13 February 2025 · A sentence from the teachings of Rav Kook

Parashat Yitro

„The fact that the divine thought is fixed in a particular and known form among people, because of habit and childish imagination – this is a spark of the flaw of making a graven image and a likeness.”From Zer'onim, Yissurim Memarkim

In this week's portion we read about the prohibition of idolatry, with which the Ten Commandments open. Seemingly, in our generation, in which we are not idol-worshippers, this prohibition is not relevant, but it appears that the opposite is true. The Rav explains that the fixation of the conception of the divine is sometimes idolatry. Fixation in general comes from pride, and pride is idolatry. The ability to understand processes and things deeply requires humility, and requires constant listening to the changing world, to the word of God that rises daily from reality, and to the halachic world. The Written Torah alongside the Oral Torah.

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