„Great is our physical demand: we need a healthy body. We occupied our…”
„Great is our physical demand: we need a healthy body. We occupied ourselves much with the spiritual, and forgot the holiness of the body; we neglected physical health and might, we forgot that we have holy flesh, no less than we have a holy spirit.”From Orot HaTechiyah, 30, 33
During the days of the Omer we connect physical redemption (from Egypt) with spiritual redemption (the giving of the Torah, Shavuot). This journey, which began with contraction and detachment from the evil in nature that Egypt symbolizes, and with the receiving of the Torah as a spiritual act in the desert, reaches its conclusion with the entry into the Land of Israel. Part of the redemption of the people of Israel is the joining together of the natural aspect and the spiritual aspect. Working the land, observing the commandments dependent upon the Land, and the human and natural connection is the summit for which we yearn—the joining of heaven and earth. To remember that 'the earth He gave to the children of man,' to remember our being human beings and our bond to the earth, to man, to ourselves, and through this to God.
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.