19 February 2023 · A sentence from the teachings of Rav Kook

Mishpetei HaRav Kook / The War of Life

„Whoever said of me that my soul is torn spoke well; surely it is torn. It is impossible for us to imagine in our minds a person whose soul is not torn. Only the inanimate is whole. But man is a being of opposing aspirations, and an inner war is always within him.”From Chadarav 116

In the flow of life we try to build the human structure within us as a harmonious edifice. But the path to harmony is strewn with difficulties and tears. We must internalize that the true human structure is not sterile. "The Torah was not given to the ministering angels." The lofty ideal is to succeed in uniting all the contradictions within us so that they become harmony, and the aspiration and the ability to draw near to that is the labor of life.

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