[Avodah] RAYK and the end of chol

[Michael Makovi]

>  Therefore, RAYK expected the masses to somehow show that progression to
>  universal qedushah. However, it could still be in a semirevealed form.
>  The misguided idealist who is holy in his idealism but a sinner in his
>  choice of ideal.
>
>  But the whole zerichas hashemesh model of geulah didn't stand up that well
>  to subsequent events. He wrote before WWII, after all.
>
>  And since his day, there was far from a rise in idealism. ...
> The competition to Yahadus is a vapid
>  culture, not what RAYK would forsee in the hayday of Communism. And over
>  in Israel, the Communism of the kibbutzim is over, Zionism gave way to
>  post-Zionism, Israel too had is Yeled vaKelev generation, etc...
>
>  RAYK thought that the world was in an accelerated path to the geulah.
>
> R' Micha Berger

Everything you just used to say Rav Kook was wrong, Rav Kook already
responded to.

Rav Kook said that his generation was idealistic and simply didn't
know how to express it, and he was confident that soon they'd learn.
You protest that time has proven him wrong, because rather than
improving, subsequent generations have only gotten worse, and now that
lack not only religiosity but even Zionism too (i.e. post-Zionism).

But Rav Kook himself said that the future generations would throw away
all Torah and Judaism, and be left with nothing of those, b'klal.
Without Torah, all their Zionism had no basis - a Jew removed from
Torah is like a flower from water and soil, and while it can live for
a while, and perhaps even appear to thrive, it will eventually die.
Zionism without Torah has a very fleeting lifespan, before people
start crying that the Arabs have equal rights and we have no right to
the land and that we all ought to return to Europe since we want to be
just like them anyway, etc.

(As an aside: Rabbi Isidore Epstein in The Faith of Judaism, quotes a
gentile whose name I cannot remember, to the effect that while it
appears that one can have morality sans religion, this is only a
temporary thing - R' Epstein says the flower can live for a time
without water and soil, and so too morality can live for a short time
without religion. But sooner or later, they both will wilt and die.
Secular morality is simply running on the momentum of religious
morality, and eventually it will run out of steam, and then it will
have no motivating power source left.

Perhaps we can say that similarly, secular Zionism fed on centuries of
traditional Jewish pining for Tzion, and borrowed its steam and
momentum. But eventually, without any drive or power of its own,
secular Zionism will conflate itself with left-wing assimilationism
and secularism and such. In any case...)

Rav Kook said the generations would get progressively worse (having
run out of steam, etc.), and eventually, we'd think they were totally
gone and the whole Zionistic experiment was a failure, and everyone
will proclaim that the seculars in fact were NOT idealistic, and also,
"back to the ghetto - Zionism was a flop as we said it was all
along!".

So he said there'd be post-Zionism - more, he said that that which
resurrected the state of
Israel in our days is enough to have *killed* a *healthy* state of
Israel in the 1st/2nd Temple periods!

But, he said, this would all pave the way for a total disillusionment
- they'd see that several
generations of secularism (long after his death) led nowhere, and
eventually, at long last, they'd finally turn to Torah in a sudden rebound.

------------------------------

Rav Hirsch says much the same as Rav Kook: Bereshit mem-tet pasuk yud:
Lo yasur shevet mei-yehuda u-m-chokek mibein raglav ad ki yavo shiloh
v-lo yik'hat amim. Rav Hirsch translates (according to the old English
translation): The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the
law-inscribing style from between his feet, ***until the last weak
sprout comes, and to him, then virilely strong, the effete weakness of
the nations will turn***.

He explains:
Shin-yud-lamed-hei can be derived from shin-vav-lamed, the lower hem
of a garment, and denote the extreme end. Jacob is lying here on his
death bed, at the very beginning of the nation of which the foundation
stone has hardly been laid, and looks down the centuries at the last
"sprout from the stem" of Judah. The suffix vav is written with hei to
indicate weakness (feminine I.L. [Isaac Levi, translator - Mikha'el
Makovi]) and by calling the last generation shilo, Jacob says: - that
time will come when the malkhut beit david will appear at it lowest
deepest end, and Judah no longer as ari, strong as a lion, but
femininely weak, and one will think that it has reached its final
state where Judah's strength and virility will almost have
disappeared, and then - just then when the undertakers of
world-history will already have ordered the coffin for Judah's body
apparent come to its end, lo yik'hat amim, it will it will manfully
arise and to th  yik'hat will come.

Yik'hat, root yud-kuf-hei, identical with kuf-hei-hei (like
yud-aleph-lamed and aleph-lamed-aleph, yud-ayin-lamed and
ayin-yud-hei, yud-samech-fei and samech-fei-hei, yud-fei-het and
fei-het-hei, yud-fei-taf and fei-taf-hei) to become stunted, dull.
Thus, of the eye that mocks at the lik'hat eim the dullness of the old
mother (Prov. XXX.17). Here also, the dullness, the senile weakness of
humanity come to its end, and the world at large, have become worn out
and dull, have lived through everything, tried and tested everything,
feels that the some new regeneration spirit must come, and this, that
las sprout from the stem of Judah will bring.

So if we put this back into Rav Hirsch's translation of the pasuk:
"until the last weak sprout [of Judah, being weak, and all the nations
have declared him far-gone, a relic, a fossil - Toynbee] comes, and to
him, then [Judah suddenly being] virilely strong, the effete weakness
of the nations [who previously were strong and laughed at weak Judah,
they] will turn.

Already, we have seen that Orthodoxy was declared in the early 1900s,
and in the WWII era Judaism and the Jewish people were declared dead.
Now, we are seeing all the idealism of secularism crashing. Europe has
a negative birthright and Arabs are flooding in, and no one knows how
to fight radical Islam, etc. etc. Moreover, Rav Hirsch said that "and
the world at large, have become worn out and dull, have lived through
everything, tried and tested everything" - the world has tried every
philosophy under the sun, and nothing has brought satisfaction and
peace. The world "feels that the some new regeneration spirit must
come, and this, that las sprout from the stem of Judah will bring".

I brought so much of Rav Hirsch's words because I thought they were
valuable in and of themselves. But what I really want to focus on is
that last section - what Rav Hirsch says the world will do (have gone
through everything, and finally look at Judaism), is what Rav Kook
says the Jewish people will do - they will have tried every secular
philosophy, and finally, out of desperation, they'll finally try
Torah. (Cf. From Central Park to Sinai, where the author literally
tried almost every religion he could, for ten years, before he finally
deigned to try Torah.)

So Ravs Kook and Hirsch say the same regarding disillusionment and
return, except Rav Kook speaks of Jews specifically, whereas Rav
Hirsch speaks of mankind.

-------------------------

R' Micha, in a private message, vaguely referred to the Holocaust
disproving Rav Kook. He suggested that Rav Kook thought darkness would
segue to sunrise, and he didn't know that the Holocaust would come. Of
course, R' Micha can respond himself with more detail. But in the
meantime, I'll say for now:

I'm sure Rav Tzvi Yehuda said something about the Holocaust - I cannot
imagine that he taught his father's philosophy without every
mentioning it.

However, I myself will say that the Holocaust has nothing to do
anything here: Rav Kook is referring to the loss and regain of
idealism and Torah by the Jewish people, and the Holocaust is an
external event not caused by the Jews. Any objection has to be that
the Jews are not returning to Torah as Rav Kook thought they would,
not that the Nazis didn't behave according to what Rav Kook said the
Jews would do.

In fact, the Holocaust has been compared to the Dry Bones prophesy,
and it has been said that if the 3 Oaths have any halachic validity
(which is itself questionable), then certainly the Holocaust dashes
them away - see Rabbi Shlomo Aviner's essay on Yashar Book's Open
Access, that the Shoah is
1) A violation of the third oath not to oppress us, thereby freeing us
of our obligation, and
2) A Divine Remembrance - the Shoah is all of galut crammed into one
singularity of suffering, fulfilling our entire chiyuv to be punished
and/or educated in galut, and thus cleansing us in one get-go.

And surely no one can miss the fact that immediately after the Shoah
came 1948. I'm sure both of the two Rav Kooks would have something to
say about this.

According to Torat Eretz Yisrael: The Teachings of HaRav Tzvi Yehuda
HaCohen Kook (English adaption of Sichot haRav Tzvi Yehuda), we find
the following:

Pages 364-5:
The Gaon of Vilna concludes: 'And we are now rising to a resurrection
of the dead. Waking up. Rising from the dust. And an exalted spirit
will rest upon us.' 42 The end of the Galut is revealed. The Guardian
of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. The Geula is compelled to
appear. 43 The dead return to life. And even the evil doers, who are
called dead in their lifetime, 44 come to return in repentance. 45

Any intelligent person, who looks with open eyes on what has happened
to us in recent generations, will understand this as the work of
Hashem who, Names generations from the beginning. 46 In the past
generation, the impurity of the gentiles, and their greatest evil was
seen (the Holocaust), and now, the time of the Exile's end has
arrived. The atmosphere of the world is compelled to purify and
cleanse itself from this contamination of devastating impurity.

The eternity of Israel advances onward and appears with splendor, with
valor, with Kedusha and purity, and with Hashem's magnifying and
glorifying Torah. 47 Baruch Hashem, our revival can be seen in all
corners of the Land. More and more people are returning to Torah and
to spiritual health, even if there are still Jews in our midst who are
called 'not religious.'

42. Likutei haGra, at the end of Safra D'Tzniuta
43. The dead which Ezekiel saw...this was a metaphor. Sanhedrin 92B.
"A metaphor - it hinted to them that the Galut was like a dead man who
returns to life. Likewise, Israel will return from the Galut." Rashi,
there.
44. According to Berachot 18B.
45. See, Responsa of the Maharshdam, Orach Chaim, 17.
46. Isaiah, 41:4.
47. Isaiah, 42:21.

Chapter 10, "The Holocaust", pages 259ff - I will summarize:

- Those who stayed in Europe perished, those who made aliyah lived.

- Many try to figure out why. Some say that it was because of
reformers or secular zionists. Rav Tzvi Yehuda said this has a few
problems: (1) It isn't historically comprehensive, (2) It fragments
the klal, blaming only one group not the entire nation. The klal is a
unity, a unified whole, and one is myopic if he tries to break it up
into segments without keeping its unity in mind. It's not a question
of lacking ahavat yisrael, but rather, it's simply objectively and
factually wrong and will lead to wrong conclusions. Am Yisrael cannot
be segmented into factions. (3) Criticizing Hashem is a grave sin
stemming from lack of emuna [My note: Tzarich iyun, because in plenty
of places we learn that questioning G-d is healthy; eg, Avraham at
Sodom, Job, etc. I don't know if Rav Tzvi Yehuda is saying b'klal, or
if he is speaking of a certain kind of criticizing. Perhaps if one
criticizes G-d as a loving child full of faith, and implores Him to
keep that which He has promised ("Shall not the judge of the world do
justly?") there is no problem. The footnote quotes Sotah 42A on
scorners, so perhaps we are dealing with questioning G-d in a
disrespectful or scornful way. I don't know - tzarich iyun. Any
students of Rav Tzvi Yehuda around? If not, maybe I can invite my
teacher Rabbi Moshe Kaplan to join the chevra...]

 - We cannot comprehend G-d. Expecting the Holocaust to be rational
according to our limited understanding, is childish and immature and
shows a lack of emuna. "One mustn't subject Hashem to our reasoning
and perception. Only after we understand this, its it possible to
approach, in fear and awe, a comprehension of a tiny part of the
Holocaust. [The following is bold in the original text] In our
generation, we have seen an awesome new form of destruction (the
Holocaust), and an incredible new revival and building (the State of
Israel). [end bold] There are people who don't agree with this order
of Divine Providence. they become confused when they encounter these
events. ... These people think that things happen accidentally,
randomly, without cause. But the truth is that nothing happens
randomly. There isn't a thing which transpires that isn't done
according to the Providence of the Almighty. Not only do the good
events, but also the things which appear evil to us happen according
to the Divine plan."

- We are not healthy in galut (galut = graveyard), and eventually the
time comes to resurrect us - Ezekiel dry bones. But when we fail to
come home, an upheaval is needed. He quotes the  Siddur Beit Yaakov,
Kol Korai (R' Alkalai), Eim haBanim Semeicha, Meshech Chochmah, the
Netziv's Haggadah, the Gra, the Chafetz Chaim, and Rav Kook the elder,
all to the effect that if we fail to come willingly to Eretz Yisrael
(because Berlin = Jerusalem), G-d will force us to and that EY will be
the ir miklat. Rav Tzvi Yehuda compares this to the slave who refuses
freedom at the end of six years - G-d has shown the end of galut, and
we try to remain there. But we cannot remain there, the chillul hashem
cannot continue, and so G-d forces us out. [However, is this not
blaming a specific sector of Judaism, viz. the non-Zionists? Rav Tzvi
Yehuda answers this objection, saying that we are not criticizing one
sector, but rather the entire klal, anyone in the klal, whether
religious or not, charedi or modern, etc, who repeats the sin of the
spies.Tzarich iyun. In any case, Rav Tzvi Yehuda's argument is very
similar to Eim haBanim Semeicha's, which was written during the
Holocaust. - M.M.]

- "The Holocaust uproote the Jewish people from Europe. Suddenly,
after two thousand years, in the wake of the Holocaust, the Jewish
people returned to Israel. This is not happenstance. There is no
denying the inner connection of these two awesome events."

-------------------------

>  : ... Also, compare Torah im Derech
>  : Eretz to Rav Kook's view of learning chol, "sanctify the chol by
>  : infusing it with kodesh". Rav Kook and Rav Hirsch say the same thing
>  : on learning chol, but in different language.
>  : Mikha'el Makovi

>  First, TIDE is built around "Yaft E-lokim leYefet". The idea human
>  being is ennobled, raised above the animal -- both in Torah and in being
>  cultured. Far from RAYK's Zionism, I have no idea how TIDE is defined when
>  not living amongst a host population of Benei Yefes defining high culture.
> R' Micha Berger

We still have Yafetic culture today - take a glance at Israel. What we
need to do is Judaize it. I think Rav Berkovits is a good example of
taking TIDE and transplanting it to Israel.

>  Second, RSRH's TIDE is an entirely different paradigm. Rather than speak
>  of a cosmic fading away of the whole concept of chol, RSRH speaks in
>  terms of the ennoblement of high culture.

Yes, but Rav Hirsch nevertheless speaks of elevating the chol by
infusing it with Torah and using it to further a Torah lifestyle, etc.
Obviously he doesn't speak in mystical terms of there being no chol at
all; neither does he speak mystically by using the words "kodesh" and
"chol" in the first place. But he does say that the whole world is
G-d's and that nature testifies to Him, etc. - is this not saying that
nothing is truly chol? And he does speak (in his own lashon) of
elevating the chol by associating it with kodesh, which is *exactly*
what Rav Kook says. After all, what Rav Hirsch called "high culture"
and "derech eretz", Rav Kook calls "chol" - they were speaking of the
same thing. Rav Kook's chol was poetry and science and literature and
theater and all those - even soccer!

Mikha'el Makovi