"Taking Out" is Higher Than "Raising"

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The descents in human history are for the purpose of ascent. If man were not destined to blossom on a very exalted level, he would not descend. [He would have] accepted and integrated the natural state of the seven Noahide commandments.

However, [because man’s] powers are great, he does not accept a situation with brief guidelines, but must expand his physical and spiritual life.

Therefore, the world has descended even below [the minimal requirements of] Noahide law. [Instead,] the abominations of the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan have increased.

The Holy One, blessed be He, raised us from Egypt, if for no other reason that [we] did not pollute ourselves with crawling creatures. This concept of being raised is sufficient to return to a level of rectified humanity.

However, that is not enough. In [addition, the verse states,] “I took you out of the land of Eygpt.” In the Torah, “taking out” is more central than “raising.” Even if the nations had not descended so drastically but had maintained their natural state of being, it still would have been necessary for [the Jews to] be “taken out” [of Egypt] in order that [the people of] Israel alone be uplifted.

But in truth, it is all connected, because it is altogether impossible for a lowly state of being to last. Therefore, a great state of being is necessary--and the greatest state of being comes only by means of Israel.

At the incident of the golden calf, [the Jews] said, “These are your gods, Israel, which raised you from the land of Eygpt”—[meaning,] to be no more than a natural nation. But that was an error. The hand of Hashem had no need whatsoever to be revealed for this (nor would there be a need for humanity to descend if it were not destined for an honored and elevated position).

The letter vov in the word “that raised you up” saved [the Jews], for [it indicates that] they did acknowledge an advantage to the holiness of Israel—however, they thought that they would be able to make use of natural humanity and be educated by it, with an additional element of the guidance of supernal holiness that might find a place with an elite—and for that, they had an example amidst the nations of special priests of the supernal God, elevated men.

But not like these is the portion of Jacob, for [the nation of Israel] is all a seed of truth. “Hashem leads it alone and there is no foreign god with it.”
Kevatzim Miktav Yad Kasho