„Happy is he who comes here with his learning in his hand”

In 1911 two members of 'HaShomer' were killed in the Galilee in an action defending the Holy Land. A year later Rav Kook wrote about them, at the request of the writer A.Z.R. (Alexander Ziskind Rabinovich), the essay titled 'Upon Our Heights, the Slain.'

This is, in my humble opinion, one of the difficult essays of Rav Kook, and the line I chose is the conclusion at its end. It was published only after Rav Kook's death. The essay deals with a deliberation standing before Rav Kook, a true deliberation regarding the fallen who were far from Torah and commandments—as opposed to the halachah that speaks of complete disconnection, Rav Kook brings in his conclusion the connection, but is not afraid to open the issue to its depths.

Rav Kook saw fit to voice aloud his deliberation—a deliberation that from a halachic standpoint has a clear ruling: it is permitted to eulogize any person killed on account of his Jewishness; such a person is considered holy, even though in his life he was far from Torah and commandments.

But it was still important to Rav Kook to convey the question, the halachic deliberation standing in the mind of the Master of the Land of Israel when he is asked to relate practically to the public that is far from Torah and commandments—a public that at times demonstratively cast off its bond with God, but on the other hand gives its life for the rebirth of the nation in the Holy Land.

We are one people, and at the hour when we bury our dead and weep over our slain, it is important to say Rav Kook's conclusion in a loud voice—our soldiers who defend us with self-sacrifice and are under constant threat are holy; the fallen who died defending our land died for the sanctification of God's name.

The conflict that exists between those called secular and the religious must exist; tolerance toward those who do not observe Torah and commandments—religious, secular, and Haredi—does not mean acceptance of their way of life. We must be wary of blurring differences on the one hand, but on the other hand wary of making these differences the main thing. And on the battlefield there are no differences.

For the full essay:

May these words be for the elevation of the souls of all the holy ones, the slain of Israel's wars and the victims of hostile actions.