„...and also gathered crumbs and bones. The prince asked him: Who are…”
„...and also gathered crumbs and bones. The prince asked him: Who are you and what are you doing here? He replied: And what are you doing here? He said to him: I am a turkey. He said to him: I too am a turkey. And the two of them sat together like this for some time, until they grew accustomed to one another. Then the sage signaled, and they threw them a shirt. And the sage-turkey said to the prince: Do you think a turkey cannot go about wearing a shirt? One can be dressed in a shirt and nevertheless be a turkey. And the two of them put on the shirt. And after some time he signaled, and they threw them trousers — and he said to him likewise, as above...”
How do you treat a frustrated person? By getting angry at him?!
How do you treat a distant person? By pushing him further away?!
Rabbi Nachman brings in his astonishing tale the way in which they managed to save the prince. Deep explanations and profound teachings do not always help; sometimes one must descend to the depth of the pit in which a person is sunk in order to raise him back up.
Rav Kook takes Rabbi Nachman's teaching and applies it to many cases. We must be careful not to judge our generation, the people who seem to us distant. Thus he writes in "The Essay on the Generation" (Ma'amar HaDor):
"Our generation is a wondrous generation, a generation that is all bewilderment. It is very hard to find a parallel to it in all of our history. It is composed of opposites, darkness and light serving in it in confusion. It is lowly and degraded, yet also lofty and exalted; it is wholly guilty, yet also wholly innocent. We are obligated to understand its character so that we may come to its aid."
If we give the People of Israel a cold shoulder, the People of Israel will distance themselves from us. We must give them love and draw them near. We must truly understand their place, to draw out the good from within them in order to push away the evil. This is right to do toward the People of Israel; this is right to do in the education of children; this is right to do in our own self-education.
Happy holidays!
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.