Parashat Vayishlach
„We fought against nature and emerged victorious. Coarse nature made us into the maimed, touching the socket of our hip, but surely the sun has risen for us to heal us of our limping.”From Orot HaTechiyah 30
We all struggle with urges, with fears, with traits we did not ask for, with a world that often makes things hard for us. Our war springs from an existential instinct, and each time we come out of it exhausted and at times limping and wounded. Rav Kook reveals that this fracture is not the person's failure but the proof that he has advanced. He explains that raw nature, when we truly contend with it, leaves a mark upon us. Jacob emerges from the night limping, but with a new name and a different consciousness. We are all constantly fleeing from struggles, but precisely they, despite the marks and wounds they leave, can be an opening to change, progress and development.
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.