„There is a building holiness, and there is a destroying holiness. The…”
„There is a building holiness, and there is a destroying holiness. The building holiness is a revealed good, and the destroying holiness is a hidden good, because it destroys in order to build something more exalted than what has already been built... From the destroying holiness come the great warriors who bring blessing to the world.”From Shemonah Kevatzim I, 553
One of the disasters that befell the people of Israel on the 17th of Tammuz was the shattering of the Tablets of the Covenant. Moses our teacher comes down from Mount Sinai with the Tablets, written by the hand of God — seemingly the highest connection the people of Israel ever had with the Holy One. He hears the shouts of the people worshiping the calf and smashes the Tablets. Moses destroyed the first Tablets, but this destruction, despite the difficulty in it, was necessary as part of the repair of the people of Israel. This is a destroying holiness — a power that Moses possessed and used for destruction and upheaval. And in the force of this upheaval, at the very height of the corruption, the repair began.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.