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he wondrous Rabbi Yehuda hidden Torah. He mastered the teachings when he was giving these extraordinary
T HaLevi was a complex person, and writings of chassidut, beginning with lectures – sefarim filled with bookmarks
and source sheets. From time to time,
with many seemingly contra-
the Ba’al Shem Tov, and particularly the
dictory traits that in actuality writings of the Ba’al HaTanya and Rebbe whenever he would mention a source
complemented one another. He was Nachman of Breslov and their students during the lecture that pertained to the
a philosopher and faithful believer, a which were beloved to him, as well as Kuzari, he would pull the book from
philosopher and a kabbalist, a poet and the teachings of the Sefat Emet. He was the windowsill and read aloud from it
an author, a giant of Torah and halacha a rare, G-dly personality who was both together with the students, so that the
whose primary focus was on aggadah revered by the Charedi Torah world and truth should not be lost.
and Jewish thought. A holy poet whose was the respected guide of the students When he reached the halachic topics cov-
entire life was dedicated to seeking out of Rav Kook. ered in the Kuzari, such as ritual slaugh-
and serving G-d, he longed for G-d’s holy This combination of traits and interests ter, he insisted on learning and teaching
city, for whom he sang the song of his life, did not lead to conflict, but rather an these halachot and how they are practiced
ְ
“ך ִי ַרי ִס ֲא םֹול ְ ׁש ִל י ִל ֲא ְ ׁש ִת אל ֲה ,ןֹוּי ִצ,” “Zion – extraordinary harmony. He was calm, in our own time. He would teach from
ֹ
behold, ask after the wellbeing of your at peace, pleasant in his interactions, a the halachic works of poskim, so that the
imprisoned.” But he was also a man of man who possessed great patience and students should never feel that there was
action who made Aliyah to Yerushalayim, self-control – traits that concealed the any contradiction between their halachic
where, according to legend, he was tram- inner storm of holy fire that raged within studies and the halachot that they learned
pled by an Arab horseman in front of the him, an intensity that reached its peak from the pages of the Kuzari. He covered
Kotel.
when he accepted upon himself the way every topic in a deep and foundational
With appropriate awe, I believe much of of nezirut. way, whether it was the laws of the sanc-
the same greatness and complexity were We, his family and his students and their tification of a new month or the laws of
expressed through the personality, writ- families, remember his many silences – marriage, kabbalistic topics covered in
ings and teachings of my revered father, on public fast days, on Shabbatot, and Sefer Yetzirah, or topics in Jewish thought
the Rav HaNazir zt”l. On the one hand, he particularly during the forty days from and general philosophy. Every topic was
was a researcher, terribly punctual, and Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul until after Yom studied assiduously, by studying the orig-
a philosopher with deep knowledge of Kippur – silences that he accepted upon inal sources with great clarity and care.
the writings of the world’s great philos- himself as steps towards receiving ruach And everything he taught was infused
ophers – philosophers of every language haKodesh and towards the vision of renew- with the ה ָּ לּוד ְּג ַה ַחּור, the spirit of great-
and generation, Jewish and gentile, ing prophecy in our time, which were the ness, that dwelled in the beit midrash
whose writings he read in their original longing of his soul and the yearning of of Rav Kook – the spirit of yearning for
sources and languages. He was a man of his spirit. redemption, of preparing for the renewal
pure logic, a man of truth without com- of our days as of old, of holy faith in the
promise, with a critical approach that he These matters are clarified for those ingathering of our exiles, of the return
developed during his years of academic who know and understand by studying of G-d’s shechinah to Zion, of the return
study in Germany, Switzerland, and the his great work, The Voice of Prophecy: The of our prophets as of old, of the final and
academic world. His approach, his way of Hebrew Auditory Logic (ןֹוי ָּג ִה ַה – ה ָאּוב ְּנ ַה לֹוק complete redemption and the coming
investigating and thinking, was scientific. י ִר ְב ִע ָה י ִע ְמ ִ ּׁ ש ַה), his life’s vision, which har- of Mashiach to repair the world with the
But on the other hand, he was a Nazir of moniously integrates the revealed and the kingdom of G-d. “For the land shall be
G-d, an awesome kabbalist, a great tzad- hidden, halacha and aggadah, kabbalah full of knowledge of the Hashem as water
dik who was completely immersed in the and philosophy, in the path of his great covers the sea bed” (Yishayahu 11:9).
upper spheres of the worlds of mystery teacher, the light of Israel, Rav Kook,
and holiness, one who “dwelled in the whose great sefer he organized and edited.
shelter of the Most High” (Tehillim 91:1)... The beginning of Rav Kook’s Orot HaKodesh  Translated by Rabbi Elie Mischel.
He was a gadol who knew all aspects of contains chapters entitled “The Charac-
nigleh, the revealed Torah. He mastered teristics of Holy Unity,” “The Unity of
the Lithuanian style of Torah study, which Torah and Prophecy,” “The Unity of the 1. Translation by Rabbi Josh Rosenfeld.
he received from the students of the Vilna Prophetic Spirit and Halacha,” “The Unity
Gaon through the Volozhin Yeshiva and of Halacha and Aggadah,” and more… This
then from the great Lithuanian yeshivot sefer, of course, was edited and organized
that followed the learning style of Rav by my father.
Chaim Soloveitchik and his students. His The spirit of achdut, of unity, is found in all
upbringing in the educational philosophy of my father’s writings, and particularly
of the mussar yeshivot together with his in the classes he gave on the Kuzari to
attachment to the Lithuanian rationalist the students of Merkaz HaRav. The stu-
approach to learning combined seam- dents who merited to participate in those
lessly with his deep dive, as a kabbalist, classes remember the dozens of books
into the mighty waters of nistar, the that sat on the windowsill behind him

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