[Avodah] RAYK and the end of chol

[Shoshana L. Boublil]

> From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
> Subject: Re: [Avodah] RAYK and the end of chol

> On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:59:34AM IST, Rt Shoshana L. Boublil wrote:
> :> But the whole zerichas hashemesh model of geulah didn't stand up that 
> well
> :> to subsequent events. He wrote before WWII, after all.
>
> : I'm sorry, but there is a basic misunderstanding of the model.  The 
> model is
> : "Ayelet HaShachar" that is - at first it comes and goes.  In real life 
> there
> : are ups and downs. There are moments of great steps toward Ge'ulah, and
> : there are moments of great falls away from Ge'ulah, into darkness.
>
> Do you have sources from before Oslo that suggest such a thing?

I've never learned it differently, starting with the book "Ayelet HaShachar" 
by Rav Shachor (IIRC) and then later Orot and other books.  I'll try to get 
sources, but when I ran this past my husband he also said that the paradigm 
was Ayelet HaShachar  - that it comes and goes, like a jagged mountain road 
that goes up and down.  Every single lecture I've ever heard on this theme 
in Israel, going back to my teens had the same description - Aliyot and 
Yeridot.

> I think that Yamit and Oslo posed such trouble for the DL community
> specifically because it raised fundamental hashkafic issues. They defied
> R' Kook's (admittedly more RZYK's) excpetations of the ge'ulah.

They didn't have the problem you project - that is R' Kook's paradigm is 
where the community got it's strength, knowing that the road to Ge'ulah was 
not one way towards Ge'ula, but rather like "dawn light coming through the 
mountains, one moment you see it and another you don't" (to quote a 
lecturer).

It was discussed many times during the activities to settle Yehuda and 
Shomron in the 70s.

> : The claim that it is a step ladder going one way is one I've seen, but 
> not
> : in Rav Kook.
>
> Well, it's in Eim haBanim Semeichah, IIRC. But I'm pretty sure this is
> how RAYK's metaphor was understood until recently, when his followers
> were forced into seeing something they hadn't noticed before.

I'm sorry, but as someone who has been studying Rav Kook since her teens, I 
can't agree.  I've NEVER heard of Rav Kook's view as being one way towards 
Ge'ulah.

> :> RAYK thought that the world was in an accelerated path to the geulah.
>
> : Not at all.  What he saw was that the a change has come over the
> : world...
> : Can anyone honestly say, after seeing Israel export fruit and vegetables 
> to
> : the world, when comparing the situation here to what it was 120 years 
> ago -
> : when it was a land of swamps and desert, that something hasn't changed?
>
> (Tangent: Obviously, Agudists can. Anti-Zionists will agree something
> changed, but they will say it's the introduction of a nisayon. But the
> neutral non-Zionist can say that it's not a fundamental change.)

Not a fundamental change????? Next time a friend with that view comes to 
Israel, send them to Chavat Kinneret.  They'll see a picture of the Kinneret 
and the area.  It was DESERT!!! Empty of everything but some few plants left 
over by the bedouin goats who ate everything.  Now look at the place!

> I fail to see the gap implied by your "not at all" between my "accelerated
> path to the ge'ulah" and your "a change has come". I think you're saying
> that the change came and it's not a new "straighter" (to speak what little
> I know of RAYK-speak) path to the ge'ulah? Isn't that what "reeishis
> tzemichas ge'ulaseinu", declaring it "atchalta dege'ulasa", means?

An "accelerated path" implies that things are getting faster and faster - 
implying one direction.  That is NOT Rav Kook's view of G'eula.  The Nevi'im 
speak about 2 types of people at the time of Ge'ula - one type comes to 
Israel himself.  The other is brought by Hashem.  Rav Kook, following The 
Ga'on (who sent his students here) sees that a change has come over the 
world, and it is the beginning of G'eula.  Not "accelerated", just an 
opportunity.  Ge'ula can come in its own time, or b/c Zachu. There is 
definitely a side of HitAruta Diletata. So, he comes to Israel.  He doesn't 
believe that G'eula will come without Tza'rot.  The G'mara is full of 
problems concluding "Yeitei veLo YachMinei" - how can anyone reading this 
think that Ge'ula will be some straight path increasing in strength over 
time? It is obvious that it won't at all be easy, that there will be many 
troubles. That's part of the process. I have heard lectures that describe 
the increasing of both - as Ge'ulah becomes greater - the falls in between 
steps will also be greater.

> : Rav Kook's view of learning chol has nothing to do with Zionism.  So, 
> please
> : don't mix the issues.

I view Zionism as the political entity not the people who followed the 
Zionistic view and came to Israel.

> And no real chol in the secular Zionist. Hainu hakh.

As a starting place for learning Rav Kook, I highly recommend the 
introduction to his Siddur Olat Re'aya.

Shoshana L. Boublil