It Is Impossible Not To Love Hashem

It is completely impossible not to love Hashem.

And it is completely impossible that this power of sweet, necessary love will not blossom into action, into a love of engaging in deeds that relate to goodness, in terms of attaining the light of Hashem.

It is impossible not to love the Torah and the commandments, which are so connected to the goodness of Hashem.

It is impossible not to love that which is honest and just, that good and excellent order which brings good to all, which is well-connected to the truth of existence and to the thought of the heart, with an excellent connection that is so great and splendor that we call it “the desire of Hashem.”

But higher than all this and unique beyond all this, bringing pleasantness to the soul of all, beyond the plane to which any thought can rise, it is impossible not to be filled with love for every creature, because the flow of the light of Hashem shines in everything, so that everything is a revelation of the dearness of the pleasantness of Hashem.

“The kindness of Hashem has filled the earth.”

Orot Hakodesh IV, p. 390

The Secretary in the Forest

I heard the following story from a reliable person, who heard it from someone who had met an exceedingly old man who possessed remarkable strength.

That [old man] told a story about the holy Worke rebbe, when the holy rebbe was young and a secretary in a forest [in a lumber operation]. And there was also a treasurer there there. And [this old man] was a worker there--called a gei’avi—and there were other workers there as well.

One time, the treasurer suspected the gentiles of stealing wood from the forest. So he told the servants to watch for thieves in the forest that night, and if they caught a thief they would be given half of the fine [that the thief would have to pay]. And that is what they did they did.

Suddenly that night this worker saw the secretary going through the forest. And he was very surprised, because it is not normal for a secretary to look for thieves at night. So he kept an eye on him and saw that he was going to a pit filled with worms and muravkes (leeches[?]). The secretary took off his clothes and went in naked, until blood streamed from his entire body. And near by was a pit filled with water, and he immersed in it and went home.

The worker discreetly kept an eye on the secretary the next night and the following nights, and the secretary did the same each night. And the worker kept this matter hidden in his heart, considering the secretary to be a holy man but not revealing it to anyone.

One time the treasurer celebrated his new-born son’s circumcision, and before the circumcision he gathered all of the workers and gave them pastries and vodka, as is the custom.

Afterwards, he asked them to bless him that the boy should grow up.

They asked him, “What particular blessing do you want us to give you?”

He told them that whenever he had had a son, either before or immediately after the circumcision the baby passed away.

This worker could not contain himself and told the treasurer, “I have to tell you that the only person who can help you is our secretary. He will help you, because he is a holy man.” And he told him the whole story.

So the treasurer sent for the secretary and gave him pastry and vodka. And then he brought him into a room and closed the door. And he said, “Please bless me.” And he told him of his trouble.

The secretary said to him, “What do you want from me? Am I a rabbi or a rebbe?”

The treasurer told him, “Don’t conceal yourself from me, for I have learned that you are a holy man.” And his wife also wept before the secretary, out of the bitterness of her soul, and she said, “Save me, my master!”

And since the secretary saw that he had no alternative, he sat on the seat and held his holy hands before his face for a few minutes. And then he said to the treasurer, “Once when you were a boy you were playing with other children, and you took a ring and put it on the twig of a tree and said, ‘Behold, you are betrothed to me.’ One of the beings from the Side of Evil was sitting there, and it is she who is killing your babies.”

The treasurer remembered the episode. He wept and asked the secretary what to do.

The secretary asked for paper. He made lines and wrote some text on the paper, and he told the treasurer to go to a tree that he would point out and tell the tree, “I give this to you as divorce papers.”

And the secretary stood there by the window and gazed out until the treasurer finished and returned to him.

And the secretary told the treasurer, “You have already been saved.”

And so it was.

And this worker was standing there and saw all this. And since he realized that this was a propitious moment, he said to the secretary, “Bless me too.” And the secretary blessed with him with long life.

And then the secretary left the area, since he saw that people were beginning to notice him.

And that secretary was our holy rebbe of Worke.

Esser Zechuyot

The Essence of Learning Torah

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The essence of learning Torah “for its own sake” can only come about via this preparation of understanding accompanied by feeling of how all of the details of the Torah are beloved with a holy love, and how the universal light, which is filled with life and which brings life to the world, penetrates all of [the Torah’s] details.

Orot Hatorah 2:7

Learning Torah

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

The foundation of learning Torah “for its own sake” depends upon the enhancement of the strength of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us.

The more we draw forth from [the Congregation of Israel and] into actuality branches of perceptions and breadth of feelings, the more do we enhance its power and cause it to shine.

And in so doing, we enhance the Torah itself, which is the spiritual aspect of the true life of the Congregation of Israel, which is concealed within us and hidden within the entire Torah and in each of its details.

Orot Hatorah 2:6

We Raise in Holiness, and We Do Not Bring Down

by R. Nosson of Nemirov

“We raise up in holiness and we do not bring down” (Berachot 28).

Would it occur to anyone to bring holiness down, heaven forbid?

But the following is the meaning of this statement.

There are some holy people who are so truly great that because of their essential holiness they cannot bear people, and because they are so incredibly holy, they push away and push down people whom they are angry at, because they cannot tolerate their corrupt actions.

But this is not what God wants, for “He desires kindness,” and he wants those who are righteous to have compassion on the Jewish people constantly and bring them close, however they may be.

And even if He Himself is very angry at them because of their wicked deeds, He wants the righteous people to pray for them and bring them close.

Thus, when Moshe removed his tent from the camp (Exodus 33) because the Jews had sinned so much, our sages teach that God said, “If I am angry and you are angry, they who will bring them back?”

So do we find regarding a number of prophets and saintly men to whom God Himself complained about His great suffering, as it were, because of the many sins of the Jews—yet when they ratified His worlds and did not defend the Jews, He grew very stern with them.

That was the case with Hosea (Pesachim 87) and Elijah, who said, “I have been exceedingly zealous…” Kings 19), to which God responded, “Anoint Elisha son of Shefat as prophet in your place”—meaning, state our sages, that God told him, “I do not want your prophecy, because you accuse the Jews” (Yalkut Shimoni).

This is because God wants us only to defend the Jews and have compassion on them, even the lowest, bringing them all to God, like Moses, who was entirely dedicated to help the Jews, and who said, “And if not, then wipe me out…” (Exodus 32).

And so “we raise in holiness”—the more we toil and reach holiness and come closer to understanding the divine, the more souls must we raise up, and not bring down—i.e., we must take care not to lower other souls due to our own holiness—i.e., we should not grow unforgiving of the Jews even if we attain great holiness and awareness of God, which makes it impossible for us to tolerate lowly people, until we might grow angry at them and might lower them, heaven forbid…

Rather, we must “Raise in holiness and not lower,” for when a person comes to a higher level and achieves greater understanding, he must shrewdly make new constrictions, utilizing wondrous strategies, so that he will be able to bring many people ever closer, and heal even the lowest and the very ill.

Likutei Halachot, Orach Chaim, Hashkamat Haboker 4

The Good of the Entire World

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook

There are some tzaddikim who are so great and mighty that they are unable to restrict themselves to the Congregation of Israel, but are constantly worried and concerned about the good of the entire world.

Nevertheless, they too are connected at their inner core to the Congregation of Israel, because the Congregation of Israel is the essence of the good and the most elevated of the entire world. And when the Congregation of Israel receives love and goodness, it surrounds all creation.

Such tzaddikim cannot be “nationalistic” in the external sense of the world, for they cannot tolerate any hatred and any injustice, any constriction or limitation of goodness and kindness. Instead, they are good to all, in accordance with the traits of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is good to all and Whose compassion extends to all of His creatures.

Nevertheless they are mighty as they gaze toward salvation, for they know clearly and believe with the entirety of their pure being that the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Hashem, is the salvation of the entire world and everything in it, from the highest heights to the lowest depths.

And these supernal tzaddikim, these supernal pious people, who are connected to the ropes of lovingkindness and the light of truly supernal love, hold onto their great trait, the trait of a supernal lovingkindness, and they seek constantly the good of every individual and all creation.

And in the midst of that drive, they involve themselves devotedly and with a wondrous soul connection to the needs of Israel, in all generations and in all seasons, in all ways, in all frameworks and in all avenues.

And it is they who tend toward lovingkindness, who love to justify people and have no desire to condemn them, who love justice and hate evil, who cling to the trait of our patriarch Abraham.

And in the midst of a broad love of all creation, a wondrous love of Israel enters their heart. And since it is constricted into a concentrated place, after having been greatly spread out in an immense breadth, it is exceedingly mighty and powerful, and causes great waves to pass through the soul, until it has the power to warm many souls and to place the holy fire of the love of Israel into the depths of their heart and soul, in a great and mighty measure that leads to deed—even without any action on their part.

Their soul streams forth a wondrous love of Israel. And out of the great flame of their spiritual light comes the life power of all the good deeds of the nationalists, those who are truly dedicated to the affairs of the nation. This is because the root of all life and all goodness is to be found in the soul of the supernal tzaddikim, who stand beyond all the trivial matters that regularly fill the heart of most people.

And in the concealed place of their spirit, the seeds of ideals grow. And from their aristocratic spirit these spread in every direction. And each seed takes root in its proper place, where it sprouts. “And the sprout of Hashem will be a thing of pride and beauty for the remainder of His nation.”

Orot Hakodesh III pp. 349-350

The Passover Seder's Fifteen Sections

By R. Moshe Grunwald (author of Arugat Habosem)

Kadesh. A person who wishes to sanctify (kadesh) himself and return to God should not be frightened by the words of the evil inclination that he cannot repent—rather, he should trust that God will help him purify himself.

Urchatz—as related to the word rachitz, to trust. And “when a person accepts the yoke of Torah, the yoke of the government and the yoke of earning a living are removed from him” (Avot 3:5). That brings us to:

Karpas. The commentators state that this can be read as perekh samech (the hard labor of 600,000). And so:

Karpas yachatz. One should break–yachatz—the yoke of the samech-mem—the evil inclination—by sanctifying oneself and trusting in God, accepting upon oneself the yoke of His rule. Then:

Maggid rachtza. It is not enough to sanctify oneself, but one should accept the obligation to teach others (maggid) the ways of God and to tell them to wash (rachtza) and purify and remove the evil of their deeds. “No sin comes about through a person who improves others” (Avot 5:18). And our sages state as well that the verse, “When Hashem approves of the ways of a person, then even his enemies make peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7), refers to the evil inclination(Bereishit Rabbah 55:1)—a person who teaches the Jewish people to cleanse themselves of their sins will find that in the end even his evil inclination will make peace with him and he will not have to battle against it. And so:

Motzi matzah—he will remove (motzi) any conflict (matzah) he has with it.

One might therefore say, such a person will then be dependent on others, seeing that he does not work to earn a living—and our sages state, “The dove said to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘I would rather have my livelihood as bitter as an olive ... [than depend on others]’” (Eiruvin 18b). But the Peleh writes on the verse, “They call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20), that such a person makes the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter—such a person turns the whole world around (Panim Yafot, Beshelach, L’maan anasenu). For example, the entire world was sustained because of the sage Chanina. And so:

Maror Korech. That bitterness (maror) will be covered over (karuch). And the reason is that he does not depend on another. To the contrary:

Shulchan orech. Others are fed because of him. And if you say that as a result, his reward in the world-to-come is diminished, we learn:

Tzafun barech. As the Peleh comments, we say in the Grace After Meals, “he has mercy and life and peace and everything good”—yet nevertheless, we continue, “he does not lack the eternal good.” (That which is hidden in the world-to-come will continue to be blessed.)

And just as a person works to increase the praise of God in this world, so will he praise Him in the world to come: Hallel Nirtzah (praise that is accepted).

Kadesh Urchatz Redux

On this night, when it is a mitzvah to tell of the exodus from Egypt and to guide people to serve God, this list indicates how a person who wishes to be a leader should act. First:

Kadesh urchatz. Sanctify and cleanse yourself as in the verse, “Adorn yourself …” Zephaniah 2:1; cf. Bava Metzia 107b). Then:

Karpas yachatz. Break your desires and corporeality. And then:

Maggid—tell others:

Rachtza—wash in the waters of awareness.

But one must guard oneself from three things:

Motzi matzah—not to say things that might arouse conflict. And also:

Maror Korech—and not to explicate things that are bitter but wrap them in words of Torah that are sweeter than honey. And also:

Shulchan orech-as Rashi says in Mishpatim: “Do not say I will teach them two or three times and not bother myself to make them understand the reason for things. The verse states ‘Place before them’—i.e., like a prepared table set for a meal.” And another piece of advice:

Tzafun barech—as Alshich comments on “when you reprove a fool he will hate you, reprove a wise person and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8): “and when you reprove someone, don’t call him evil—to the contrary, say, ‘Is it possible that someone as wise as you should do such a thing?’” As our sages say, “when a person rebukes someone for his sin, he should bless from the depths of their heart that it is good. As the verse states “Their hearts did not turn back …’ (Psalms 44:19). And then:

Hallel nirtzah. They will praise his deeds and he will be accepted by God.