„The inner innocence (tom) is far above morality. All of morality flow…”
„The inner innocence (tom) is far above morality. All of morality flows from its streams, which pour forth on every side and fill all the horizons of ideas and deeds with characteristic uprightness. The innocence is the supernal wellspring, which rises above every social utterance, above every idea of an external need and of a self-need; it is the supernal happiness, which no desires can equal, which no spiritual pleasures can compare to. And this innocence is the inheritance of Jacob, an inheritance without bounds, the inheritance of 'a wholesome man dwelling in tents,' which brings the blessing of peace into the world.”From Shemonah Kevatzim, VII, 178
It is told of Avraham our father that 'his two kidneys became for him like two Torah scrolls,' meaning that his conscience, the feeling part, guided him.
Innocence, when it is pure and clean, is higher than anything else. The innocent one acts without interests but out of an inner and deep place. Out of something primordial that has not yet been harmed by the din of life and the world.
Innocence gave birth to morality, and precisely because of this fact it is higher than it. It is not connected to events that occur and is not dependent on changing sensations. It is the inheritance of Jacob, who was a wholesome man. It is a deep inner connection that established beneath it a moral code of life for the entire world.
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For the recovery of Rabbi Yerachmiel ben Dina
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.