Remembering What Is Lacking
„The essential inner aim of limiting our joy befits us only so that we may remember the general condition of God's people, share in the sorrow of our nation, and look forward to God's salvation when He returns the captivity of His people.”From Ein Ayah, Berachot 5, 14
Our Sages tell of scholars who saw the joy of a wedding bursting beyond measure, and shattered a precious cup before the celebrants. Their aim was not to nullify the joy, but to recall what is lacking and to give proportion at a moment of peak. The shattered cup reminds us how fragile life is, and how quickly property, health, and even life itself can be shattered. It is a sign that reminds us of what we must beware. And alongside this, it is also a reminder that when the private home is built, there is one great House that is lacking, and that even when things are good for us, we must not disconnect from our people. This is the meaning of mourning in these days. Not to seek sadness, and not to extinguish the powers of life, but to refuse to live within an imagined private wholeness. And to aspire and to seek always a complete and true joy that will enlarge still further both the individual and the collective.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.