30 November 2022 · A sentence from the teachings of Rav Kook

Mishpetei HaRav Kook / Adapting Ourselves to Reality

„When a person is in his greatness... his spirit spreads and expands... But when he falls from his level, and then his spiritual senses are limited and constricted, if that same breadth of spirit from the time of greatness remains within him, it turns into an ugly arrogance. Therefore, then, at the time of smallness, he must lower himself and diminish his affairs, and then there will be fulfilled in him "and a poor people You save, and from the dunghill You raise the needy..."”

A great person who has fallen from his greatness is liable to fall to the most dangerous places. He may think that his light is still radiating, continue the royal airs that were part of his former life, and disgrace himself. *In hard times we must recognize our place.* This self-awareness is the way to return and conquer the summit to which we were accustomed; a lack of self-awareness in hard times may lead, God forbid, to a crash.

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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.