I haven't time to write before shabbat, so here are excerpts from Machon Meir's B'ahava uB'emuna.
SHABBAT SHALOM
22nd of Shvat, 5767 10/2/07
From the World of Rabbi Avraham
Kook
“When the intellect shines in its full splendor, there
is no need for any special guidance of laws and judgments. Absolute goodness
follows the light of the intellect, and all the obstacles of life are
straightened out by themselves.”
Rabbi Dov Begon – Rosh Yeshiva of Machon Meir
Message for Today: “I Shall
Restore Your Judges as at First, and Your Counselors as at the Beginning”
Yitro, Moses’s father-in-law, advised Moses on who should be the leaders
and judges of Israel, telling him to appoint “capable, G-d-fearing men, men of
truth, who hate injustice” (Exodus 18:21). Who are these “men of truth”? Rashi
comments, “These are the men who are trustworthy and reliable. Their being so
makes people listen to them. If someone does not keep his word, the people will
not heed him.” Isaiah, as well, seeing the moral decline and the corruption in
his generation, attributed the problem to the leaders and judges, saying, “Your
princes are rebellious, the companions of thieves. Every one of them loves
bribes and seeks rewards” (Isaiah 1:23).
Yet at the same time, he
consoles the nation, telling them that this leadership will pass on out of the
world and in its place will come a leadership of capable, G-d-fearing men, men
of truth, who hate injustice: “I shall restore Your judges as at first, and your
counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of
righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and they
that return of her with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:26-27).
Today, we bear
witness to the moral decline and corruption being uncovered among some of our
government leaders, as well as in the governmental infrastructure and the
courts. To borrow a phrase from Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the government has
turned into “one big insurance company… devoid of giant men of spirit. Instead,
it is full of cowardly, do-nothing politicos, wallowing in the morass of small
ideas in both the spiritual and material plane.” (Orot 114). “The material
tranquility that will come to part of the nation who will think that they have
already arrived at their full destination will diminish their spirituality… the
longing for lofty, holy ideals will cease, leading to a waning of the spirit.”
Yet let us not despair. This will be a descent for the sake of an
ascent, as Rav Kook writes further down: “Ultimately a storm will result, and
there will be a revolution. It will then be clearly seen that Israel’s strength
lies in the eternally holy, in the light of G-d and His Torah, in the longing
for the spiritual light, which is the absolute valor that directs all worlds and
all their forces.” (Orot 84) Through us will be fulfilled the words: “You show
faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the
days of old” (Micha 7:20) Looking forward to complete salvation,
Shabbat
Shalom!
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Lots of Torah Study and views from Yaakov Fogelman
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