„We must learn from this that in truth it is not great wisdom and abun…”
„We must learn from this that in truth it is not great wisdom and abundant knowledge that make us happy, but rather the innocence of childhood. And this is our good fortune, that we remain bound to childhood education within the form of our culture. This bond alone already impresses upon us a sense of connection with childhood and its innocence, and some current of innocence passes over us as well and trickles into us, thereby dispelling the grime of cunning that was infused in us from our adulthood. Happy is the one who draws from the sap of childhood even as a grown man, even in his old age. Happy is the one who becomes like a one-year-old without sin, even while already laden with the burden of many years from the days of his fleeting life.”From Shemonah Kevatzim, VII, 205
Passover is the festival of education. Some view education and the raising of children as a heavy burden and a worry for the sake of another. Rav Kook reveals to us that alongside the immense responsibility placed upon parents and educators, there is also an immense reward in education: the connection to childhood, the bond with the child within us.
On the night the festival is sanctified we are commanded, "And you shall tell your child"; we must tell our children of the exodus from Egypt, but the obligation is that we also tell of the exodus from Egypt to the child within us. Let us try to shed from ourselves the grown-up "Egypts" that sometimes cling to us, and become a bit like children...
A pleasant day to all!
For the recovery of Meir Tzvi ben Yael Katerina, may he live.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.