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Rav Kook: How to Attain Righteousness | Rabbi Aaron Goldsheider | May 20 2026
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Welcome. Welcome to our learning. Great
to see everybody
here as we're
just a couple of days away from
the holiday of Shavuot. So, I very much
appreciate. I know it's a hectic time.
So, that that so many people are here
this morning is very beautiful.
Um let me just begin with the sponsor,
our regular sponsor for this year. It's
le-iluy nishmat Miriam bas Avraham
ahavat shalom u'v'shem tov ben
zichrono livracha. So, we continue now
with our
study of one of the beautiful works of
Rav Kook.
The name of the book is Midot haRa'aya.
Rav Kook goes through 18 different
character traits.
We're actually up to, as you see the top
of the page, the 14th. We're coming
coming towards the end of the book. Our
timing is good as we're coming towards
the end of the Shavuot, moving towards
the summer.
So, the topic is really a a beautiful
topic. And Rav Kook has an interesting I
would say very interesting angle.
And one which I would not have
necessarily thought of
um as the definition of this middah. So,
what is the middah that Rav Kook is
speaking of? Tzidkut.
Tzidkut.
Tzidkus.
What
What is tzidkus or tzidkut, depending on
where you come from? Righteousness.
To be a tzaddik. To be a tzaddiket. What
does it mean to be a tzaddik? What does
it mean to be a tzaddiket? How do you
define being a tzaddik? We We use that
term.
And it's actually very beautiful.
Here in Israel, I hear people that just
call out to another, "Tzaddik, tzaddik,
can you help me?" You know, "Can you
help me with my bags?" But they're
calling another person a tzaddik. They
assume you're a tzaddik. So, what does
it mean to What does it mean to be a
tzaddik? So, if I were to ask you that
question, what does it mean to be a
tzaddik? I think some of you Well, what
do you say? Throw out an answer. What
does it mean to be a tzaddik? What does
it mean to be a tzaddiket?
Whatever you think of first.
Righteousness. Do the right thing.
Beautiful. Try to do the right thing. Or
maybe it means actually doing the right
thing. But trying to do the
Trying to do the right thing. What else?
What's a tzaddik? Going beyond. Good.
Nice. Going beyond. I would I would
Yeah, that that comes to mind. A tzaddik
is not just the abba and you're not just
an average Jew that you go above and
beyond. Somebody that davens well.
Somebody that learns seriously.
Somebody that comes consistently to OU
classes every week. Right? That person
is is definitely a tzaddik. A tzaddik is
So, um Rav Kook has a different
definition. When I first read it, I uh
kind of took a step back, but I think
there's there's a lot of a lot of beauty
and a lot of meaning in it. So, let's
now read the words of Rav Kook. The way
that Rav Kook thinks about tziddikut.
And again, the way that he presents it
in this work Midot HaRa'aya. Hot
tziddikut ha'yesodit.
When we talk about righteousness in the
most basic yesod, the most basic
um definition of being righteous, shel
tzaddik yesod olam, of a righteous
person who is the foundation of the
world,
a person who has a
a pull [clears throat]
or a longing for God.
Hot tzivyah Elokit hat tziddikah she
berucho, within your spirit, leot
kashur, that you want to be bound, be
chol cheftzo, in all of your will,
sichlo, and all of your thought,
ritzono, and all of your
uh also will or desire, be hard gashato,
and all of your emotion, likono, you
want to be at one, you want to bond with
your kono, the one who What's the koneh?
The one who
What?
The one who owns you. Right? The one who
has created you, litzur kol olamim, the
rock of the entire world. chayei kol
ha'chaim,
You want to connect with What does it
mean to be a tzaddik? Says Rav Kook, his
definition, and we'll talk about this
definition, we'll try to understand,
elucidate on it. What it means to be a
tzaddik is a person who wants to feel
bound to Hashem, who wants to be
connected to Hashem. Who feels It sounds
like that tiviyah, almost like a natural
pull towards God. That's the way that a
person lives their life. They live their
life with a Maybe I would call it a God
consciousness. Another one is conscious
of God and that one is connected to God
on a tiviyah, on an ongoing basis. That
is That says Rav Kook is a definition of
of a tzaddik.
You know, I was just thinking about that
word, very interesting word that he
uses, tiviyah, which means a tove'a, one
who has a claim on God or one is pulled
to God.
So, there was a You're probably not
familiar with this. This goes back to my
college days. There was an album that
came out, a Jewish album, by a group
which is called Shlock Rock. Has anybody
ever heard of Anybody remember Shlock
Rock? Oh, we have some Shlock Rock fans
here.
So, So, I'm I'm friends I'm friends with
with Lenny Solomon, who is
He's called the king of Shlock Rock.
That was his That's his title. So, he
came up with this idea, really an
amazing idea, of taking songs that were
popular popular on the radio and that
kids were listening to and give it he
give it not Hebrew words, but give it
religious It was in English, but give it
meaningful, you know, religious uh
religious content.
Under the chuppah, good. That's an
example, right? Not under the boardwalk,
under the chuppah. So, um
So, yes, so he had all these songs, he
wrote literally hundreds of songs. It
was actually part of a very beautiful
movement which really came out of
Yeshiva University, in which they were
going into public schools at the time,
and they came up with this idea. In the
public schools, they had like a what was
called a club hour where students could
go for an hour and have different clubs.
And they said, "Well, why don't we come
into the schools and have a Jewish club
hour?
And we'll bring people and they'll do
some studying and relax stuff with the
kids about, you know, just Jewish pride.
They bring some pizza in and get the
Jewish kids together in a public school
setting and in that way to begin to
connect with them. And he actually a lot
of these songs were written for, you
know, for for those students and I guess
for this movement it was called the
Gypsy Gypsy Youth Movement. Okay. So, he
has a he has an album called Jewish
Pride. And on that album there is a
story. There's like a 1-minute story
that's it was I think one of the first
albums that that he wrote. And the story
is the following of a young boy
that he gets some money from his parents
and he goes to the store and he wants to
buy something. He wants to buy a toy.
And he buys a kite which today I don't
know if our kids go to the store and buy
a kite, but
going back to the '70s and '80s the kids
were still playing with a kite. So, he
went and he bought a kite and he went to
the park. And
and he starts to fly his kite.
And the kite is very very high in the
sky. It goes so high in the sky that he
no longer can even see the kite. That's
how high the kite is.
There is somebody that
comes up next to this young boy and
says, "What are you doing?" He says,
"Well, you see that I'm that I'm flying
a kite."
And the man says, "Well, I don't really
see, you know, I don't see the the
kite."
And the child says, "I don't see the
kite either, but I feel the tug.
But I feel the tug. I know that that
that I'm attached to this kite and the
kite is attached to me."
So, that's the story that this little
short story that's told on this album
called Jewish Pride. And it's about it's
the the title of the story is the the
tug. I think the tug.
So, this is when I think about this word
tivia, this tug that we feel, this
connection, this bond that we feel with
Hashem, that's the tsaddik. A tsaddik, a
righteous person, is a person who feels
that tug. The person who feels that bond
with Hashem, the presence of Hashem,
consciousness of Hashem in a person's
life. And let us just read on now in the
in the second part of this piece of Rav
Kook. It's one He has this as one one
teaching on tsikut. That's all he has in
the sefer midot haraya, this one
teaching. He says, kol hadvarim, I'm now
in the second paragraph, kol hadvarim
hamistaafin.
All the different like the word seif,
all the different variations, all the
offshoots, all the expressions of this
love, the maasim, in the actions that we
do, the haskalot, the way that we think,
betoranuyot, maybe in the Torah that we
study, einam kiim seifim,
they're all expressions, shalpaim,
that appear every so often, that we are
engaged in, mitgaleh al yadam haor
hakadosh hatsidkut haelyona. Through
them appears the light of this
righteousness, of this elevated
righteousness. What he means by this
line, the way that I understand it is,
when we study Torah, when we daven, when
we do chesed, those are all actions in
which we
bring to life, in which we actualize
this love that we have for Hashem. Why
else are we sitting here right now?
We're here because we love Hashem, we
love Hashem's Torah. We have a
relationship with Hashem, we want to do
that which is right. We want to grow
closer to Hashem through the study of
Torah. So, at its core, the tsaddik, the
righteous person, is a person who
develops this love relationship with
Hashem. Aval atsmuta enu kiima to haziv
hakavua, but at the very essence, at the
very core, the atsmuta, enaki imato
haziv hakavua, that there's a glow, that
there's a light that is embedded
that's found within the soul
that's at the very essence of a person
she make a
that this is
the source of life. This is the essence
she make a
that the goal is
a
that we all want and what it means to be
a
the person who develops develops a
what's a
an ongoing bond with a sham.
And
it continues to grow in
with this light of godliness. So very
interesting definition and again when I
first read it I had to take a step back
and think about this idea. The cook says
that the essence of what it means to be
a
is to be a person who has a bond with a
sham a loving relationship with a sham a
consciousness of God in their life and
everything that we do all the different
acts are really just extensions of that
love that we have with a sham. I was
thinking about trying to just think
about an example of this.
How many people here have seen Fiddler
on the Roof?
Everybody here.
When I was in fourth grade I was Tevye.
That's my claim to fame. That was the
end of that was it that was the end of
my
my acting career after that they said I
think you can you know find something
else in life.
But I was happy for some reason I guess
they thought I could act a little bit
and sing.
So one of the great scenes in Fiddler on
the Roof
and I actually just watched it just to
remind myself of the scene it's a
beautiful scene. So Tevye turns to his
wife Golda
do you love me right? Do you love me? So
what does she say?
What
do you what do you
>> [laughter]
>> do you love me?
And what did she say?
Do I love you? Okay. So, then she goes
on to say after 25 years, right? We're
married 25 years. I've washed your
clothes. I cook your meals.
What else? I don't remember all the
lines.
I milked your cow. That's right. I
milked your cow. What do you mean, do I
love you? What do you mean, do we have a
loving relationship?
But there's actually something very deep
that's going on in that scene. I know
you're doing all of these things. I know
this is what we do for one another. But
is there the love? Is the relationship
there?
Is there a deep love? Have we forgotten
that love that we have for one another?
And it seems to me this is the idea here
as well. Rav Kook says, yes, there are
mitzvot and there's davening and there's
chesed and there's learning, but do you
love me?
Right? Does Hashem Is relationship a
relationship of love? I know you're
doing it all. I know you're washing the
clothes. I know you're milking the cow.
I know you're getting up and davening
and learning, but is the love there? Do
you love me?
So, Rav Kook says that the at the core
of a tzaddik's life of righteousness,
and by the way, this is not not easy,
and Rav Kook says, this is the tzaddik
yesod olam. You have to be on a This is
like a high level. To be on a high level
that you walk around with that real
sense of of God consciousness and of of
love for Hashem.
So, where do we see this idea of love?
It kind of sounds like, you know, this
is like a relatively like new thing.
Like Rav Kook is breaking ground here
that love has to be sort of the center
of religious life.
But where do we have it? That's the most
obvious place in the world. We say the
Shema every single day. And the very
first words of the Shema after we
declare our belief in Hashem is
ve'ahavta. We are to love Hashem. And by
the way, we don't just say ve'ahavta. We
don't just say we should love Hashem.
What do we say? And we are to love
Hashem
the whole nafsha with all of our soul.
Right? The whole me'odecha.
I missed the first one. The whole
levavcha, with all of your heart. Now,
look at what the Torah is saying. It
could have just said love, that would
have been enough. The whole levav would
have been enough. The whole would have
been enough. Right? And then the whole
me'odecha. What does the word me'odecha
mean? By the way, many interpretations.
Good. Many right. I think Rashi says
another says it means resources that you
put all your money.
One [clears throat] of the simplest
interpretations is that it means me'od.
What does me'od mean?
With everything that you have.
With all of your being. With
>> [clears throat]
>> a lot. Right? With all that you have
within you to love God.
That's me'odecha. Me'od is as much as
you can to develop that loving
relationship with Hashem. Now, here I
just want to just to point out the
paragraph of the words that we say right
before the uh the Shema, which I think
are very significant, often overlooked.
And that is the love We Here we're
talking about the love that we are to
have for Hashem. But how about the other
side of the equation? How about the love
that Hashem has for us? So, as we enter
the Shema, what do we talk about?
The love that Hashem has for us. Ahava
rabba, there is a great love ahavtanu
that you love us, Hashem Elokeinu.
Hashem, you love us. We want to
reciprocate that love. The love that you
have for us. Chemla gedola v'teira
ahavtanu. You're so [clears throat]
compassionate. You are so good to us.
And how can we not love you back?
And then as we come to the end of that
paragraph, again, this is what
introduces the Shema. U'vanu vacharta
mikol ha'amim, Hashem. You've chose
Where Where do we see that love? And by
the way, very appropriate for Shavuot
just a day away. Because you've chosen
us. You gave us the Torah. You
established this relationship with us
from all the nations of the world.
U'vanu v'chartanu mikol am v'lashon.
Look at the love that you expressed to
us. The keravtanu l'shimcha hagadol, you
bring us close to your name b'emet, and
l'hodot l'cha u'l'yachedcha b'ahavah, we
want to thank you, and we want to speak
of your oneness with love. And how do
how does the paragraph end? Right before
we enter the Sh'ma, baruch atah Hashem
ha'bocher b'amo Yisrael b'ahavah. Who
are we referring to? Where is the love
coming from? The one who chose good,
Hashem.
So, paragraph that enters the Sh'ma is
God's love for us. And now we express
our love back to Hashem. A very
beautiful way of thinking about the
Sh'ma. Okay, we can turn now to page
two.
And here I just want to point out,
again, we see that love. When I first
read these words of Rav Kook, again, it
sounded like where exactly is is Rav
Kook coming from, that love is is so
essential that that's the very
definition of of righteousness.
So, we see that in the Torah, Sh'ma
v'ahavta, and all of the greats talk
about the love that we are to have to
for Hashem, and how it's really at the
very core of uh of Jewish life. So, I'm
I I want to bring three examples of
that. The Rambam, the Ramban, and the
Ramchal, [clears throat] three of the
three giants of our of our tradition.
So, and going back to the Rambam is
always uh important to see uh the way
that he codifies. This is a law, this
isn't just like a philosophical idea,
but a law of loving God. It's found in
Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, the way that
the Rambam begins all of his laws in
Judaism begins with the foundations of
the Torah, of Jewish life. And the
second chapter, perek sheini, halacha
bet, he writes the following. And again,
for the sake of time and for clarity,
just want to read it in the English
that's on the left side, which is going
to read the first four or five lines.
And the Rambam says the following about
loving. What is the way to attain the
love and fear of God? So, the Rambam
asks a very basic question. How do we do
it? How do we get to that place of love
of God? And he includes fear of God as
well. That combination of love and fear
again, there are different ways of
interpreting that, maybe more of awe of
God as opposed to not fear of
punishment. But, how do we develop that
love and awe of God? When a man
contemplates his great wondrous deeds
and creations. So, the Rambam says one
way of doing it, and the way that he
recommends, is to think about the
miracles of this world, the wonders of
this world.
And maybe the Rambam is also talking
about science here as well. Those that
study science, those that study the
complexities of this world will begin to
to discover the awesomeness of God. And
he sees in them his unequaled and
infinite wisdom. And he sees and
discovers God's greatness, he
immediately loves and praises and exalts
him, and he's overcome by a great desire
to know the great name. As David as
David Hamelech said, "My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God." Okay, so
the Rambam, interesting, there's a lot
to talk about here, a lot of commentary.
This is the Rambam's approach. Actually,
it sounds like the Rambam is saying it's
not necessarily through study of Torah
or through mitzvot. He says, what what
How would you say the Rambam
um recommends that we that we discover
love for God? Just go outside. Go
outside, that's right.
The Rambam says go outside, be in touch
with nature. Um be in touch with the
beauties of creation. I think the study
of that as well, the study of of those
areas.
Maybe doctors have an advantage in this
area or other scientists. Doesn't always
work out that way, but this is the
Rambam. The Rambam believes that this is
a path to loving God. The Rambam has a
different explanation. This is one of
the most quoted, I would say one of the
most famous of the Rambans that we have
on the Torah. Very often it's quoted,
and the Ramban asked the following
question. I'll read to you a line or two
for the Ramban. We'll see it together.
The Ramban says, "Why is the God needed
to bring so many miracles in Egypt? He
could have done it in one fell swoop. He
could have done it with one great
miracle. He didn't even didn't even need
a miracle. He could have just kind of
like forced the doors open, and the
Jewish people would have left." And he
also asked the question, "Why do we so
often, so many mitzvot, we come back to
the idea of zecher yetzias Mitzrayim?"
Where we talk about that Shabbos, we
talk about that. We say it in kiddush
and tfillin. So many mitzvot it says in
order to remember the exodus from Egypt.
Why is that so central? And the Ramban
says the following, and well I'll read
it we'll read the words and I'll just
share it with you. The Ramban says,
"From the great miracles, from the
awesome miracles, and God wanted to
provide awesome miracles, wondrous
deeds, from the great things, what will
we learn?
To see all the little things as well as
miraculous."
Let's read to the words of the Ramban.
Ramban, "U'min hanisim hagdolim."
There's a famous Ramban. "U'min hanisim
hagdolim." From the great miracles of
Mitzrayim, "vehamifursamim."
And the ones that were famous, very
similar word. "Adam modeh banisim
hanistarim." A person will then come to
recognize all of the hidden miracles.
"Sheheim yesod haTorah kulah." This is
the foundation of the Torah. And that's
why God did it, and that's why God comes
back to this idea again and again.
A Jew should recognize and to learn to
recognize all the miracles that they
live with on a regular basis. That we
can see, that we can breathe,
that we can stand, that we can walk.
All of the miracles, all the little
things that we don't that necessarily
take note of. So this is the Ramban's
approach. How is it that we develop a
love for Hashem to become more
conscious, become more aware of the
miracles that are around us. And one
last classic source, and this is the
Mesillat Yesharim, the Ramchal, in one
of the most beloved works of Musar. And
this is the very first chapter in the
Ramchal's work, Mesillat Yesharim, and
he writes the following.
And let me just read it in the again, we
have the Hebrew on the right side, we'll
read it in the English for the sake of
time.
He says, "The foundation of
saintliness." Interesting. He's also
talking about what does it mean to be a
tzaddik? He uses the word here a
chassid, yesod ha-chassidut. What does
it mean to be righteous? The same
question that we opened with this
morning. What does it mean to become a
righteous person? How do we develop our
righteousness? Mesillat Yesharim opens
with that very question. The foundation
of saintliness and the root of
perfection is the service in the service
of God lies in a man's coming to see
clearly and to recognize as a truth the
nature of his duty in this world. He
says, "We first need to discover that we
all have a mission in this world."
And to think about life in that way. And
the end um sorry, his duty in the world
and the end towards which he should
direct his vision and his aspiration and
all of his labors all the days of his
life. So this this is an interesting
definition. We're on at the beginning of
his definition. A tzaddik is somebody
who looks at every day of his or her
life and says, "What is my purpose here
in this world? What is my mission? What
am I here to do?"
It's an interesting definition. That's a
tzaddik. A tzaddik is somebody that
lives with purpose, that lives with
mission.
Okay. And then he goes on, this is the
this is the paragraph with the few lines
that I want to see. "Our sages of
blessed memory have taught us that man
was created for the sole purpose of
rejoicing in in and deriving pleasure
from the splendor of his presence for
this is true joy and the greatest
pleasure that can be found. So here he
and I bring this now as a third example
of great, you know, the towering figures
in Jewish life. He says life is about
feeling the joy of relationship with
God. As Rav Kook said, that bond that we
have with Hashem. The ahava that we are
to have with Hashem. Beautiful. So those
are three three examples of
of great some of the great authorities
on the importance of the developing love
with Hashem and
and through miracles, through
discovering the intricacies of this
world and through finding our mission in
this world. Let's turn now to the third
page which is our final
page.
And here I want to share with you
You have it?
Okay.
Here I want to share with you a very
interesting Gemara.
And again
the topic today this morning is the
topic of loving Hashem
and closeness with Hashem.
So I was thinking about, okay, I
understand that in davening, in prayer,
I understand that when it comes to
Talmud Torah as well, in other words,
we're sitting and we're studying Torah
and this is a way, not only is it
knowledge, but a way of connect
connecting with Hashem, an expression of
our love of Hashem.
How is this true in the area of
interpersonal relationships as well? In
terms of being Adam lechavero.
How does the idea of loving Hashem,
ahava Hashem, avat Hashem, how does that
play out in our relationship with
others? So here I want to share the
following teaching from Rav Kook. The
Gemara says the following.
This is something that we can I don't
know think about and maybe how to apply
in our daily life. Amar Rav, Rav has the
following this is a Gemara in this is
daf yud daled in Brachot and Rav says,
"Kol hanoten shalom l'chavero kodem
shepaleil if you greet another person
with shalom, with hello, before you have
davened in the morning k'ilu asu bamah.
It is if you have built a bamah. Now, a
bamah is like a it is it is not the
right thing.
It It's It's It's the wrong kind of
service [clears throat]
to Hashem. Even though there is an
element of it being a service to Hashem,
but it's It's the wrong thing to do.
So, by the way, just an interesting
idea. The Gemara says, and we kind of
have to grapple with this for a moment
or think about this, we are not to greet
other people, we don't say shalom
aleichem or to go out of our way to
greet others before we daven in the
morning. That [clears throat] the Now,
what what's the What's the logic or
what's the rationale behind that? What
would you say? What?
The whole davening before
Before you have davened you are not to
greet others.
Okay, good. That you're very you're
you're a practical person. So, you're
going to be late to shul, you're going
to start schmoozing, and you're going to
miss, you know, laining, you're going to
you're going to walk in for kiddush by
the time you finish speaking with this
person. Okay? That's good. Yes, what
else?
Okay, good. You have to speak Nice. So,
I That's what I I was thinking along
those lines as well. Notice, when you
get up in the morning
who's the first person you should be
speaking to?
Speak to Hashem first. And if I'm going
to start a conversation or greet this
other person before God, isn't there
kind of like a disrespect going on?
Right? My first greeting of the day, my
first conversation of the day should
ideally be with Hashem, not with not
with somebody else. Stila, yeah?
Is that modani? Okay, good. So, now
we're So, now we're kind of moving into
some of the halachic complexity. Maybe
you've already greeted Hashem. Okay,
good. What about your wife? What about
your wife?
All right, good. So, the yes, the
Halakhic gets into What about your wife?
What about your wife? Right. Yeah, I
would advise say hi to your wife in the
morning and
before But yeah, so the Halakhic gets
into the complexities of this and
exactly how this is done. Some say that
Davka the word shalom should not be
used. That's what the Gemara means
because shalom is a name for Hashem and
you shouldn't be using that name. Others
say no, that you Some Some say it means
that you go out of your way to say hello
to somebody else, not that somebody, you
know, happens to be there. You're
greeting somebody, your wife or somebody
on the street. So, again, the Halakhic
part will
we we we can leave for another time or
study another time. But Rav Kook wants
to give the philosophical idea, the
spiritual idea behind it. And he says
the following, and I think this is a a
very very beautiful idea.
So, he writes the following. You know,
let's just go to the top of the section.
I just want to read one line. I always
try to try to share just a few of the
words of Rav Kook and then we'll we'll
develop it outside. At the very top of
the second paragraph, where he says the
tachlis or let tachlis ha shalom v'ha
achdut bein bnei Adam.
So, what does it mean when we talk about
peace and creating community and loving
others? Like what is How do we define
that?
Mei achar she kulanu achim anachnu
l'avinu sheba shamayim When we recognize
that we all are brothers,
that we all are children of one God,
uv'achdut v'shalom
bnei Adam yochlu latzeit l'or ha
chamudot [clears throat] ha gedolot
With this understanding that we're all
connected to one another, that we all
are children of Hashem, that we're all
brothers and sisters because we all have
a neshama, we all come from God. That is
the ultimate in creating a society and
community that cares for one another.
The
shall
Hashem
the Hashem. Okay. So, let me explain.
Let me share with with you what we're
cooking is getting at.
Says, what is at the core of
relationships that we have with others?
Now, one way of having relationship with
others
is just being a nice person. I'm going
to greet another person. Right? There's
somebody that lives on my floor,
somebody on my block, and it's the right
thing to do. It's etiquette. It's a nice
way of creating, you know, nice bonds of
community with one another. We want to
have a caring community. Says, that's
one way of having relationships. But, he
says that's not the ultimate
[clears throat] way of having
relationship. The ultimate relationship
is when you see the godliness in another
person.
When you see the ashama in another
person. When you recognize I'm really
connected to you.
You are my sister. You are my brother.
We are connected. We are a soul that's
connected from Hashem.
We're all pieces of one great soul, all
connected. We're all in ashama that's
connected. We're a nitzuts. Nitzuts, we
are a spark of Hashem's oneness, of
Hashem's divinity.
Now, if that's the way we treat one
another,
then that's the ultimate in
relationships. And then we really care
for one You know what? You can have
friends in a neighborhood and somebody
doesn't act properly, or somebody didn't
show up, or somebody is, you know,
blasting their music. And what happens?
I'm not talking to this guy anymore.
Right? I'm not greeting this person any
longer. Look at the way that that he
acts. But, if you see the other person
as an ashama, that we're brothers and
sisters, that we're connected, so even
where, you know, one might offend the
other, you still see the beauty in the
other person. Says Rav Kook, when we get
when we start our day, you know where we
have to start? We have to start with
Hashem. Because if we start with Hashem,
then we'll see Hashem, we'll see the
godliness in every individual.
And in that way we'll create the most
beautiful bonds between us.
So it's not that you were, you know,
disrespecting the other, you're not
giving attention to the other, just the
opposite. Start with Hashem. In other
words, again, maybe spirit again,
halakhically how it works, we could talk
about the, you know, the details of
that. But in the philosophical, the
spiritual idea, don't say hello to
anyone in the morning until you've said
hello to Hashem first. Why? To recognize
that it all begins with Hashem. And your
relationships,
the bonds that you have with every
individual, is a bond of godliness. It's
a bond of seeing the divine, seeing the
neshama in every single person. And if
you treat others like that, if the first
thing I remember Carlebach, I I
quote this often, he would always say,
"If only we would see the neshama in the
other person." Said, "Could we ever
scream at somebody or raise our voice or
get angry with another person if we
would see their neshama?" The problem is
we don't we don't do that. So that's
what Rav Kook says. Rav Kook says,
"Start your day before saying hello to
anyone, start your day with with the God
consciousness." Greet Hashem first,
daven first. And by the way,
halakhically there are there are
ramifications. Yes, you really should
start davening before you get on the
phone and call all of your all of your
friends in the morning. Yes, you should
really daven first. I think that that's
an appropriate suck halakha based on
this this gemara.
So there's that idea that daven but the
deeper idea is that when we start with
Hashem, where Hashem is at the
foundation, then our relationships
are then enhanced. Then our
relationships are deeper. Then we see
the beauty in one another. That is uh
that's Rav Kook's take. That's his his
idea that he shares on this Gemara.
Okay, we spoke earlier about the love
that Hashem the love that we are to have
for Hashem
and the love that Hashem has for us. And
I think that I think that piece is also
something that we haven't talked enough
about, that we haven't heard about. And
I've spoken about this in the past. I
don't remember ever in my, you know, in
my yeshiva, my day school years, hearing
from the rabbis how much God loves you.
God Right, never. Right, never.
[laughter]
Right, never. Now, by the way, we just a
few minutes ago, the paragraph that
enters the Shema is ahava. I'm just
translating the words. Right, the love,
the great love that Hashem has for you.
Habocher b'Yisrael b'ahava.
How much Hashem loves you, loves every
individual. God loves you. That sounds
doesn't sound Jewish, right? God loves
you. Is that a Jewish idea?
Yeah, well, I don't know. Maybe it's
Chabad, maybe another religion that I
God loves you. No, God We believe that
God loves Am Yisrael, that God loves
every individual. An endless love, ahava
rabba, endless love that God has for
each of us. Yes, Harry. And it's not
conditional.
Unconditional love. Beautiful.
Unconditional love. So, here I will
Yeah, please. Can I say something?
When you're growing up as a child, you
know, even you know, in elementary
school, it's really an important thing
to hear. It sure is. It sure is.
>> I heard
it from, it was I would say 15 to 20
years ago. Uh-huh. I had somebody that
was Jewish who was in my old time class,
and we we went into a conversation or
something, and she just kind of said,
"Well, don't you know that God loves
you?" Yeah. And I'm going, "Well, I
don't."
>> [laughter]
>> Right, we know we right, we grew up that
God punishes us. In other words, that's
what we are taught. God punishes, right?
God, if you don't do this, there's
punishment, there are ramifications.
That's kind of the message. No, we
there's a God that loves us. So, here I
want to share with you
um
a a vort, an idea, which is really one
of my favorite vorts, divrei Torah on
the on the Torah itself.
And um
and here you have Rashi. You may have
heard this before. I've shared this in
the past. It's worth sharing again.
Rashi, so Rashi's [clears throat] the
great commentary, of course, on the uh
on the Torah.
If you look at the very first Rashi of
every book of the Torah,
Rashi is sharing one theme again and
again and again and again. Did I say
that five times? Again and again, again
again one more and again. So, five
times. Every time that Rashi begins the
book of the Torah, he says that God
loves Am Yisrael, that God loves you.
Now,
it seems to me that this is not by
chance. This is not coincidence. Again,
Rashi has all of Hazal, everything that
he could that he could have written,
that he could have commented on to begin
the book of the
every book of the Torah. And how he even
did this is quite astonishing because
you have a pasuk and he has to deal with
that pasuk. He has to deal with the
pasuk at the beginning
of the of the Torah. And I'll go through
I'll go through it with you right now,
but I just want to before I even go
through with you, I just want you to see
that three times of the five times, the
word chibah, the love that God has, the
word chibah, appears in three. And the
other mikne mikne vodan, because of the
covered of Am Yisrael.
That's four, okay? We'll Okay, let's go
through it right now very quickly. And
by the way, this is a de parte Torah you
can put in your back pocket and you can
use five times a year. Whenever we begin
a new book of the Torah, you have this
for a Torah. We just started the book of
Amidbar. The very first Rashi asked a
question, why do we begin with the story
of creation? What is Rashi's answer?
Because God created the world and he
wanted to give the Jewish people the
land of Israel. The love that God had
for the has for the Jewish people that
he has given us Eretz Israel. That's the
very first Rashi. Why does the Torah
begin with creation? Because Hashem
created the world and God can choose
wherever any nation is going to reside.
And he wants, because of his love of the
Jewish people, he gave us the land of
Israel. That's the first Rashi. Second
Rashi of the second book of the Torah is
why does God begin with counting the
Jewish people or again count the second
time? Says Rashi and I have the words
just highlighted on the left side.
Lehodia chibatam because God wants to
share how much he loves the Jewish
people. That he loves counting the
Jewish people.
The third book of the Torah third book
of the Torah
What's Rashi's question? Why does it say
Vayikra?
Why does Why doesn't it just say what it
always says, Vayidaber Hashem? Why does
it say "God called out"? So Rashi says,
it's a lashon chiba. Because God loves
God loves Moshe Rabbeinu. God loves the
Jewish people. And the word Vayikra
means that he first called him with
love. And Rashi says, that was true of
every mitzvah. Before God gave the
mitzvah, he first called in a loving
way. The love that God has for a Jew.
The fourth book of the Torah, Rashi
begins with a question. Why? And we just
read this last week, the very first
Rashi. Why does it begin with counting
the Jewish people again when we already
know the count of the Jewish people at
the beginning of Amidbar?
Says Rashi, mitoch chibatam because God
loves the Jewish people. He loves just
counting the Jewish people again and
again. God is just in love and
infatuated with the Jewish people. He
just loves counting them.
So, that's four. And then the very last
of the five books [clears throat] of the
Torah and the question is Rashi asks,
why do we list all these different
places that we're already aware of? And
Rashi says,
God did not want to embarrass the Jewish
people because of their cover, because
of the honor and the love that he has
for the Jewish people. He just named the
places without the actual tocha, without
the actual musser. He kind of did it in
a in a hidden way. He didn't want to
outright say negative things about the
Jewish people. Isn't this amazing that
Rashi and Rashi, this isn't my chance.
Rashi Rashi knows what he's doing that
he chose this and he wants the Jew when
he when the Jew opens every book of the
Torah, what does Rashi want us to think
about as we're entering a new book of
the Torah?
What to look for. What are we to look
for as we're about to study a new book
of the Torah?
The love that Hashem has for us. The
chiva that Hashem has for us. Hashem,
I'm sorry, Rashi, the very first idea
that he opens every book is see, I want
you to see in this book the love that
Hashem has for you. Okay, I'll end with
two things. Rabbi Soloveitchik said the
following. Rabbi Soloveitchik said that
Judaism
is a religion, I don't have this on the
page, of the hand, of the head, and of
the heart.
Three H's. Of the hand, of the head, and
of the heart. What's the hand? The hand
is all the mitzvot that we are engaged
in. The head is the intellect, is the
study of Torah, and the heart. The heart
is the love, the love that we have for
Hashem, for mitzvot. And here Rabbi
Soloveitchik adds, he says we've done a
very good job with the hand and with the
head.
But we haven't done enough with the
heart.
Rabbi Soloveitchik said we have not done
enough with our hearts.
We're good at learning, we're good at
davening, we're good at chesed, but to
develop that love, that closeness with
Hashem, that's something that we that we
that we that we need to continue to work
on. Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, and that
comes from
from a missnagid, that comes from a
Litvish a Litvish uh rav. Okay, let me
conclude with this.
So the this idea of ahavah, what it
means to be a tzaddik, and again just
I think it's an idea for all of us,
again just to think about and how to
develop a like the Ramban says more of
awareness of God, consciousness, a love,
a connection with Hashem. So I'll just
end with the following story. So this is
a this is a very nice book by the way,
nice little book called Stories from the
Land of Israel, Chanan Morrison. And
he's done a lot of work. He was really
one of the first to begin to uh
to translate and to teach Rav Kook, and
he has a number of books, and he put
together book of it's just stories for
the most part of Rav Kook's life and his
son Rav Tzvi Yehuda and other stories
that are here, Stories from the Land of
Israel.
And uh he has the following story about
Rav Kook.
And one that we've mentioned in the
past, but uh
always good to to share again, and for
those that may not recall or may not
have heard it.
So the title of the story is Planting a
Tree in Magdiel, and I'll read to you
the story.
At every possible occasion, wrote Rabbi
Zev Gold.
So Zev Gold is about to tell the story.
Does anybody know who Zev Gold is?
Anybody hear of Machon Gold?
You've heard of Machon Gold? It was like
one of the first women
institution, seminaries
uh in Israel.
I remember it from the old days. It was
named after this Rabbi Zev Gold, who is
a great Zionist Zionist leader. He is He
signed the uh the what's it called? The
Declaration of Inde- or the Israeli
uh
you know, state of Israel, the document
of the state of Israel.
Does it have a name? Yes. What's it
called? Declaration of Independence.
Decl- Yeah, I I When I don't know When I
say that, I think of the American one,
but I guess yeah, Declaration of
Independence.
Uh "At every possible occasion," wrote
Rabbi Zev Gold, "I tell the story of the
remarkable lesson I was privileged to
learn from our great master, the Gaon
and holy Rav Kook, may the memory of the
righteous be a blessing." Rabbi Gold, by
the way, passes away in 1956.
A leader of the religious Zionist
Mizrahi movement once accompanied the
chief rabbi, Rav Kook, to the community
of Magdiel in the Sharon area. The
rabbis were invited to plant saplings in
an official ceremony to inaugurate a new
forest. By the way, a new book just came
out of Rav Kook of just pictures of Rav
Kook. Just came out in the last amazing
pictures, and you forget like what this
country looked like in 1904
when he came. You know, just the barren
the barren land and the deserts and what
it meant to plant a tree, you know, in
Israel and a forest.
As Rav Kook was handed a sapling to
plant,
Rabbi Gold was amazed to see the rabbi's
reaction. His face shone like a burning
torch, and his entire body quivered with
excitement.
>> [clears throat]
>> He did not use the shovel he had been
provided with, but knelt down to the
soil and dug a hole in the earth with
his bare hands.
Hand shaking, he reverently placed the
sapling in the ground while murmuring
his gratitude to God for the privilege
of planting a tree in in Land. On the
trip back to Jerusalem, Rabbi Gold
turned to the chief rabbi. He said, "Why
did you exhibit such deep emotion when
you planted a tree in the ground?
Nowadays, thank God, hundreds of trees
are being planted in Israel every day."
Rav Kook said the following, "As I held
that young sapling in my hands, I
remembered how the sages elucidated the
verse of the halakha, bidrakhav, that
you are to follow, you are to cling to
Hashem." And this is what they wrote,
"This is what the Midrash says. Is it
possible for flesh and blood to ascend
to the heavens and cling to the
Shekhinah? Rather, you should understand
the verse the following way. At the
beginning of creation, the Holy One,
blessed be He, engaged in planting."
It says that God planted a garden in Gan
Eden, that God, so to speak, was
planting trees in Gan Eden.
Similarly, when you enter the land of
Israel, which is our Gan Eden, we should
first engage in planting trees.
And says Rav Kook, so that's that's the
Midrash actually. And then Rav Kook
says, "When I grasped that tender
sapling in my hands and prepared to
plant it in the holy earth," Rav Kook
said, "I contemplated these words of the
sages. I felt as if at that very moment
I was clinging to the Shekhinah."
I felt a bond, I felt one with the
Shekhinah at that moment, and I was
overwhelmed with feelings of awe and
reverence.
So, when I read that, that idea of of
clinging, of that love for Hashem, of
feeling one with Hashem, as Hashem
planted in Gan Eden and thou and Rav
Kook, as he was planting his tree in
Eretz Yisrael, he felt that this is the
Gan Eden of the Jewish people. And doing
that which Hashem does, and to walk in
the ways of Hashem.
So, this I think is a very very very
beautiful idea, very beautiful way of
thinking about what it means to be a
tzaddik, what it means to be a tzadekes.
That we Reb Cook says that it's burning
within us, that it's something that's so
natural that there's that tug that we
that we mentioned earlier, that
connection that we have with Hashem.
To feel a a closeness with Hashem, God's
consciousness, to be to be thankful, to
have gratitude for Hashem, for as Ramban
says, to notice all the little all the
little things as as the great miracles
as as the yad of Hashem. So, I want to
wish everyone a chag sameach, a good yom
tov, a Shabbat shalom.
And have a wonderful yom tov. Look
forward to seeing you next week.