Walls of Bronze...

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

Our soul is great, strong and mighty. It breaks walls of bronze, it bursts mountains and hills. It is infinitely broad, it must spread out. It is impossible for it to shrink.

Over all our twelve million Jewish souls on all their levels, in all their ascents and descents, on all the hills that they have climbed and in all the valleys into which they have descended, in all the heights of the city where they stand at the very pinnacle, in all the burrows where they hid from the oppression of disgrace and shame, toil and affliction, in all of them, in all of them our soul spreads, it embraces them all, it revives and encourages them all, it returns them all to the site of the house of our life.

“Who are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their cotes” (Isaiah 60:8).

Chadarav, p. 190

The Avocado Sandwich of History

by Yaacov Dovid Shulman

The restaurant was serving
The avocado sandwich of history.
It was enriched by slices of hard-boiled egg.
Hard-boiled men came swaggering through the swinging doors,
They had neglected to wash their hands.
At the other tables
Families huddled in the dark
Around the light of lone candles,
With grips at their side.

Oh and there was one of the statesmen,
He was ready to order.
His diction was superb.
He asked for a slice of land,
The flank, without fat,
The south done rare,
The north fully broiled—
I could see his guests at the table
With eye patches and bandannas,
Their dinner knives already in their hands,…
What a meal!
They chewed so loudly,
You could hear the bones snapping
(At the curb, big white trucks with water cannon
Stood ready to clear the spinach from between their teeth).

A flood of sudsy water rolled out from the kitchen,
History is over, cried the janitor,
But they kept on eating,
Their eyes gleamed in the light that burned from candles
Made of scrolls and words and buried desires,
And the radio chattered so loudly
With static and brute phrases
And stale laughter and sports figures
That everyone else in the restaurant
Gazed with despair at their flambeaux.
And the hair of the statesmen grew thicker and whiter,
And whatever they said was transcribed onto paper napkins
And immediately transported to the kitchen,
As, in a corner of the restaurant,
Two health inspectors were wrestling on the ground
(Each one wanted to be in charge,
They disagreed vigorously with each other’s methods),
And one of the crew called for deviled eggs,
And from a dark table
A meek sheep-faced man sibilantly asked for angel food cake
And closed his eyes and chewed silently.

And to my immense surprise, the restaurant stayed open.
The sun had long since set,
It should have been time for breakfast.
Where were the truckers, bringing fresh eggs and fresh bread?

I am sitting in the restaurant still,
The statesmen are squabbling over scraps of squab,
They are leaning over and biting the corpse of a horse
Lying on a bed of rice,
They are dragging other patrons’ tables to themselves
And sweeping off the ratatouille.
More statesmen have been invited to the feast,
They keep pouring into the restaurant,
Mafiosi with shiny cheekbones,
Two sheiks riding camels,
The Queen of Spain (they had to exhume her,
And she is still brushing clumps of earth from her eye sockets),
Make room for Hugo (I love his smile),
There’s Ahmadinejad, he’s got his own table,
And three thousand centrifuges are wheeled out from the kitchen,
There’s the fellow without a chin, with the weak mustache,
He’s banging his fork and demanding service,
And the maitre d’, in a star-spangled top hat
Is racing back and forth, pointing out seats,
But no one is paying him any mind
(Except for the King of Saudi Arabia,
Who sticks a five dollar bill up his nose)
And the wine waiter comes out
With a map of the world folded over his arm
And a bottle of aquifer water
That he swiped from a silent table,
And there is Condi,
“I have organized this special evening!”
But no one paying any attention to her,
They are watching Ehud Olmert tap-dancing,
He is wearing a bear costume and singing mah yafit,
As the head of the Israeli Tax Authority is picking pockets,
The Minister of Defense is looking through capped binoculars,
The Minister of Justice has cornered one of the waitresses,
The Chief of Staff is on his cell phone, trading stock options,
The head of the opposition is giving a speech
(He is standing on top of his rivals to make himself taller),
Yosef Beilin is greeted warmly, he is wearing his rubber mask,
Stalin or Chirac (it’s hard to tell which),
Oh and there’s Shimon,
He’s casting handfuls of rose petals and singing of a new Middle—
Oof! That clumsy oaf Mubarak has knocked him down again!
Olmert is still dancing,
His big eyes are solemn, he is tired, he says, of winning dance contests,
But “Dance, varmint!” shouts that gun-slinger, Abbas,
Two million rounds of ammunition are slung around his neck.
The president of Malaysia has been invited as well,
And the washer women of Dubai,
The hat check girl from Casablanca shows up
And the plenipotentiary of Brazil,
For this dinner must not be allowed to fail,
Condoleeza Rice is still yelling in the corner,
For we all have a stake!

Ehud Olmert is being wheeled into the kitchen,
The crowd stares at the door
(The Minister for the Environment looks carefully around,
As he riffles through wallets).
Out pops Olmert, he is dragging a sacrificial lamb,
The hubbub starts up again.

When I sneak out of the restaurant, it is four in the morning,
The stars are still shining, the moon is waning and waxing like crazy,
I turn on the car radio, Shlomo Carlebach is singing.
Oh I hope this is a tune I haven’t heard before!