„Sometimes all the sufferings of the world gather within the heart—all…”
„Sometimes all the sufferings of the world gather within the heart—all the torments of souls and the torments of bodies. A person finds no rest for his heart. He desires the rectification of the world, and the world stands opposite him in all its ugliness and squalor, in all its somber sadness and grief. And his soul weeps in secret. Who will console him, who will comfort him? Reality is harder than iron, and it slaps him in the face. The person withdraws into his inner self like a snail in its shell, and there is no rest. Then his soul cries out from within, to the source of salvation, to the wellspring of the happiness and harmony of all existence. 'My soul thirsts for God.' Like cold water upon a weary soul comes a good tiding, from the source of the Life of the worlds.”From Shemonah Kevatzim, III, Erev Rosh Chodesh
Rav Kook, alongside being the seer of the generations and of the lights, was also a person who felt. And there is such a thing in life—to feel.
When we go through hard periods, it is fitting to give thought to them—to feel the difficulty, to fear the fear, to weep the weeping, to sense what we must sense. And thus the learning from every encounter of ours in life grows, and we grow with it.
When a person withdraws into himself in sorrow, in sadness, in worries—his soul prays, yearning for good tidings, yearning for good, for a good report, for a good tiding.
Rav Kook has no bottom line in this passage. He does not say that the good is destined to come, that the good will win. He simply lets the emotion express itself, lets the will speak, lets the pain say, and pray. And in this there is an immense power.
For the recovery of the world
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.